161. The Power of Therapy Intensives for Traveling Therapists with Steffeny Feld

Therapy intensives are changing the game for therapists who want to serve clients deeply while building a business that actually supports their lifestyle. If you’ve been feeling stuck in the weekly session model and craving more time, space, or travel—this is a must-listen!

In this episode of The Traveling Therapist Podcast, I talk with Steffeny Feld about the power of therapy intensives. She shares how intensives allow therapists to deliver high-impact support while living a more intentional, travel-friendly life. If you’re curious about scaling your work in a way that’s both sustainable and freedom-focused, the Therapy Intensive Summit is the perfect first step to help you achieve it.

In This Episode, We Explore…

• Why therapy intensives are an ideal model for traveling therapists
• How intensives can be structured for maximum impact
• The freedom and flexibility that intensives offer compared to weekly sessions
• Blending EMDR, retreats, and coaching into one cohesive business
• Advice for therapists ready to break away from traditional norms

Mentioned in this episode:
The Therapy Intensives Summit - April 28 to May 1

Connect with Steffeny:
Website: https://www.intensivedesignlab.com/

Are you ready to take the plunge and become a Traveling Therapist? Whether you want to be a full-time digital nomad or just want the flexibility to bring your practice with you while you travel a couple of times a year, the Portable Practice Method will give you the framework to be protected!
➡️ JOIN NOW: www.portablepracticemethod.com/

Connect with me:

• www.instagram.com/thetravelingtherapist_kym
• www.facebook.com/groups/onlineandtraveling/
• www.thetravelingtherapist.com

The Traveling Therapist Podcast is Sponsored by:

Berries: Say goodbye to the burden of mental health notes with automated note and treatment plan creation! www.heyberries.com/therapists

Alma: Alma is on a mission to simplify access to mental health care by focusing first and foremost on supporting clinicians www.helloalma.com/kym

Transcript

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SPEAKER_03 0:02

I'm Kim Tolson and I'm the traveling therapist. It's my passion to teach therapists how to navigate online private practices and multiple income streams so they can travel the world. I'm a digital nomad with a virtual insurance-based private therapy practice and a multi-six-figure coaching business. In this podcast, I will discuss my journey as a digital nomad. I'll chat with other traveling therapists, and help you navigate the complexities of running an online insurance-based practice. I'm so glad to have you with me on this journey.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

With ALMA, clinicians get the support they need to focus on what matters most, delivering great mental health care. When you become a member at Alma, you'll get credentialed with major insurance payers in less than 45 days, access to enhanced reimbursement rates, and you can take advantage of HIPAA compliant EHR tools like intake forms, progress notes, and treatment planners. Visit helloalma.com slash Kim to learn more. That's helloalma.com slash KYM to get started.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

I'm so excited because I'm with Stephanie Bell here. You guys might know her. She's literally the queen of building intensives in your private practice. Last year she did this amazing summit and I got to participate. And then this year she asked me to come back and participate again. So I'm just super excited to have her here again because mainly for the traveling therapist, this is like a key thing that we talk about, even in the portal practice method. We talk about how to scale up your practice basically so you can travel more and actually have time to see the places that you're traveling to. So this is the problem with me, even it's like we go somewhere like a week, two weeks, and if I'm bogged down and seeing a hundred clients or have a million things to do, it's like I don't even get outside until like 7 p.m. or something. So this is like key to having a happy traveling therapist lifestyle is to be able to scale up and have more time and freedom, basically. And that's why you're perfect for this type of thing to talk to the traveling therapist about. So I would love, Stephanie, if you would tell everybody what the summit is about and a little bit about intensive, and then maybe I'll just let them know what my contribution is.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yes. Oh my gosh. So the therapy intensive summit, it's happening April 28th through May 1st. It's a free four-day event, and I brought together 20 plus experts in the therapy space. Kim included, some other folks I'm sure you are familiar with: Megan Gunnell, Amber Lyda, Allison Pierre, Tiffany McLean. We have some really fantastic speakers, and everybody's come together to talk about this topic of what it means to create a practice and a life that you love. And so it's a huge overlap with the traveling therapist. Like you all already get this vibe. Yes. Oh my gosh. You know, scale up. Yeah. Make more money. Get creative, go outside the box. You don't have to do things the way they've always been done, like stuck in an office five days a week, and then you know, you're a shell of a person afterwards. It's like, no, there's other ways to design your practice so that you can live your life, enjoy your life, and like you said, make money so that you can work less and be out there enjoying those beautiful destinations that you have traveled to. Exactly. Like, how sad is it if you're like you've done all the work to get there, to set up your wherever you're staying, your Airbnb or hotel or whatever. And then you're like, I am within these four walls the majority of the time I'm here.

