“The Clearing”
1:1 IFS Session
90-minute in-depth IFS session(s)
The Clearing is a private, 90-minute 1:1 deep-dive intensive — IFS and IFS-Informed EMDR with Emily Pagone, MS, LCPC, in person in Hinsdale, IL. Whether you can only commit to one session a month or you're ready for one a week, the rhythm is entirely yours. No program to complete, no group to perform for — just the lowest-commitment trail at “camp”, built for the woman who wants transformation that's genuine and unhurried: the kind that doesn't inch forward, but arrives whole the moment a part of you is finally heard.
Your journey starts here:
In a forest, a clearing is the place where the light gets in — open, protected, and existing for no other reason than to give you room. That's exactly what this is. The Clearing was built for the woman who wants the work without the weight of a program:
→ You're curious about IFS, but you're not ready to commit six weeks or six months to anything — your calendar is already a group project.
→ You've done therapy before, maybe you're in it now, and you want something deeper and more concentrated than a weekly 50 minutes.
→ You have one thing — a stuck decision, a relentless inner critic, a knot you keep re-tying — and you want real time inside it, with a licensed clinician, without a waitlist of sessions before you get there.
→ You give something to everyone, every day. You want one container where something is finally given to you.
There is no minimum here — and no ceiling. Come once and take something real home. Come monthly and let The Clearing become the standing appointment that holds your whole season. Come weekly and watch the work compound — unhurried, genuine, and quietly seismic, ninety minutes at a time. Whatever your rhythm, you'll leave every single session with something you can use. That's the promise of The Clearing.
What Happens in a 90-minute
Intensive Session?
Ninety minutes is a different animal than a standard session. There's room to arrive, room to go somewhere real, and room to come back — nothing gets opened that doesn't get tended before you leave.
The work itself is Internal Family Systems (IFS) — and where it serves you, IFS-Informed EMDR. In plain language:
IFS understands you not as one voice but as a system of parts — the achiever, the perfectionist, the one who plans everything, and yes, the inner critic reciting at 2am. In our time together you'll actually meet these parts, with curiosity instead of combat, and discover the steady, compassionate Self underneath them all. Most campers are startled by how quickly a part softens once it's finally heard.
IFS-Informed EMDR pairs that parts-work with bilateral stimulation — a gentle, evidence-based way of helping the nervous system reprocess what it's been carrying. Where classic EMDR targets a memory, the IFS-informed approach makes sure every part of you consents to the work first. Nothing is forced. Ever. That's not just a preference; it's the clinical model.
You don't need to know any of this vocabulary to begin. You just need to show up. Your system already knows the way.
One morning a month — or one a week, when your system is ready for more. Ninety minutes that belong entirely to you, giving something back every single time: genuine, unhurried transformation, one deep dive at a time. Your fall spot is one deposit away — and your deposit is your first session.
You are deserving + worthy of healing
Each intensive is designed to stand on its own — you arrive with what's present, we work, and you leave with something concrete: a map of the parts that showed up, a first-name relationship with your inner critic, one practice for the moment it gets loud again.
Become Self-Aware
You are you for a reason, and you belong. This isn’t about changing you–it’s about embracing each layer of your being so you can live with more truth and joy.
meet yourself
No performance, no pace but yours. There's no cohort to keep up with and no curriculum to fall behind on. Your system sets the depth and the speed.
About Emily→
Emily Pagone, MS, LCPC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, founder and CEO of Authentic Growth Wellness Group — a trauma-informed mental health practice in Hinsdale — and host of The Inner Critic Podcast. Her work lives where your inner world and your business meet: IFS-rooted, somatic, trauma-informed, and unhurried. She built The Clearing for the woman who holds everything for everyone, so that - at least - once a month, for ninety minutes, someone is finally holding her.
Trusted IFS Therapy:
Emily is formally IFS level 1 + 2 trained, and has served as a Program assistant 4x with the ifs institute.
honored to be your partner and guide in your healing journey