You built a life through discipline, urgency, and excellence.
Now your nervous system doesn’t know how to stand down.
You are the competent one. The reliable one. The one who handles the crisis while everyone else falls apart — and then goes home and can’t sleep.
You’ve tried the vacation. The meditation app. The “better boundaries.” Six months later, you’re back in the same place.
You sit down to rest and within ten minutes you’ve found something to fix. Calm doesn’t feel like safety — it feels like a warning. When things are going well, you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You hit the goal. You feel nothing for 48 hours. Then you find the next one.
Success keeps moving. The finish line keeps moving. And somewhere underneath all of it, you are exhausted in a way that sleep doesn’t fix.
What you call “drive” may be a nervous system that learned early that slowing down wasn’t safe.
Many high achievers grew up in environments where emotional needs weren’t prioritized, chaos was normal, performance created safety, and being low maintenance was rewarded.
The coping strategy that built your career is the same one that is now running your life — and running you into the ground.
You’ve tried the vacation. The meditation app. The “better boundaries.” Six months later, you’re back in the same place.
You sit down to rest and within ten minutes you’ve found something to fix. Calm doesn’t feel like safety — it feels like a warning. When things are going well, you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.
You hit the goal. You feel nothing for 48 hours. Then you find the next one.
Success keeps moving. The finish line keeps moving. And somewhere underneath all of it, you are exhausted in a way that sleep doesn’t fix.
What you call “drive” may be a nervous system that learned early that slowing down wasn’t safe.
Many high achievers grew up in environments where emotional needs weren’t prioritized, chaos was normal, performance created safety, and being low maintenance was rewarded.
The coping strategy that built your career is the same one that is now running your life — and running you into the ground.
What This Intensive Actually does
This is not a retreat. It is not a container. It is not a place to process your feelings in a circle.
It is 2–3 consecutive days of concentrated, structured, trauma-informed clinical work — designed specifically for high-achieving adults whose nervous systems have been rehearsing activation for decades.
Over the course of the intensive, we will:
By the end of the intensive, you will have a clear, mapped understanding of your own activation patterns, a named account of the specific experiences that wired them, and direct, practiced experience of what regulated feels like in your body — not just as a concept
It is 2–3 consecutive days of concentrated, structured, trauma-informed clinical work — designed specifically for high-achieving adults whose nervous systems have been rehearsing activation for decades.
Over the course of the intensive, we will:
- Map your nervous system patterns under stress — identifying your specific activation triggers, escalation patterns, and the points at which you shut down or override
- Identify the trauma-linked beliefs driving over-functioning — the early experiences that taught your nervous system that urgency was necessary for safety
- Target performance-based identity structures — the parts of you that equate worth with output, and that collapse when achievement is removed
- Interrupt activation cycles in real time — not just understanding them intellectually, but practicing interruption while activated Recalibrate safety without removing ambition — building a nervous system that can tolerate calm without interpreting it as danger
- Build capacity for calm without collapse — so that rest feels like rest, not like failure or threat
By the end of the intensive, you will have a clear, mapped understanding of your own activation patterns, a named account of the specific experiences that wired them, and direct, practiced experience of what regulated feels like in your body — not just as a concept
What we work on specifically:
- Chronic fight-or-flight activation that doesn’t switch off
- Inability to rest without guilt or restlessness
- Work addiction operating beneath the surface of high performance
- Relationship strain from over-control and emotional unavailability
- Chaos-seeking when things feel too calm or too good
- Emotional detachment disguised as independence or resilience
- Physical symptoms of chronic activation: insomnia, jaw tension, getting sick every time you stop
- Collapsing when achievement is removed — illness, depression, identity crisis
- Burnout that keeps returning despite doing “all the right things”
- The inability to receive care, support, or help without feeling weak
What This Is Not |
Who It’s For |
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This is not:
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This intensive is for:
Entrepreneurs Executives Physicians High-performing clinicians Founders “The strong one” in their family |
Why an Intensive (Not Weekly Therapy)
Weekly therapy is valuable. It builds insight, maintains momentum, and provides consistent support. But it works at the pace of your schedule — 50 minutes, once a week, with a week of ordinary life in between.
For a nervous system that has been rehearsing activation for 20 or 30 years, that pace is often not enough to create structural change. You gain insight. You understand the pattern. You leave the session with clarity — and then the week happens, and the pattern runs again.
