BAY AREA · ONLINE THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA
EMDR & Brainspotting Intensives in the Bay Area
You’ve built a life with more choices.
Family expectations can still make those choices feel costly.
You may be earning more than your parents did, supporting people you love, and making decisions they never had the freedom to consider. Yet saying no can bring guilt. Conflict can feel threatening. Rest can leave you wondering who you’re letting down.
At Empowered Mind Therapy Center, our EMDR and Brainspotting intensives are highly personalized programs designed around the experiences, patterns, and goals you want to focus on. Rather than fitting your work into a standard weekly schedule, an intensive gives you dedicated time for preparation, deeper focused sessions, and a treatment plan built around what you need now.
Our practice centers women of color and queer and trans people of color. We make room for the cultures, communities, and histories that matter to you.
More focused time. A highly customized plan. Less stopping and restarting between sessions.
Extended appointments · Personalized preparation · Flexible intensive planning
90-minute intake: $225–$475, depending on clinician.
90-minute intensive sessions: $350–$475 per session, depending on clinician.
3-hour intensive sessions: $450–$950, depending on clinician and availability.
Your total cost depends on your clinician, session length, number of appointments, and individualized treatment plan. Your care coordinator will confirm your exact fees and what is included before you begin.
Your intensive also includes guided preparation and a personalized electronic client workbook to help you and your therapist identify patterns, clarify goals, and prepare for deeper work before your intensive sessions begin.
When being the dependable one leaves little room for you
You may recognize yourself in some of these experiences:
Your stability supports more than your own life.
You help with bills, translate difficult conversations, manage family decisions, or become the person everyone calls. You want to remain connected without being permanently available.
You can explain the pattern and still get pulled into it.
You understand why you overprepare, avoid disappointing people, or take responsibility for someone else’s emotions. That understanding hasn’t always changed what happens in the moment.
Your choices bring freedom and complicated feelings.
Earning more, moving away, choosing a partner, living openly, or wanting a different kind of family life can bring questions about loyalty, gratitude, and belonging.
You want relationships with more room for honesty.
You may want to respond differently with your partner, children, parents, or colleagues. You want space to consider what you inherited, what you value, and what you want to carry forward.
You’ve done a lot of work on yourself. These moments still happen.
An intensive may be worth exploring when you want to focus more deeply on a specific pattern, relationship, or experience without starting over from the beginning.
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You’ve talked about your childhood in therapy, read the books, and practiced boundaries.
Then a parent calls, and you’re explaining your choices, managing their disappointment, or agreeing to something you don’t have room for.
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You’ve built financial stability, but rest still feels irresponsible.
You keep working past your limits, knowing how much your family sacrificed and how many people may need you.
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You can recognize a familiar response while it’s happening.
A partner sounds disappointed, and you go quiet, defend yourself, or rush to repair things before you’ve worked out what you feel.
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You’ve tried different therapists and spent too much of the session explaining the context.
Why family obligation matters. How racism shows up at work. Why setting a boundary can affect belonging, caregiving, or financial support.
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You’re considering another approach, but you’re tired of starting over.
You want a therapist who will take seriously what you’ve already tried, what helped, and what left you feeling misunderstood.
Bring that history with you.
Your assessment is a chance to identify the issue or pattern you want to focus on most deeply and build a program around it. Together, you and your therapist can decide how much preparation you need, what pace feels appropriate, and whether focused EMDR or Brainspotting work fits your needs now. You do not have to arrive convinced that an intensive is the answer.
Work with a therapist who can hold the wider story
Family patterns develop within particular conditions. Migration, racism, financial insecurity, gender expectations, and exclusion can shape how people learn to protect themselves and one another.
Understanding those conditions can coexist with acknowledging the harm you experienced.
Our work makes room for grief, anger, affection, obligation, and ambivalence. You can explore your family relationships without being pushed toward forgiveness, reconciliation, or estrangement. You can question an expectation while deciding for yourself what connection should look like.
Your goals may include speaking more freely, sharing responsibility, feeling more present in your relationships, or having greater choice in how you respond.
Meet the therapists behind your care
The person you work with matters. Explore our therapists’ approaches to family patterns, cultural identity, and the relationships that shape your life. Our care coordinator can help you identify who offers the format and availability you need.
She/her · Founder & CEO
Vanessa Solis, LCSW
Vanessa works with women of color and queer and trans leaders of color navigating intergenerational trauma, self-doubt, and the responsibility of supporting families and communities. Her approach brings cultural humility and attention to systemic barriers into conversations about worth, belonging, and choice.
Approaches: EMDR and Brainspotting intensives. Certified practitioner and consultant in both modalities.
View Vanessa’s Full Profile
She/her · Lead Clinician & Clinical Supervisor
Jessica Hernandez, LCSW
Jessica supports people exploring grief, trauma, identity, and the expectations carried across generations. Her work includes first- and second-generation clients and queer and trans people of color navigating family and cultural relationships. She brings a grounding, relational style with room for humor, creativity, and honest reflection.
Approaches: EMDR, parts work, and relational therapy.
View Jessica’s Full Profile
She/her · Clinical Therapist
Monique Jacobo-Evans, LCSW
Monique works with Black women, Pinay women, and first-generation clients navigating family expectations, motherhood, and the pressure to hold everything together. Her culturally attuned approach makes space for your needs alongside the roles and relationships that matter to you.
Approaches: Brainspotting, narrative therapy, and relational care.
View Monique’s Full Profile
They/them · Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
AJ Johnson, AMFT
AJ supports queer, trans, and neurodivergent people of color exploring attachment wounds, family-of-origin experiences, and recurring relationship patterns. They bring warmth, directness, and humor to collaborative work that makes room for identity, connection, and the conditions surrounding your life.