SPEAKER_03 3:52

It's terrible. I mean, this literally happens to me, not all the time, but occasionally we'll just be somewhere for a week and I'm like, I saw nothing here, really. Because I, you know, I had a bunch of stuff going on with work or whatever. Yeah, it's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah. So intensives, first, I feel like it's important to say what they are because a lot of times therapists are like, I think I've heard of that. I think I get it. Like, is it just a long session? Like, what are we talking about here? So it is like a very broad topic. And I love helping therapists think about okay, how can the work that I do that I love that like lights me up, how can it be adapted into an intensive format? So it can look totally different depending on who you see, but the ones I love to do are like three days long, three hours each day, and it is a package. So there's like a pre-intensive session that's 90 minutes, where oftentimes I'm meeting with someone I've never met with before. Although you can do it with ongoing clients too, that can like really move things that when it's felt stuck. But 90 minutes, you're doing an intake, you're talking about, okay, what's happening in your life? What do you want to see change? How can we work together on that? Then you have these three concentrated days. Or if it's, I don't know, a lot of couples like to do weekend intensives, yeah, like week getaways. Maybe they even want to travel to the destination where you are. Oh, that's a good idea. Right. Yeah. Like, I want to go to Mexico or Portugal or like wherever you all are. And I would pay to do that. That feels very go see my therapist in Europe.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

We have to go do our couples intensive in Portugal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Like it. And then you get to design what happens within that time frame. So whether it's three hours, six hours, multiple days, really, it's just getting creative with what's already in your toolbox and the person or family or couple who's in front of you and crafting this like really custom therapeutic, immersive experience for them. Um so it's like really incredible for clients what they're getting, but it's really fun for us too, because it takes us out of that like 50 minute, 50 minute, 50 minute, like oh, and you guys are just exist and do like the best of what you do with someone and go really, really deep. So so fun to talk about. And there's therapists at the summit who are going to be sharing, you know, across a ton of different niches and specialties and modalities. This is what my intensive looks like. So I think that's like a really fun place to start, you know, to get inspiration.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

And you know, I hate to always jump to this part because I feel like it's kind of a taboo sometimes in the therapist world, like to talk about how much money you can charge for it. But I swear, I think it was in your intensive script. The other day I saw like a testimonial, and somebody was like, I'm consistently earning $1,800 per intensive that I'm doing. So that's per day. That's not even intensive. That's insane. Like, how long is that? Like a three hour, and they're charging $1,800 for a three-hour intensive and then times three, basically, is that the month? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

So, like us, I mean, of course, there's a span of what you can do, but a three-day intensive three hours a day, you know, it's that package, that can be five thousand dollars. And if your income goal is to get a ten thousand dollar month, which a lot of us would be like, yes, like what is that annually? You know, that's over six figures. Yeah. Theoretically, you could be traveling and just do like a three-day have a week off, do a three-day, and you just add a 10K month.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Yeah, especially if you're living like, I mean, cost of living is much cheaper in a lot of countries, like Mexico, right? Certain parts of Mexico. I mean, you literally could do one intensive a month and probably live pretty well somewhere, you know, and just have like so true. I didn't even think of that. Isn't that crazy? I mean, you can literally work three days a month or less if you wanted to. I mean, if you're charging that kind of money, if you're like an expert in this this type of intensive, because I think obviously, I mean, you know this better than I, people want to pay for the premium experience, they want to knock it out quick. They want to just like let's just get this done. I don't want to be in therapy for the next year and once a week working on this stuff. So it's like it's really appealing to a lot of people, I think. And then, like you said, go to a tropical place or whatever to go get it done.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