Intensives work differently. Concentrated time creates the conditions for depth that weekly sessions cannot. When you are not starting over each week, you can go further. When the work is not interrupted by seven days of ordinary life, the nervous system has a chance to actually shift — not just to understand that it should.
High performers, in particular, often find that weekly therapy maintains the status quo rather than interrupting it. You are skilled at managing a 50-minute session. You know how to be insightful, articulate, and composed. An intensive is designed to move past that — into the material that doesn’t surface in a managed hour.
This is not about speed for its own sake. It is about creating the conditions that make real change possible for a nervous system that has been very good at staying defended.
For a nervous system that has been rehearsing activation for 20 or 30 years, that pace is often not enough to create structural change. You gain insight. You understand the pattern. You leave the session with clarity — and then the week happens, and the pattern runs again.
Intensives work differently. Concentrated time creates the conditions for depth that weekly sessions cannot. When you are not starting over each week, you can go further. When the work is not interrupted by seven days of ordinary life, the nervous system has a chance to actually shift — not just to understand that it should.
High performers, in particular, often find that weekly therapy maintains the status quo rather than interrupting it. You are skilled at managing a 50-minute session. You know how to be insightful, articulate, and composed. An intensive is designed to move past that — into the material that doesn’t surface in a managed hour.
This is not about speed for its own sake. It is about creating the conditions that make real change possible for a nervous system that has been very good at staying defended.
About Dr. Sally E. Riggs, DClinPsy
NY, NJ, PA, FL & TX Licensed Psychologist
Diplomate of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies
I know this pattern from the inside.
I was that person.
Type A. Disciplined. Relentless. High-functioning.
I built my life on intensity.
I ran three businesses. I trained for and ran marathons and ultramarathons.
Achievement felt stabilizing.
Pushing felt normal.
Rest felt earned — or unsafe.
For years, I mistook activation for strength.
Until I didn’t.
Life dealt me a curve ball in the form of a debilitating, disabling illness that totally shut down my nervous system (and took hold because my nervous system was constantly on high alert).
Recovering Type A is not about becoming soft.
It’s about building a nervous system that no longer needs urgency to feel alive.
I’ve done that work myself.
Now I help other high-achieving adults step out of constant activation and build a nervous system that can actually support their life.
I was that person.
Type A. Disciplined. Relentless. High-functioning.
I built my life on intensity.
I ran three businesses. I trained for and ran marathons and ultramarathons.
Achievement felt stabilizing.
Pushing felt normal.
Rest felt earned — or unsafe.
For years, I mistook activation for strength.
Until I didn’t.
Life dealt me a curve ball in the form of a debilitating, disabling illness that totally shut down my nervous system (and took hold because my nervous system was constantly on high alert).
Recovering Type A is not about becoming soft.
It’s about building a nervous system that no longer needs urgency to feel alive.
I’ve done that work myself.
Now I help other high-achieving adults step out of constant activation and build a nervous system that can actually support their life.
Structure & Investment
Format: Virtual therapy intensives are available to clients currently residing in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Texas. A limited number of in-person intensives are offered in Houston, Texas, and are open to clients residing in any state.
Duration: 2–3 consecutive days of concentrated clinical work.
What is included:
Investment: $7,000 -$12,000. Investment varies based on scope and duration.
Application required.
Duration: 2–3 consecutive days of concentrated clinical work.
What is included:
- Pre-intensive assessment session — a dedicated session to map your history, patterns, and goals before the intensive begins
- 2–3 consecutive days of intensive clinical work
- Nervous system regulation elements and somatic practices, incorporated where clinically appropriate (including potentially the Safe and Sound Protocol)
- Post-intensive integration plan to support the changes made and sustain the work beyond the intensive
Investment: $7,000 -$12,000. Investment varies based on scope and duration.
Application required.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Is this therapy or coaching? This is therapy — specifically, structured, trauma informed psychotherapy delivered in an intensive format. It is not coaching, consulting, or a wellness program. Dr. Riggs is a licensed psychologist (DClinPsy) with 25 years of clinical experience.
Do I need to have done therapy before? Not necessarily. Some clients come with years of prior therapy experience; others are doing this kind of work for the first time. What matters more than prior therapy history is readiness — a genuine willingness to do concentrated, sometimes uncomfortable work over 2–3 consecutive days.
