Intensive Therapy in Nashville, TN
Therapy intensives in Nashville offer focused, extended therapy for trauma, difficult experiences, and life transitions that may feel hard to work through in a traditional 50-minute session. If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or like there’s something your mind and body haven’t been able to fully process, a therapy intensive can give you more uninterrupted space to slow down, process, and move toward feeling more like yourself again. For moms, an intensive can offer space to process a traumatic birth, pregnancy or infant loss, or the parts of motherhood that have left you feeling unlike yourself.
Intensive Therapy with a Certified Specialist
Kara Guindin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, EMDR Certified Therapist, an EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training, and a Perinatal Mental Health Certified Therapist providing specialized trauma and maternal mental health care in Nashville, Tennessee. She has advanced training in EMDR and integrates somatic and attachment-based therapies to support healing from both recent traumatic experiences and complex trauma histories.
LCSW | Certified EMDR Therapist | Perinatal Mental Health Certified Therapist
What is Intensive Therapy?
Sometimes 50 minutes a week just isn't quite right for the work you want to do. Intensive therapy is a concentrated approach to therapy that gives you more time and space to focus on meaningful change. Instead of meeting for traditional weekly sessions, therapy takes place through extended sessions, such as a half day or full day, or a series of longer sessions scheduled closer together.
Instead of stopping just as you're getting into the heart of the work, an intensive gives us more uninterrupted time to stay with a particular focus. This doesn't mean rushing through therapy. In fact, the opposite is often true. The goal isn't to cram as much therapy as possible into one day. It's to create enough space for the work to unfold at a pace that supports your nervous system.
Before an intensive, we'll talk about your history, your goals, and what you're hoping to address. Together, we'll determine whether an intensive is appropriate and what format makes the most sense for you.
When weekly therapy isn't enough
Weekly therapy can be incredibly valuable, and for many people, it's exactly the right fit. But there are times when a more concentrated approach makes sense.
An intensive may be worth considering if:
✦ You have a specific experience you want to work through.
✦ You feel ready to focus more deeply on a particular issue.
✦ You have a busy schedule and fitting weekly therapy into your life is difficult.
✦ You find yourself repeatedly circling the same experience or pattern in therapy.
✦ You want more uninterrupted time for trauma processing.
✦ You're already in therapy and want additional focused support around a particular concern.
✦ You're navigating a major transition and want dedicated space to process what is happening.
✦ You are a parent who needs therapy to fit into the realities of work, childcare, and family life.
What Makes Wise Roots Therapy Intensives Different?
✦ EMDR
EMDR helps your brain and body process experiences that still feel emotionally or physically present. With more uninterrupted time, we can work more deeply with specific memories, experiences, or patterns while continuing to prioritize preparation, regulation, and pacing.
✦ Somatic Therapy
Trauma isn't just something you remember- it can show up in your body, too. Somatic therapy helps us notice and work with the physical sensations, impulses, and nervous system responses connected to your experiences. Rather than focusing only on what happened, we also pay attention to how your body has learned to respond.
✦ Attachment-Focused Therapy
Our early relationships shape how we understand ourselves, connect with others, and experience safety. Attachment-focused therapy helps us explore these patterns with curiosity and compassion, including the ways past experiences may be showing up in your relationships with yourself, your partner, or your children.
Pregnancy, birth, loss, and becoming a parent can bring up experiences that deserve specialized support. My training and experience in perinatal mental health allow me to understand the unique emotional, relational, and nervous system changes that can happen during this season of life, including birth trauma, postpartum anxiety and depression, pregnancy and infant loss, and the transition into motherhood.
What Can We Work On?
✦ Birth & Medical Trauma
You may have a healthy child now and still feel like your body hasn't gotten the message that the birth is over. We can work with difficult birth experiences, emergency interventions, NICU experiences, pregnancy complications, or medical experiences that left you feeling frightened, powerless, or disconnected from yourself.
✦ Pregnancy & Infant Loss
Grief doesn't always follow a timeline. An intensive can provide intentional space to process pregnancy loss, miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss when the experience continues to affect your body, relationships, or sense of self.
✦ Anxiety & Overwhelm
Sometimes anxiety isn't just about what's happening right now. It can be connected to experiences that taught your nervous system that the world isn't safe, that something bad is always about to happen, or that you have to stay in control to prevent it. Intensive therapy can help us explore and work with those underlying patterns.
✦ Postpartum Depression, Anxiety, or PTSD
Sometimes pregnancy, birth, or the transition into motherhood brings up more than you expected. You may experience intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, intense fear, hypervigilance, or a sense that something bad is always about to happen. Intensive therapy can provide focused space to work with the experiences and nervous-system responses underneath these symptoms.
✦ Childhood & Relational Trauma
Some experiences don't feel like "trauma" until much later. Becoming a parent, entering a new relationship, or simply reaching a different season of life can bring old experiences to the surface. Intensive therapy can create space to work with the memories, beliefs, and body responses that still follow you into the present.
