EMDR Is a Modality, Not a Tool
This is the first thing we tell clinicians on Day 1 of training, and it's the thing most people underestimate before they get into the room.
"For therapists hoping for some clarification on EMDR, understand this is not simply a therapy tool. This is a therapy modality. EMDR therapists constantly think through an EMDR lens, which completely changes how cases are conceptualized, starting with the very first session."
— Jamie Sedgwick, LCPC, EMDRIA Approved Consultant
That distinction matters. A tool is something you pull out when the situation calls for it. A modality reshapes how you think about every client who walks through your door. When clinicians tell us EMDR training was worth the investment, they're rarely talking about a new technique they added to their toolbox. They're talking about a shift in how they understand what drives symptoms, how they build treatment plans, and what they believe is possible in a therapy session.
We know trauma is stored in the limbic brain, which means we need something beyond talk therapy to access it. Trauma is also a body process. Any treatment approach worth investing in has to involve the body in processing (van der Kolk, 2014). That's the clinical gap EMDR was built to address, and it's why we believe every therapist treating trauma needs to know how to do it.
If you want a deeper look at the Adaptive Information Processing model, the neuroscience, and the full evidence base, we've written a clinical overview that covers it. This page is about the practical path: what EMDR training involves, what changes in your practice, and how to get started.
What Changes After EMDR Training
We're putting this section near the top because it's what most clinicians actually want to know, even if they start by asking about logistics. The logistics matter. But the reason you're considering this investment is because something in your clinical work isn't reaching far enough, and you want to know if EMDR will change that.
Here's what we see shift in clinicians who go through our training:
How You Listen
Before EMDR training, a client describing anxiety around conflict registers as an anxiety presentation. After training, you hear it differently. You're already tracing backward: what's the earliest memory of conflict that still carries emotional charge? What belief got encoded with that experience? What present-day situations are activating that same neural pathway?
This isn't about reducing people to their worst moments. It's about understanding that present-day symptoms have roots in specific linked experiences, and that you can build a treatment plan that targets those roots directly instead of managing what grows from them. The Adaptive Information Processing model (Shapiro, 2001; Solomon & Shapiro, 2008) provides the theoretical framework for this kind of case conceptualization.
How You Plan Treatment
Your sessions take on a different structure. You know when a client needs more stabilization before you touch trauma material, how to sequence targets across a treatment plan, and how to use the eight phases of EMDR as a clinical roadmap rather than a rigid script. The three-pronged protocol (past experiences, present triggers, future templates) gives you a framework for treatment planning that goes well beyond symptom reduction.
What Happens in Session
This is the part that's hardest to convey on a page and easiest to see in person. During reprocessing, you watch clients make connections you didn't anticipate, arrive at insights that might have taken months of talk therapy to surface, and move through material in ways that look nothing like any other therapeutic modality. The client's brain is doing the processing. Your job is to hold the conditions and step in skillfully when things get stuck.
How You Talk to Clients About Their Treatment
You explain trauma and treatment differently after EMDR training. You can help clients understand why their body still reacts even when their mind knows they're safe. You can describe what reprocessing will feel like and what to expect. Clients feel more informed and more willing to engage with the work because you're giving them a framework that matches their lived experience.
How the Work Sits with You
We hear this in nearly every training cohort, usually toward the end: clinicians saying they feel less heavy about trauma work than they expected. Research supports what we observe anecdotally. Clinicians using evidence-based trauma treatments that produce measurable resolution report lower rates of compassion fatigue and higher professional satisfaction (Craig & Sprang, 2010). You still carry the weight of sitting with people's pain. But you also watch people get better, often faster than you thought possible, and that changes how sustainable the work feels over time.
What Is EMDR Basic Training?
EMDR Basic Training is not a weekend CE course. It's an EMDRIA-approved training program that provides all the required components for you to begin practicing EMDR therapy with your clients.
"Training happens best in a relational setting where individuals can feel comfortable sharing and asking questions. We work to provide content in multiple formats: didactic, visual, auditory, experiential, and through discussion."
— Rachel Harrison, LCPC, EMDRIA Approved Trainer and Consultant
What the Training Includes
EMDRIA-approved Basic Training has specific requirements that every approved provider must meet (EMDRIA, n.d.-a):
- Six days of live training, typically split into two three-day segments. The first segment covers AIP theory, the neurobiology of trauma, phases 1 through 8 of the Standard Protocol, and EMDR as a three-pronged approach. The second segment teaches advanced skills to address stuck processing, complex trauma, and additional protocols (recent event, pendulation, DeTur). Both segments include significant practice time.