What does “virtual” mean for an intensive? Virtual intensives are conducted via a secure, hipaa compliant video platform. The sessions are the same in structure and depth as in person work. Virtual availability is limited to clients currently residing in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, or Texas at the time of services.
How is this different from a therapy retreat? A therapy retreat typically combines therapeutic elements with wellness activities, group work, and a residential setting. This intensive is one-on-one clinical work only — no group components, no wellness programming. It is concentrated individual psychotherapy delivered over consecutive days.
How do I know if I’m a good fit? The application process is designed to assess fit. If you are a high-achieving adult who is externally functional but internally exhausted — and you are ready to do something fundamentally different rather than manage symptoms — you are likely a good candidate. Once your application is reviewed and accepted, you will pay at least 50% of the intensive fee, complete a client assessment workbook and schedule your pre intensive assessment session, where your goals and treatment plan are established together.
What is the pre-intensive assessment session? Once your application is accepted, you will pay a minimum 50% deposit, complete a client assessment workbook covering your history, patterns, and goals, and schedule the pre-intensive assessment session. That session is a dedicated clinical session to review your workbook, identify the specific goals of your intensive, and build your individual treatment plan together. This is where the work is mapped — so that when the intensive begins, we are not starting from scratch. Typically this session happens around 2 weeks prior to your intensive.
What happens after the intensive? Every intensive concludes with a structured post-intensive integration plan. This is not a one-time event with no follow-up — the integration plan is designed to support the changes made during the intensive and provide a clear path forward. We will also meet 2-4 weeks after your Therapy Intensive A 45-minute follow-up interview is scheduled 2-4 weeks after your final processing session. This time is used to connect the changes that you have made in your body in the therapy intensive program to difficult situations you anticipate encountering in the future.
Do I need to have done therapy before? Not necessarily. Some clients come with years of prior therapy experience; others are doing this kind of work for the first time. What matters more than prior therapy history is readiness — a genuine willingness to do concentrated, sometimes uncomfortable work over 2–3 consecutive days.
What does “virtual” mean for an intensive? Virtual intensives are conducted via a secure, hipaa compliant video platform. The sessions are the same in structure and depth as in person work. Virtual availability is limited to clients currently residing in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, or Texas at the time of services.
How is this different from a therapy retreat? A therapy retreat typically combines therapeutic elements with wellness activities, group work, and a residential setting. This intensive is one-on-one clinical work only — no group components, no wellness programming. It is concentrated individual psychotherapy delivered over consecutive days.
How do I know if I’m a good fit? The application process is designed to assess fit. If you are a high-achieving adult who is externally functional but internally exhausted — and you are ready to do something fundamentally different rather than manage symptoms — you are likely a good candidate. Once your application is reviewed and accepted, you will pay at least 50% of the intensive fee, complete a client assessment workbook and schedule your pre intensive assessment session, where your goals and treatment plan are established together.
What is the pre-intensive assessment session? Once your application is accepted, you will pay a minimum 50% deposit, complete a client assessment workbook covering your history, patterns, and goals, and schedule the pre-intensive assessment session. That session is a dedicated clinical session to review your workbook, identify the specific goals of your intensive, and build your individual treatment plan together. This is where the work is mapped — so that when the intensive begins, we are not starting from scratch. Typically this session happens around 2 weeks prior to your intensive.
What happens after the intensive? Every intensive concludes with a structured post-intensive integration plan. This is not a one-time event with no follow-up — the integration plan is designed to support the changes made during the intensive and provide a clear path forward. We will also meet 2-4 weeks after your Therapy Intensive A 45-minute follow-up interview is scheduled 2-4 weeks after your final processing session. This time is used to connect the changes that you have made in your body in the therapy intensive program to difficult situations you anticipate encountering in the future.
Apply for the Recovering Type A Intensive
If you’re ready to stop running your life on stress and urgency, complete the application below.
Applications are reviewed individually. If you have questions before applying, you are welcome to call the practice directly
Applications are reviewed individually. If you have questions before applying, you are welcome to call the practice directly
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t - 646 868 8396
f - 646 768 9496
f - 646 768 9496
NYC CBTp is now Riggs Psychology Practice, PLLC
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