SOMA·ATHENE Clinical Therapy  ·  1–3 Day Intensives

Reclaiming Your Narrative

Apply for an Intensive Is This For Me? ↓

You May Recognize Yourself Here

You're functional. You're exhausted.
You're done waiting.

You've done the work to get out. Now the hardest part — learning to trust yourself again, quiet the noise, and actually feel free — that's what we do here.

You feel this

"I can't enjoy my life without being triggered. I feel like I'm always in fight or flight."

You want this

"I just want to feel free to be myself — present, close to people I love, not constantly bracing for impact."

You tell yourself

"I know I have strengths. I know I've survived so much. So why does it still feel like I'm not getting anywhere?"

What's actually true

"Your survival is proof of your strength. This isn't about fixing what's broken — it's about reclaiming what was always yours."

Is This Right For You

This is for you if…

You've left a toxic, high-conflict, or abusive relationship — and the effects are still running your life.
You're tired of weekly therapy that goes in circles. You want a real breakthrough, not more coping tools.
You feel numb, hypervigilant, or disconnected — exhausted by your own defenses.
You have a full life — career, family, responsibilities — and you need concentrated, efficient results.
You carry complex or relational trauma that standard weekly sessions haven't been able to reach.
You're ready to stop surviving and start building the life you actually want.

Honest Clarity

This may not be the right fit if…

Intensives are powerful — and that's precisely why they require the right foundation. We want this to work for you.

You are currently in acute crisis or active suicidal ideation — we will help you find the right level of care.
You have no prior therapeutic experience and are brand new to processing trauma.
You are actively using substances in a way that would interfere with the depth of the work.
You are looking for coping skills management rather than root-level processing.

If you're uncertain, the free consultation call exists precisely for this conversation.

The Real Cost of Waiting

Another decade in survival mode is too high a price.

If nothing changes

  • Relationships stay strained or surface-level
  • Chronic tension, sleeplessness, body-level stress
  • Self-doubt costs you opportunities you deserved
  • Defense patterns passed on to your children
  • Going through the motions — disconnected from your own life

After the intensive

  • Closer, safer relationships — especially with yourself
  • A nervous system that can finally rest
  • Boundaries that feel natural, not aggressive
  • Clarity on who you are outside of survival mode
  • Feeling actual joy — not just the absence of pain

Real People. Real Change.

What clients experience.

"Honestly I wasn't sure what to expect going in. By the end I was tired — but it was a different kind of tired. Like something had finally let go. That night I just... slept. No pills, no waking up at 3am, no bad dreams. Woke up feeling like myself again — free, strong. That's the only way I can describe it. Free and strong."

— Intensive Client

The Shift

What actually changes.

This is what healing looks like in real life — not a concept, but a felt experience.

Exhausted & Hypervigilant
↓
Rested & Present
Reactive & Defended
↓
Grounded & Open
Numb & Disconnected
↓
Free & Strong
Surviving Relationships
↓
Safety + Vulnerability
Self-Doubt & Shame
↓
Clarity & Self-Trust
Auto-Pilot
↓
Presence

Where the Work Happens

Healing and nature were always meant to go together.

These intensives can be conducted in the natural settings that Maine offers in abundance — forests, open land, quiet rivers. If you've been craving a reason to reconnect with yourself and with the natural world at the same time, this is it.

"There is something that happens when you take the work outside — the nervous system responds to open space, to trees, to the sound of water in a way that four walls simply can't replicate. Nature has always been part of the healing. We just make it intentional."

What to Know

Practical details.

Duration
1, 2, or 3 consecutive days — custom scheduled around your life
Location
Flexible — private office, in-home, or natural outdoor setting in Maine. Fully confidential.
Investment
$1,200 · $2,800 · $4,200
Payment plans available
First Step
A free consultation call to find the right fit and format for you

Choose Your Path

Three levels of immersion.

Each intensive is custom-designed around your story, your goals, and your readiness. Choose the depth that honors where you are right now.

1Day
Targeted Processing

For a specific stuck point or recent event. EMDR and Flash Therapy to desensitize a defined trigger and restore your footing — with somatic integration throughout.

$1,200
Ideal for a defined breakthrough
2Days
Relational Reset

We go deeper — somatic work, nature integration, and narrative processing to shift long-standing relational patterns at the root. EMDR and Flash combined.

$2,800
Most chosen path
3Days
Full Transformation

The complete experience. A full nervous system reset and deep narrative restoration — for those ready to move beyond survival mode entirely.

$4,200
For lasting, structural change

Flexible payment plans available — ask during your free consultation.

What to Expect

We don't just talk about the trauma.
We move through it.

Every intensive integrates mind, narrative, and body — because lasting change requires all three.