- Ten hours of group consultation with your training cohort, facilitated by an EMDRIA Approved Consultant. This is where you bring your real cases, get feedback, and work through the clinical questions that only come up once you start using EMDR with actual clients.
- Experiential practice sessions where you rotate through the roles of client, therapist, and observer. You don't just learn about EMDR. You experience it. This is often the most powerful part of training for clinicians, because feeling what reprocessing is like from the client's seat changes how you facilitate it.
- Required reading: Francine Shapiro's Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (3rd ed.; Shapiro, 2018). This is the foundational text for the modality, and you'll reference it throughout training and beyond.
What the Training Feels Like
Most clinicians walk into Day 1 with a mix of curiosity and skepticism. By Day 3, something has usually shifted. You've seen EMDR work in the practice sessions. You've felt it work on you. The theoretical framework starts clicking into place because you've experienced what it describes.
The second segment is where the clinical depth opens up. You're learning how to handle blocked processing, how to work with clients who dissociate during sessions, how to manage intense abreactive responses. This is also where your existing clinical skills start to integrate with the EMDR framework. If you have a background in CBT, DBT, IFS, somatic work, or psychodynamic practice, you'll find connection points faster than you expect.
By the end of training, you won't feel like an expert. Nobody does after six days. But you'll have enough clinical grounding to start using EMDR with appropriate cases. We provide options for ongoing consultation after Basic Training, including closed cohort consultation groups for a year after training through EMDR Circle.
The Path from Trained to Certified
The progression is straightforward, even if the timeline varies by person.
EMDR Trained
Completing Basic Training (six days plus ten hours of consultation) makes you "EMDR trained" and allows you to begin using EMDR with clients. Most training programs can be completed within about 90 days when the segments and consultation hours are scheduled back to back. EMDRIA requires that you complete all components within 12 months of your start date (EMDRIA, n.d.-a).
Building Clinical Competence
Your understanding of EMDR as a modality deepens in the year after your Basic Training as you begin integrating EMDR into your practice. This is where you learn to case-conceptualize as an EMDR therapist. This is also where you begin to understand the importance of ongoing learning, and possibly consultation, as you work through blocked processing, complex trauma presentations, dissociation, and sessions that may not go the way you had planned. Accessing ongoing support through advanced training and consultation helps you work through these learning experiences and increase your confidence.
EMDRIA Certification
Certification is a separate, voluntary credential that signals deeper commitment to the modality. You must hold full, independent licensure to apply. Beyond completing Basic Training, EMDRIA Certification requires (EMDRIA, n.d.-b):
- At least two years of experience in your field of license
- At least 50 EMDR sessions with at least 25 clients
- 20 additional hours of consultation with an EMDRIA Approved Consultant (at least 10 individual)
- 12 hours of EMDRIA Credits (continuing education in EMDR)
- Two letters of recommendation
- Application to EMDRIA
Most clinicians complete the full path from starting Basic Training to earning certification in 12 to 18 months. Our Certification Track provides everything you need in one package if you want a clear, structured route. We also offer consultation groups and advanced trainings if you prefer to build the path at your own pace.
Who Is Eligible for EMDR Training?
EMDRIA sets the eligibility requirements (EMDRIA, n.d.-c). Here's who qualifies:
Licensed Mental Health Professionals
Professionals with a master's degree in counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, social work, art therapy, or a related discipline, licensed through their state board or province.
Pre-Licensed Clinicians
Clinicians actively pursuing licensure through their state board while working under a licensed supervisor. This includes associate, intern, limited, provisional, temporary, and pre-license designations.
Graduate Students
Students enrolled in a master's or doctoral program in a mental health field who have completed core academic coursework and are in the practicum or internship phase of their program under supervision. First-year students are not eligible.
Medical Professionals
Licensed MDs and advanced practice registered nurses with a Master of Science in Nursing (or higher) specializing in psychiatric mental health nursing.
If you're unsure whether you qualify, reach out to us and we'll help you figure it out.
Choosing a Training Program
EMDRIA standardizes the core content, which means every approved provider covers the same material. What varies is how it's taught and who's teaching it. Those differences matter more than most clinicians realize before they sign up.
Here's what we'd encourage you to evaluate, and how we think about it at TSTI:
Who Is Teaching?
The best EMDR trainers are clinicians who are still treating clients every week. Not former clinicians. Not academics. People who were in a therapy room yesterday and will be in one tomorrow. When a trainee asks "what do you do when a client freezes mid-processing?", you want a trainer who can answer from last Tuesday, not from a textbook.
At TSTI: Our trainers and facilitators maintain active caseloads. They bring real (de-identified) clinical scenarios into the training room because those are the moments where the learning lands.
How Big Is the Group?
