Bambi Rattner, Psy.D.
What is Intensive Therapy?
How an Intensive Works
What a Successful Retreat Looks Like
What is EMDR?
How I Practice EMDR
What is IFS?
Working With Parts
IFS for Relationships
What This Work Means to Me
Location: Northampton, MA
Please note that all intakes for Bambi are conducted by our retreat specialist April Gaoiran, MSW.
When I started writing my bio and read the opening to my 12-year-old daughter she said “Mom – that sounds like any other psychologist! You should write about what makes you special! What sets you apart?” So I will try…
I have been in the field for a long time! Jokingly I say, “since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.” (Yes, I know they actually died out about 65 million years before humans appeared on Earth!) But I got my master’s degree in 1987 and my doctorate degree in 1997 and have been in practice ever since. I have worked in pretty much every setting, with every age, and every population. I started in residential, inpatient psychiatric units, and sheltered workshops. I have worked in the schools and in nursing homes, seen clients outpatient and in-home. My clients have ranged in age from 3–103.
Each of these experiences was meaningful and growth promoting, but I felt dissatisfied. I was using my clinical skills to the best of my ability, but just felt that there had to be a better, more effective way to help people to heal.
Then I was trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Finally there was a way of working with people to help them heal not only quickly, but efficiently. I have always felt that clients are experts in themselves, and with EMDR I could effectively tap into their innate drives not only to survive, but to flourish. Learning Progressive Counting (PC) furthered my abilities to get to my clients’ core issues and allow them to heal. I was hungry to learn more and became certified in both EMDR and PC and became an EMDRIA (EMDR International Association) Approved Consultant.
Using the Intensive Model, conducting Intensive Trauma Retreats, enabled me to have a way to bring all my clinical skills together to treat clients in what I honestly believe is the best way possible. Working with someone over the course of an eight hour day, multiple days in a row, allows the time and space to progress chronologically through a client’s worst things list, providing lasting change, growth, and emotional health.