Approaches: EMDR and somatic approaches.
View AJ’s Full ProfileWant help finding a fit?
Ask our care coordinator about intensive providers, appointment formats, fees, and current availability.
What an intensive gives you time for
An intensive is a highly customized series of longer therapy appointments focused on the issue, pattern, or experience you want to work on most deeply.
Instead of spreading focused work across many weekly appointments, an intensive creates more continuous time for preparation, processing, reflection, and integration.
You and your therapist decide together what to focus on, how much preparation is needed, the length and number of sessions, and the pace that feels appropriate for you.
For some clients, this format can support meaningful progress in a more concentrated period of time than traditional week-to-week therapy, without rushing the work or treating the process like a quick fix.
| Part of your care | What it involves |
|---|---|
| 90-minute intake & assessment | Share your history, current concerns, and goals. Together, you and your therapist identify the issue or pattern you want to focus on most deeply. |
| A program built around you | Decide together on the number of sessions, appointment length, pacing, and whether EMDR, Brainspotting, or another supporting approach fits your needs. |
| Personalized preparation | Complete guided reflections and assessments through your client workbook so you and your therapist can begin with a clearer understanding of important patterns, triggers, and treatment goals. |
| Focused intensive sessions | Work within 90-minute or, where available, 3-hour appointments, giving you more continuous time for preparation, therapeutic processing, and integration. |
| Integration & follow-up | Reflect on changes, identify resources you can continue using, and decide whether additional intensive work or ongoing therapy may be useful. |
Before the deeper work begins
Your workbook helps us start before your intensive sessions do.
Your personalized client workbook includes guided reflections and assessments designed to help you and your therapist better understand your history, relationships, triggers, beliefs, resources, and goals.
This preparation gives both of you a clinical head start, so your intensive can be shaped around what feels most important to address.
- Beliefs
- Family patterns
- Attachment
- Triggers
- Developmental history
- Resources
- Treatment goals
An intensive is not a promise of a quick fix. Your experience will depend on your history, goals, readiness, and what comes up during the work. Longer appointments create more focused time, but the pace of therapy is still shaped around what feels clinically appropriate and manageable for you.
Fees, scheduling, and what’s included
Cost, session length, and the number of appointments are part of building an intensive plan that fits your needs.
90 minutes
Intake
$225–$475
Depending on clinician
Your intake is used to understand your history, goals, and the issue you want to focus on most deeply.
90 minutes
Intensive session
$350–$475
Per session, depending on clinician
The number of sessions is based on your individualized treatment plan.
3 hours
Extended session
$450–$950
Depending on clinician and availability
Longer sessions may be available when they are clinically appropriate and fit your treatment plan.
Appointments are charged per session. Your clinician, session length, and individualized plan determine the total cost.
Your program is built around you
Intensive programs are not one-size-fits-all. You and your therapist decide together what you want to focus on, how many sessions may be appropriate, and whether 90-minute or longer appointments fit your needs.
A typical program may include an intake, several intensive sessions, and a follow-up appointment, but your structure can vary.
Included in your preparation
A personalized electronic client workbook and guided assessments help you and your therapist clarify patterns, triggers, goals, and important background before deeper intensive work begins.
Your care coordinator will confirm what is included in your individual plan, including preparation and follow-up arrangements.
Private pay & reimbursement
We are a private-pay practice. If you plan to seek out-of-network reimbursement, confirm coverage for the proposed session lengths and services with your insurer. Reimbursement is not guaranteed.
Our team can help you understand what documentation may be available for reimbursement before you begin.
Appointment options
- Online appointments
- Available throughout California.
- In-person appointments
- Limited availability. Confirm location, session length, and clinician availability during your consultation.
Start with a conversation about fit
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Speak with our client care coordinator
Tell us what you’re looking for. Ask about clinicians, appointment options, and likely costs.
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Meet with your therapist for an assessment
Explore whether an intensive fits your current needs, what preparation may be useful, and what you hope to focus on.
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Agree on a plan
Decide together on the schedule and approach. If weekly therapy or additional support would be more appropriate, that belongs in the discussion too.
Questions you may be weighing
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You can bring what you’ve learned in previous therapy, along with what continues to feel difficult. During assessment, your therapist will help you consider whether an intensive offers an appropriate next step.
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No. Discuss your goals and questions with your therapist first. They can explain the approaches they offer and how their recommendations relate to your needs.
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You can understand what your family lived through and acknowledge what hurt you. Therapy offers room to examine both, while considering what you need in your relationships now.
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Decisions about contact, closeness, and boundaries belong to you. Your therapist can support you in examining your options, safety, responsibilities, and the consequences that matter in your life.
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Tell us about your existing care when you reach out. We can discuss whether the formats would work together and whether coordination with your therapist would be appropriate, with your permission.
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Your schedule depends on your treatment plan. Discuss appointment time, preparation, travel, and room to rest or reflect afterward before committing to dates.
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Intergenerational trauma can involve many experiences and ongoing conditions. An intensive may focus on particular concerns within that larger story. Outcomes vary, and continued support may be useful.
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No. Intensives create more focused time for therapy, but they do not guarantee that every concern will be resolved within a set number of appointments. Your experience will depend on your history, goals, readiness, and what comes up during the work. For some people, an intensive may be one focused part of a longer healing process.
What would you like to have more choice about?
How you respond to conflict. What you take responsibility for. What closeness asks of you. How much of your life is organized around avoiding someone else’s disappointment.
You can bring those questions to a free consultation, along with practical questions about time, cost, and therapist fit.
EMDR & Brainspotting intensives in the Bay Area and online throughout California.
Ready to Get Started?
Our Client Care Coordinator is ready to connect you with a therapist who is the best fit for you, your unique experience, needs and goals.
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