Practice sessions are where EMDR training becomes real. You're practicing bilateral stimulation, running through the phases, and getting feedback in the moment. In a room of 40 or 50 people with one trainer and one facilitator, the ratio doesn't allow for meaningful individual attention.
At TSTI: We keep our cohorts small enough that our facilitators and consultants can observe your practice, give you specific feedback, and catch the mistakes that are normal for new learners but important to correct early.
What Happens After Training Ends?
Some providers hand you a certificate on Day 6 and you never hear from them again. We think that's a missed opportunity, because the hardest part of learning EMDR isn't the training itself. It's the first six months of using it with real clients.
At TSTI: We offer ongoing consultation groups specifically designed for post-training clinicians. You can stay with your original training cohort or join one of our beginner cohorts, a group designed for clinicians in their first year of post-training practice who want structured, continued learning. Either way, you have experienced consultants available when you hit a wall with a case, and you're building toward certification with every session.
Does the Training Address Complex Presentations?
A lot of your clients won't present with clean, single-incident PTSD. They'll have complex trauma histories, dissociative features, attachment wounds, and comorbid diagnoses. Basic Training should give you enough grounding in these presentations to know what you're working with, even though deeper competence requires advanced training.
At TSTI: We introduce the structural dissociation model (Van der Hart, Nijenhuis, & Steele, 2006) during Basic Training because we've seen too many clinicians hit a wall with complex cases and wish they'd been exposed to this framework earlier.
Your Next Step
You're probably in one of three places right now. Here's the path forward for each:
I'm exploring EMDR for the first time
Start with our clinical overview of the model, the evidence base, and how EMDR works.
Read: Understanding EMDRI'm ready to train
View our upcoming cohorts, format options, and registration. Questions about eligibility? Reach out directly.
View Basic Training ScheduleI'm trained and want to go deeper
Explore advanced trainings in complex trauma, dissociation, and attachment-informed EMDR. Working toward certification? Our consultation groups provide the hours you need.
Explore Advanced TrainingFrequently Asked Questions
Can I do EMDR training online?
Yes. EMDRIA approves both in-person and virtual formats, as long as the training is live and synchronous (EMDRIA, n.d.-a). Practice segments happen in small groups via video conferencing. Check with specific providers about their format options. We offer both.
What if I've already done a one-day or two-day EMDR training?
Those don't count toward EMDRIA requirements. EMDR Basic Training can only be completed through an EMDRIA-approved provider, and shorter trainings don't meet the standard. The good news is that any exposure you've already had to the model will give you a head start when you enter Basic Training.
Can consultation hours count toward my clinical supervision for licensure?
No. EMDRIA consultation and clinical supervision for licensure are separate. Consultants don't take clinical responsibility for your cases the way supervisors do. You'll need both if you're pre-licensed.
What if I'm trained in another trauma modality (PE, CPT, Somatic Experiencing)?
You'll likely find that your existing training makes you a stronger EMDR clinician. The frameworks aren't in competition. Clinicians with PE backgrounds bring strong exposure tolerance skills. CPT-trained therapists bring cognitive precision. Somatic practitioners bring body awareness that deepens EMDR's Phase 6 work. EMDR doesn't ask you to unlearn what you already know. It adds a dimension. For a detailed breakdown of how specific modalities connect to EMDR, see our section on integrating EMDR into existing practice.
How do I find an EMDRIA-approved training?
You can search the EMDRIA provider directory directly. Trauma Specialists Training Institute is an EMDRIA-approved provider offering Basic Training, advanced trainings, and ongoing consultation. View our upcoming training dates.
References
Craig, C. D., & Sprang, G. (2010). Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout in a national sample of trauma treatment therapists. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 23(3), 319-339. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615800903085818
EMDRIA. (n.d.-a). EMDR basic training. EMDR International Association. https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/
EMDRIA. (n.d.-b). EMDRIA Certified Therapist application. EMDR International Association. https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/emdr-certification-2/
EMDRIA. (n.d.-c). Eligibility requirements for EMDR basic training. EMDR International Association. https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/eligibility-requirements-for-emdr-training/
Shapiro, F. (2001). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
Solomon, R. M., & Shapiro, F. (2008). EMDR and the adaptive information processing model: Potential mechanisms of change. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 2(4), 315-325. doi:10.1891/1933-3196.2.4.315
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E. R. S., & Steele, K. (2006). The haunted self: Structural dissociation and the treatment of chronic traumatization. W. W. Norton.
The Trauma Specialists Training Institute (TSTI) is an EMDRIA-approved provider of EMDR Basic Training, advanced clinical trainings, and consultation services. For more than a decade, TSTI has trained mental health professionals across Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and beyond in evidence-based trauma treatment.