EMDR & Somatic Experiencing intensives for women
When understanding isn't enough to change how it feels, the work can go deeper.
For the woman everyone leans on, and the parts of her still waiting for care.
A private, five-day EMDR and somatic trauma therapy intensive in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Clients travel to Lancaster from across the country and around the world.
You may recognize yourself here
Thoughtful, capable, and carrying something that hasn't fully shifted.
Many of the women who find their way here hold a lot for others, often in caregiving, helping, or leadership roles. They've done meaningful work and built real insight. And in quieter moments, they may notice:
- Reading the room before you've sat down, and feeling a pause in conversation land in your body
- Saying yes before checking in with yourself, and smoothing things over to keep others calm
- Second-guessing your own instincts, especially about people
- Wanting closeness and pulling away from it at the same time
- Feeling braced, numb, or tired in a way rest doesn't seem to touch
If even one or two of these feel familiar, that may be a meaningful place to begin.
What you might be carrying
Care for childhood, attachment, and sexual trauma, at a pace that feels safe.
Vanessa's work centers on developmental and attachment wounds: growing up without consistent safety, attunement, or care. For many women, that history also includes sexual abuse or assault, in childhood, adulthood, or both.
If part of you still believes it was your fault
Many survivors carry a quiet conviction that something they did led to what happened, and that belief can make it hard to trust yourself afterward.
Freezing, going along, or trying to keep someone calm are automatic survival responses, sometimes called freeze, submit, and fawn. None of them is a choice, and none of them is consent. You never need to tell the story in detail or share more than feels right.
This work also often includes
- Betrayal trauma, including family and institutional betrayal
- Shame, and the urge to hide that comes with it
- Preverbal trauma, held in the body without a story
- Moral injury
- Vicarious trauma among helpers and healers
- Racial, collective, and ancestral trauma
- Medical trauma
- Complicated grief, including grief for what never was
You don't need to name what you're carrying to begin. Explore what you might be carrying
What can change
These responses made sense once. They don't have to stay in charge.
Some people notice more ease in their body, more trust in their own read on people, or more room to choose how they respond. Your experience will be your own, shaped by what you carry and what feels ready.
Why an intensive
More time, more continuity, and room to go deeper.
An intensive works like a retreat with skilled care at its center: five unhurried days, Vanessa's undivided attention, and time to follow something all the way through, paced by your nervous system and away from the pull of daily life.
Five days adds up to roughly 30 hours of therapy, about the same time you'd spend in 9 months or more of weekly sessions once holidays and missed weeks are counted. The difference is that the time stays together, so you can follow something through without stopping and starting over each week.
Research suggests intensive trauma therapy can be as effective as the same therapy delivered weekly. In one randomized trial, people who received it intensively improved as much as those in weekly therapy, and they improved faster.
Every person's pace is different, and no one can promise a specific outcome.
Trauma therapy intensive
The 5-day EMDR & somatic intensive
Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm, in person in Lancaster, PA. For women who have done meaningful work and would like more space and continuity than weekly sessions can offer.
$7,500, self-pay. HSA and FSA cards accepted, with superbills for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Full pricing
Resourcing and regulation
Nourish Your Nervous System
A single 3-hour session for regulation, self-awareness, and skill-building, without trauma reprocessing. Whether it suits where you are is something we can explore together on your call.
How your intensive unfolds
Four phases, much like the moon's own cycle.
You set the pace, and you're always free to slow down, pause, or step away.
A first conversation
New moon
A complimentary 45-minute phone call to explore what you're hoping for and whether this feels like a fit. There's no obligation to continue.
Preparing
Waxing crescent
If it feels right to you, a deposit reserves your dates, and a guidebook helps you prepare. Your intensive is shaped around you before you arrive.
The intensive
Full moon
Five days in person, Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm. Unhurried and embodied, at a pace your system can welcome.
Integration
Waning moon
We close the week with care and plan together for the weeks after, including your current therapist, gentle routines at home, or simply time to settle.
Therapeutic approaches
EMDR and Somatic Experiencing at the heart of the work.