I mean, not a hard sell.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

It's like I would totally put this on my credit card just to knock this out.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yes, and you know, this is okay, this is so funny because this literally happened yesterday. My husband and I were getting ready to go to couples therapy. I had a really busy day, and I was just like, uh, I wish we just had like I want an intensive because we're busy, you know, you don't want to like go and get into a potentially like difficult conversation, and then you're like, okay, I'm just back to my life. But if it was like, okay, I know in a month or two we've dedicated this time to like strengthen our relationship, like it just feels like a really good investment. And Mexico is like, you know, I mean, it's not that expensive to travel to Mexico. I mean, yeah, seriously. And then it just feels really good. Like it feels good for them, and then it's it's good for us too.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Yeah, I'm thinking I should have done that. I just recently did like some art, like reached out to somebody while I was in Florida, right? Because I move all the time. So I have to like do with licensed people when I'm in that state, you know how the licensure works. So yeah, I reached out to somebody because I was like, I want to try this art, like accelerated resolution therapy, but I just do it week to week, and I it didn't even occur to me that I probably could have just done a really great intensive on it.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Yep. There are therapists who are in Florida who will do like intense on the beach, literally, you know, like finding a secluded area. And it's so healing to be in nature too, not just like no offense, but not just like in our standard office or virtual space, even that enhances the experience so much.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Yeah. Now I'm gonna have to go figure out how to do an art intensive and whatever I'm doing. I'm gonna be traveling to I'm in Virginia right now. So if anybody's listening and you do art intensives in Virginia, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Well, we have actually so all year round I'm interviewing therapists about their intensives because it's just it honestly is really fun and I love to do it. So there is actually an interview that's free in the Facebook group about art intensive. So I'll I'll link it to you, Kim. All right, seriously, hook me up.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Yes, so you guys don't know this about me, but I hate public speaking, so I'm always like trying to figure out a way to get better at it, but I still do it, but I hate it. That's why I'm seeking art. But anyway, yeah. What'd you say, Stephanie? Okay, so what were you gonna tell us, Stephanie? You wanted to share some things about intensive.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Yeah, so about the summit, what we've been talking about so far, like therapists giving you the inside look at their intensives, that's all happening on day one. Day two, we're talking all about how intensives are high impact, high value. And so a lot of that is focusing on the premium private pay rates that with intensives, you have that option available to you. And so, what might that look like? How do you do it? And what are the things that kind of like get in the way or make it hard for us to do that, right? Because it's a lot of times people are like, I want to make that money, but then you're like, Oh, uh well, whatever it is, you know, that you're getting held up on. So this is specifically sharing, you know, their knowledge, their personal experiences around what it's like to pivot into a more premium rate. And then day three is all about intensives being high demand, so it's all about marketing the premium, like immersive experiences so that you can connect with your perfect fit intensive client. So everybody's gonna be talking that day about marketing because that's one of the biggest things people are like, well, I could design the greatest thing, but is anyone actually gonna sign up or pay for it? And it's like, okay. Let's talk about that. Like, how do you, you know, present it or offer it to the world so that it's an easy yes for people and they're like, heck yes, I want to go to Mexico or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

And it's such a like mindset thing, right? Amber Lyda, you guys probably know her, she is amazing with that money mindset stuff and how to switch into getting paid what you're worth, switching to private pay, all that stuff because Stephanie and I have talked about this many times, but insurance does get in the way of you being able to bill all the way for intensive. So, of course, we talk about that a lot. I'm sure you have content inside of your course and everything around the insurance stuff, but that's a whole other thing we could go for hours about, probably. But yeah, that's a mindset thing, right? It's like I I've got to charge these premium rates, I gotta know that I'm worth it. I've got to know that the package that I'm offering is good enough. You know, that imposter syndrome, all that stuff, I'm sure totally comes up for people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Yeah. So Amber teaches that day, Anna Walker teaches that day. But exactly what you're talking about. One of my favorite interviews is with Allison Prayeur, and her topic is marketing. I'm trying to think, marketing while feeling imposter syndrome. Like, we don't talk about that that often, you know. What does that look like when that starts to like pop up? So that was a really fun conversation that I'm excited for for everybody to see. And it's free. All of them, they're all free for 24 hours. Of course, if you're like, listen, I'm busy or I'm gonna be on a plane or whatever it is, you can always use Kim's link and upgrade to get the recordings for lifetime access. But if you're like, nope, I like to just take advantage of these free opportunities, they're all there for you. So yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_03 13:37

