EMDR Intensives & Trauma Therapy in Plymouth, MA
EMDR Intensives and Trauma Focused Therapy
Katherine DiFillippo Montague, LICSW
Life doesn’t look or feel the way you wish it did.
You may be the one who keeps going, holds it together, and tells everyone you’re fine — even when something inside you feels exhausted, disconnected, or stuck.
I’m a trauma-focused psychotherapist and EMDR provider based in Plymouth, MA. I offer in-person therapy on the South Shore and online trauma therapy across Massachusetts for adults healing from acute trauma, complex trauma, and the lasting impact of becoming the strong “I’m fine” one.
Together, we can slow down, make sense of what still hurts, and create a plan that fits the life you actually have.
Little by little, therapy can help you feel more grounded, more honest with yourself, and more on your own side.
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Too much responsibility. Too much emotional labor. Too much pressure to keep it all together. You might be the person everyone relies on, the one who notices what needs to be done before anyone else does, the one who keeps showing up no matter how tired you are. And maybe underneath all of that, you feel anxious, resentful, disconnected, or just plain worn down.
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Maybe you learned to be the strong one in a complicated family. You kept the peace and the secrets, read every room, and took care of everyone else long before anyone knew how to take care of you. It worked then, but now it shows up as anxiety, people pleasing, perfectionism, or a nervous system that never fully settles. You might understand the story and still feel the old alarm in your body, especially around family.
In therapy we make sense of how you survived and how those skills can soften. We build steadiness first with sleep, boundaries, and coping tools. We practice new ways to relate to yourself that are kinder and more honest. You get to keep what served you and let the rest go.
If it fits your goals, EMDR can help the past lose its charge so the present can breathe. You stay in control and we go at your pace. Over time, triggers quiet, self trust grows, and your life starts to feel like it belongs to you.
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It makes sense to feel stuck when your head knows one thing and your body feels another. We can slow everything down, name what is actually happening, and make a simple plan that fits your real life. We will build steadiness first, then gently work on the patterns that keep pulling you back. You do not have to do this alone.
I work with high-functioning adults who are used to holding it all together.
On the outside, you may look capable, responsible, and composed. Underneath, you may be carrying anxiety, overthinking, people-pleasing, perfectionism, or a nervous system that has not felt truly safe in a long time.
Therapy can help you understand where those patterns came from, how they once protected you, and what it might feel like to live with more ease, honesty, and self-trust.
This might sound like you:
You look like you have it together, but you do not feel that way inside.
You are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You feel like you did something wrong, even when you know you did not.
You get stuck in the “they’re mad at me” spiral.
You are great at functioning, but terrible at feeling safe.
You can explain your trauma clearly, but you still feel like you are living inside of it.
You are deeply self-aware, but still stuck in survival mode.
You are tired of holding everything together and still feeling on edge.
You do not need more insight.
You need relief.
You want to stop living like you are in trouble.
How I can help
I specialize in therapy for lasting change.
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Acute trauma can come from a specific event or experience that overwhelmed your ability to cope. This may include an accident, assault, sudden loss, medical trauma, violence, a frightening experience, or another event that felt destabilizing or too much to process at the time.
You may find that even though the event is over, your body still responds as if it is happening now. You might feel more anxious, reactive, shut down, disconnected, on edge, or unable to feel fully safe.
EMDR can help your brain and nervous system begin to process what happened so the memory feels less active in the present.
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Complex trauma often develops over time, especially in relationships where safety, care, consistency, or emotional attunement were missing.
This may include childhood emotional neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse, parentification, family instability, chronic criticism, attachment wounds, growing up around addiction, or feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions.
Complex trauma is not always about one single event. Sometimes it is years of learning to stay small, careful, capable, or on alert.
Therapy can help you understand how these early experiences still show up in your relationships, self-worth, nervous system, and ability to trust yourself.
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EMDR intensives offer a more focused way to do trauma work.
Instead of meeting once a week for a traditional therapy hour, intensives give us a longer block of time to settle in, identify what needs attention, and begin processing with fewer starts and stops.
EMDR intensives may be helpful for both acute trauma and complex trauma. For acute trauma, we may focus on a specific event or memory that still feels unresolved. For complex trauma, we may focus on a childhood wound, painful belief, relationship pattern, or cluster of experiences that continues to feel active in your life now.
An intensive is not about rushing your healing. It is about giving your nervous system more time, support, and structure to do the work without having to stop right when things are beginning to open up.
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Ongoing trauma therapy offers steady support for adults who want to understand and heal from the impact of trauma over time.
This work can help if old patterns are showing up in your relationships, your body, your self-worth, or the way you respond to stress. You may find yourself overthinking, shutting down, people-pleasing, staying on alert, or feeling responsible for everyone else.
In therapy, we make space to build safety, strengthen coping skills, and process trauma at a pace that feels supportive and sustainable.
This may include EMDR, trauma-informed talk therapy, nervous system regulation, and attachment-focused work.
Together, we will work toward helping you feel more grounded, connected, and able to trust yourself again.