✦ Motherhood & Identity
You may feel disconnected from your baby, overwhelmed by mom guilt or self-doubt, or unsure of who you are after becoming a mother. Intensive therapy can help you process the experiences and emotions underneath these feelings so you can feel more connected- to yourself, your baby, and the mother you're becoming.
Half Day Therapy Intensive
Includes:
Consultation call
20 minutes
Free of charge
Initial Assessment
50 minutes
$170
Customizable Client Workbook
Processing Intensive
3 face-to-face- hours
$750
Optional Follow-up Session
50 min
$170
Full Day Therapy Intensive
Includes:
Consultation call
20 minutes
Free of charge
Initial Assessment
50 minutes
$170
Customizable Client Workbook
Processing Intensive
5 face-to-face hours
Additional 1 hour lunch break
$1300
Optional Follow-up Session
50 min
$170
Two Day Therapy Intensive
Includes:
Consultation call
20 minutes
Free of charge
Initial Assessment
50 minutes
$170
Customizable Client Workbook
Processing Intensive
10 face-to-face hours
Additional 1 hour lunch break daily
$2600
Optional Follow-up Session
50 min
$170
Therapy Intensive FAQs
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EMDR is the primary modality I use in therapy intensives. The extended format allows for more uninterrupted time to prepare, process, and integrate EMDR work. I also integrate somatic therapy, attachment-focused therapy, and perinatal mental health approaches when appropriate, creating a personalized intensive based on your goals and needs.
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Intensive therapy isn't the right fit for everyone. Before scheduling an intensive, we'll complete a consultation and initial assessment to make sure the format is appropriate for your current needs, goals, and level of stability. Intensives are generally not recommended for people who are currently experiencing a mental health crisis or need a higher level of care.
If you have questions about medications, medical conditions, or other factors that may affect EMDR treatment, we'll discuss those during the consultation and assessment.
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Wise Roots Therapy currently offers half-day, full-day, and two-day intensive formats. The right option depends on what you want to work on, your goals, and how much processing time you may need.
A half-day intensive provides 3 hours of focused therapy and can be a good option for working with a specific concern or continuing work you've already started in therapy. A full-day intensive includes 5 hours of therapy with a one-hour lunch break and allows for more extended processing. Two-day intensives provide 10 total hours of therapy across two days and may be appropriate when there are multiple related concerns or more complex material to address.
We'll determine the most appropriate format together.
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Start by scheduling a free 20-minute consultation. We'll talk about what you're hoping to work on, your history, and whether an intensive makes sense for your needs. If it feels like a good fit, we'll schedule your initial assessment.
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The initial assessment gives us dedicated time to review your history, understand your current needs, identify treatment goals, and determine whether intensive therapy is clinically appropriate. It also gives you an opportunity to make sure the approach feels right before committing to an intensive.
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Your intensive will be tailored to the goals we identify during your consultation and assessment. Because EMDR is the primary modality, we may work with specific memories, experiences, beliefs, or patterns that continue to cause distress.
Extended sessions allow for more uninterrupted time for preparation, processing, and integration. We will continue to prioritize pacing, nervous system regulation, and your ability to stay within a manageable level of activation throughout the intensive.
Sessions are longer than traditional therapy appointments, allowing for deep, uninterrupted processing of distressing memories or current challenges. We will use bilateral stimulation, such as eye movements or handheld tappers, to help your brain process and integrate experiences. The goal is to reduce emotional distress and promote lasting healing in a shorter timeframe than traditional weekly therapy sessions.
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Absolutely. Breaks can be adjusted to accommodate your pumping or feeding schedule. If you need this accommodation, let me know ahead of time so I can make sure you have access to a private space and refrigeration for milk.
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Plan to give yourself some downtime after your intensive whenever possible. You may feel tired, emotionally activated, or simply need time to decompress after focused therapeutic work. I generally recommend avoiding a packed schedule immediately afterward and giving yourself space for rest and integration.
We'll also discuss aftercare recommendations based on your individual needs. An optional 50-minute follow-up session is available if you'd like additional support after your intensive.
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Intensive therapy is a self-pay service and is not billed to insurance. Insurance plans typically do not cover extended therapy formats in the same way they cover standard therapy sessions. Because of this, payment for an intensive is due at the time of service.
You don't have to keep circling the same thing.
If you’re feeling stuck in therapy, have a specific experience you want to work through, or know you need more time than a traditional 50-minute session allows, an intensive may be a good fit.
Schedule a free 20-minute consultation to talk through what you’re looking for, ask questions, and determine whether intensive therapy is the right next step for you.
Wise Roots Therapy
2603 Elm Hill Pike #C
Nashville, TN 37214
kara@wiserootstherapy.com
Hours:
Monday 9 am - 5 pm
Wednesday 9 am – 5 pm
Friday 10 am – 4 pm
“I said: What about my eyes?
He said: Keep them on the road.
I said: What about my passion?
He said: Keep it burning.
I said: What about my heart?
He said: Tell me what you hold inside it?
I said: Pain and sorrow.
He said: Stay with it.
The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”