1

Foundation & Intention

We begin with your story — where you are, where you want to go, and what's been keeping you stuck. Every hour is purposeful from the start.

2

Clinical Processing

Using EMDR, Flash Therapy, narrative reconstruction, and mindfulness practices to address the roots of relational trauma — reducing its charge, not just managing it.

3

Somatic Integration

Trauma lives in the body. Movement, nature, meditation, and breath stabilize your nervous system and anchor the work where it actually lasts.

Clinical Approach

Not one tool. A precision set.

Each modality is chosen for what it can do that the others cannot. Nothing is used out of habit.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The gold standard for trauma — processes stored traumatic memory at the neurological level.

Flash Therapy

A rapid, low-distress protocol for reducing the emotional charge of traumatic memories — often producing significant change in a single session.

Internal Family Systems

IFS maps the internal protective parts that developed around trauma — and helps restore access to the self that was never actually broken.

Somatic Approaches

Trauma is held in the body. Somatic work addresses the physiological dimension of trauma that talk therapy cannot reach on its own.

ACT

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy — present-moment grounding and values-based forward movement that builds a life worth returning to.

Wilderness & Nature

Maine's landscape is part of the work. Guided outdoor sessions use natural environments to accelerate regulation and integration.

Narrative Reconstruction

The process of examining and reauthoring the story trauma wrote about you — restoring agency, coherence, and identity beyond what happened.

Mindfulness

Precision-applied mindfulness drawn from Eastern psychology and contemplative tradition — not relaxation technique, but a tool for changing your relationship to internal experience.

"I became a therapist because I know what it means to hit a bottom and find your way back. I work with people who are done managing their pain — and ready to reclaim their life. That is the only work I do."

James B. Skelton, LCSW, LADC, CCS  ·  Over a Decade of Clinical Experience

Full credentials and clinical approach →

Common Questions

Before you reach out.

Weekly therapy is built for maintenance and incremental movement — it's the right tool for many situations. An intensive is built for breakthrough. Condensed time creates a different neurological environment for processing. There are no gaps between sessions for defenses to rebuild. The work goes deeper, faster — and the integration happens within the same container. Many clients who have worked in weekly therapy for years describe the intensive as the first time they felt real movement.
Intensives are in-person only, held in Windham, Maine. Many clients travel specifically for this work — from across New England and beyond. The location is intentional: Maine's landscape, pace, and natural environment are part of the therapeutic container. We're happy to recommend lodging options in the area for multi-day intensives. Travel costs are yours to arrange; the work begins the moment you arrive.
Therapy intensives are not covered by insurance and are offered as a private-pay service only. This keeps the work fully confidential and allows us to design your intensive around what you actually need — not what a benefits plan will approve. Flexible payment plans are available and can be discussed during your free consultation.
Days are structured but not rigid. A typical intensive day begins with grounding and intention-setting, moves into active clinical processing using EMDR, Flash Therapy, or narrative reconstruction work, includes a mid-day break with movement or time outdoors, and closes with somatic integration and stabilization. No session ends with you open and unsupported. Every day closes with you regulated, grounded, and clear on what was accomplished.
Integration doesn't stop when you leave. All intensive clients receive a follow-up support structure — typically a post-intensive check-in session, written integration notes, and access to relevant resources and tools. For clients who live in Maine, a transition into periodic ongoing sessions is available. For traveling clients, we can coordinate with your existing therapist to support continuity of care. You won't be left without a next step.
Not necessarily. Some clients come with an existing therapeutic relationship they want to deepen or accelerate. Others come to the intensive as a standalone intervention. What matters is readiness — the capacity to engage with the work, basic window of tolerance, and motivation for something beyond symptom management. The free consultation call is where we assess fit honestly, together.
Yes — and this is one of the things that makes SOMA·ATHENE structurally different. April Martin, our Clinical Herbalist, works alongside the clinical therapy practice. Clients may receive botanical support before, during, or after an intensive — addressing sleep, nervous system regulation, stress physiology, and integration through plant-based protocols. This is a referral conversation, not an assumption — we assess what's right for you individually.

Two Branches. One Philosophy.

The intensive doesn't end
at the clinical door.

SOMA·ATHENE combines therapy with plant medicine under one roof — not because it's trendy, but because the body doesn't separate its systems and neither should your care.

James works through the nervous system. April Martin works through the body's relationship with the plant world. Working with April means a personalized botanical care plan — specific to your physiology, your history, and where you are in the integration process. Plant medicine as precise support, not general wellness.

Inquire About Botanical Medicine →

Ready to Begin

Your story doesn't end here.

One free conversation to find the right fit. No pressure — just clarity on whether this is the right next step for you.

Call to Book Your Free Consultation or Send a Message Instead

(828) 619-0081

This is a reclamation — not a repair.