I think we've all experienced that. I experience every time I put a new course out, membership models, you know, like, oh, I don't want to charge too much. What if people don't want to pay it? Like, I totally go through that. Meg says I also struggle with intensive clients becoming into weekly clients, which I don't want, but the need is so great. And if you have flipped into my weekly caseload, I don't want that. Will someone talk about how to keep it clear? Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh, you could probably give some great advice just right now to Meg. Tell me how you how you handle that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

I think everybody's a like can feel concerned about that. And so I think after the intensive, I like to talk with people and say, like, you know, what was the most meaningful part of it? What did you enjoy the most? And a lot of times people will say, We got so much more done, or I feel like we had so much more progress. And then just inviting them to continue in that format. So it could be as gentle as that where you just say, you know, this isn't one and done. We can instead of doing our weekly sessions for the next four weeks, we could do one three hour and do that like once a month and have that ongoing. Or if they're like, no, I want to do intensives every single week or every other week, that's totally an option too. So it can be as gentle as just like making it available. And then other times people just say, This is the change that I've made in my practice. And that's something that I did when I transitioned to an intensives only practice. I said, I believe in my heart of hearts that this will bring you greater transformation. And this is the only way I want to practice. And so if you're an intensive client, these are your options. And it's an intensive. And it really is to say, whatever frequency, we can discuss that, but I don't offer weekly sessions because ethically I feel like I want to give the very best. And if you are with someone who does weekly, I'll connect you with someone. But this is what I do. Because I see clients get the very best, like reach circles even more quickly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

And I think you told me, I can't remember it was you or if you just we were chatting and you told me about somebody's model that they literally set it up, right? So it's like the intake paperwork and everything is like, I am not your primary therapist. Your primary therapist has referred you to me to do this intensive work. And when we're finished, I'm gonna refer you back to your primary therapist. So I guess that involves a lot of like networking around other therapists, letting them know that, hey, I notice you don't specialize in EMDR. I do. I offer these really cool intensive. So if you want to send people to me, I guess this is the conversation. If you want to send people to me, I'd love to do that EMDR work and then give you back your clients so you don't lose your clients, but you can I can kind of do that next level with them that you're not specialized in, and then send them right back to you with the improvements, and then you can work on the rest after I'm done with you kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

Exactly. I love that adjunct model. And it's like a win-win for everybody because usually the primary therapist is like, we're in a stuck spot or it's outside my scope or whatever it is. And then you get to have that intensive with the client and it's very clearly defined. And everybody knows, okay, after this three-day experience, you get to like pick up the work or take this new insight, these new experiences you've had, and go back with your primary person. So whether you're you're doing it yourself or collaborating, there's so many options. And honestly, my biggest referral source was therapists who were like, I have another client for you. I mean, it was on repeat because they did a certain type of work where they would get to the point where this trauma, this specific type of trauma that I specialize in, always came up with their particular population. And so this really strong relationship. In fact, I ran into her the other day at a, you know, just out and about. She was like, I have another person for you.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

So it makes it easier for like a steady stream. Yeah. And then like marketing. You have a good working, yeah. You have a good working relationship, and you know that you're sending them back into good hands. You probably use Barry, which I know we talked about. You use Barry's to kind of record your intensive that writes up this perfect little report for you. You send it instantly. If you guys don't know about berries, you know I'm obsessed with it. But Barry does like these intensives that'll record, I think, two and up to two and a half hours. And Stephanie even told me sometimes they'll take a break, she'll hit record again and then do the other half with berries. Send that report, you don't even have to do much work with it, or you know, send it over to the referring clinician. You've got it all written up, you're done. Like one and done. Like, I think that is the most amazing model I've ever heard. The day you told me that, I was like, that's incredible. You don't even have to see these clients long term. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

And I think it takes pressure. There is like a mental and emotional toll of journeying with someone over the long term. And some people, they love that. And for other people, we didn't even know that like a brief model would be possible to go really deep and brief and then like it's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Did we even say what the third day was? Did we get to that? I feel like I interrupted it.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Oh, third day's marketing, fourth day is the grand finale masterclass. So I'll be teaching that. It's all about intensives being a simple and sustainable shift. So how they can bring more ease, more income, and more client breakthroughs. That's awesome. It really is like you'll see this in the in the group too. People are just like, I can't even believe how much more clients like they're making these realizations that you've been waiting for for months or years. And for whatever reason, just having that like longer session to just keep on going. Yeah, like these light bulbs are going off for them.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