One helps the brain reprocess and one helps the body release, woven together with gentler methods as your nervous system needs them.
EMDR therapy
One of the most researched trauma therapies, recognized by the World Health Organization and the American Psychological Association. EMDR helps the brain process memories that never fully integrated, so they can be remembered without the same charge.
Learn about EMDR intensivesSomatic Experiencing
A body-based trauma therapy developed by Dr. Peter A. Levine. It gently tracks sensation and helps the nervous system complete survival responses that got stuck, without revisiting the story in detail.
Learn about somatic therapyAlso woven in as your system needs them
Deep Brain Reorienting
A gentle approach for early relational and attachment wounds.
Learn about DBRInternal Family Systems
Brings curiosity to every part of you, including the protective ones.
Learn about IFSSound therapy
Bowls, gongs, and voice to help your nervous system settle and integrate.
Learn about sound therapy
Vanessa Simmons, LPC, SEP
Body-centered, trauma-informed, and unhurried.
Vanessa specializes in developmental and attachment trauma, especially for women who are often the ones others lean on, in caregiving, leadership, and helping professions.
She is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, Approved Consultant, and Approved Trainer, and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner. While much of her work is with women, she welcomes clients of every gender, sexual orientation, and relationship structure.
Traveling for your intensive
Easy to reach from across the country and abroad.
Lancaster sits in the quiet heart of Pennsylvania, with direct Amtrak service from New York and Philadelphia. Many clients make their intensive a restful week away.
Approximate drive times to Lancaster
- Harrisburg International (MDT)about 40 min
- Philadelphia International (PHL)about 1.5 hrs
- Baltimore/Washington (BWI)about 1.5 hrs
- Washington Dulles (IAD)about 2.5 hrs
- New York JFKabout 3 hrs
Questions people often ask
EMDR and somatic therapy intensives, answered simply.
What is an EMDR intensive?
An EMDR intensive is concentrated trauma therapy delivered over several consecutive days instead of one hour a week. At Meadow Grove, an intensive is five days, Monday through Friday, 9am to 4pm, in person in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, combining EMDR with Somatic Experiencing and other body-based approaches.
How is an intensive different from weekly therapy?
An intensive gives you about 30 hours of therapy over five consecutive days, so what opens in the morning can be followed through instead of being set down for a week. The pace follows your nervous system rather than the clock, and research suggests intensive trauma therapy can be as effective as weekly therapy, with people often improving faster.
Do I have to talk about what happened?
No. EMDR and Somatic Experiencing don't require you to describe traumatic experiences in detail. You decide what to share, and the work moves at the pace your nervous system sets.
Who is a trauma therapy intensive a good fit for?
Intensives tend to suit thoughtful, high-functioning adults, especially women, who have done prior therapy and sense something hasn't fully shifted. They're often a fit for attachment trauma, sexual abuse or assault, betrayal, and shame.
When might an intensive not be the right fit?
An intensive may not be the right fit right now for someone navigating untreated OCD, active substance or alcohol use, or thoughts of harming themselves or others with a plan or intent. This is about safety and timing, and it says nothing about your worth or your capacity to heal. On your call, we can talk about what might support you best for now. If you're in crisis, you can call or text 988 in the U.S.
How much does an intensive cost, and does insurance cover it?
The 5-day intensive is $7,500, or $1,500 per day, and is self-pay. HSA and FSA cards are accepted, and a superbill is available for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Full details are on the Investment page.
Can I travel to Lancaster from out of state or abroad?
Yes. Clients travel from across the U.S. and around the world. Lancaster is about 40 minutes from Harrisburg International Airport, about 1.5 hours from Philadelphia and BWI, and has direct Amtrak service from New York and Philadelphia.
How do I get started?
Every intensive begins with a complimentary 45-minute phone call to explore what you're hoping for and whether this format feels like a fit. Intensives begin on a Monday, and there's no obligation after the call. Schedule a call.
If something in you is curious, you're welcome to reach out.
A first step can be a short, unhurried conversation, with no pressure and no obligation.