I love that. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Like, I've been waiting for this, I've been hoping for this, I want this for them.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

And yeah, being trained in EMDR, like it never occurred to me many, many years ago to do an intensive, but I always wanted that. I always hated that 53-minute session with EMDR and having to like open it up and close it up like that quickly, you know. And of course, if I didn't have somebody after, I always went over, right? Right, right. Could you stay? Could you stay for like another half an hour? You know, so we could just keep going with it. So I just, you know, I I love this model so much.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

It's so powerful. And I think it it can be easier than you expect to set it up. You know, of course, you want to do your due diligence and make sure you have like all your systems in place, but it doesn't have to be a total overhaul, you know. So if you're like busy and traveling, doing your life, seeing your clients, yeah, it doesn't have to be a huge thing. So that's what we're going over in day four, so that you can take kind of like all the all the different pieces of the summit and put it into action.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

Yeah, so I want to tell you guys about what I contributed to the summit. I'm excited about it. So you guys know I'm obsessed with AI and using AI. So I decided I'm gonna do like a sort of um workbook to teach you how to use AI to walk you through designing your high intensity intensives. So I put together all these really cool prompts and Stephanie and I, we just kind of recorded it. We went through the prompts. I show you how to do them in ChatGPT to give you like this super detailed outline to get going with your high intensity intensives. I'm excited about it. I think it was like, I don't know, like 10 prompts or something, and just really walks you through like the niche and the idea and then how to create it, how to structure it, and then some ideas around marketing it, and then some social media ideas. So it kind of like walks you through that using Chat TBC to help you create it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:28

It's so cool. Like it just gets the wheels turning. And if you're like, I don't really know how this would look, but I know I do, I don't know. The first thing that popped in my head is like, I work with anxious, perfectionistic, you know, women and eating disorders. And you just like type that in, and then it's like, here's all these ideas about how what your intensive could look like. And it's just like, whoa.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Yeah. And even if you don't even know what you work with or how to make it, you don't just use the chat GPT to help you figure out like that. What even could I do intensive design? You know, if you're more of a generalist or or something like that. So there's so many ways to use it for this specific purpose. So I was glad to be able to contribute that and bring that training to people to give them some ideas in a workbook, a cool workbook to kind of walk you through it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

It's so cool. And I'll say many of the speakers contributed things similar to this, you know, workbooks, mini trainings, guides to just like take what they talked about and help you actually put it into practice. And so many of those are included in the all access pass. So you can upgrade and you get the lifetime access to all the videos. You get it in a podcast feed if you're like want to do it while you're walking the dog or the dishes or by the beach or whatever. And then, oh, I also offered, I I forget because this is new this year. I included my five-day challenge to launch intensive. Oh, and so it's the short videos with a workbook, and you follow it, and then in five days, you can offer your first intensive. You'll feel like you have it all kind of like you know, all the necessary items there. So all that and then over a thousand dollars worth of speaker bonuses.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

I know it's so cool. That's incredible. Please go join, it's totally free. And like Stephanie said, you can upgrade if you want to, but if you are available, you can watch all of it within 24 hours of when they're released, like each day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

So check it out. Yeah. Such a fun collaboration. Like, I think our therapist community is full of so many like brilliant and generous people, and this is the result of that, you know, all just together. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Totally. Well, thanks, Stephanie, for popping in. I'm excited for you guys. I hope this gives you some more ideas, how to make it more scalable, especially for you guys that are the traveling therapists, you know, the ones that are all over the place and just need more time and freedom to be able to enjoy the places that you're traveling to. So go check it out. And what are the dates again, Stephanie? When does it actually start?

SPEAKER_00 24:00

It's all going live April 28th. So that's a Monday through May 1st.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

Nice. We got plenty of time. So you can clear, clear your schedule if you want to try to catch it for free.

unknown 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Yeah. Well, thank you, Stephanie. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it so much. Thank you so much for listening to the Traveling Therapist Podcast. For show note links and downloads, head over to Traveling Therapist.com, where you'll be able to learn more about my journey, the courses I've created for you, and other exciting resources to make your dreams become a reality. If you've enjoyed this episode, please share with your traveling therapist friends. Subscribe to the podcast, and if you love this episode, please leave a review.