Every week we get some version of the same question: “I finished my EMDR basic training. Am I certified now?” It is a fair question, because the terms get used loosely all over the internet, and the answer changes what you can say about yourself professionally.
Short version: basic training and certification are two different milestones. Here is what each one means, and how to decide whether certification is worth pursuing.
What EMDR basic training is
Basic training is the entry point. An EMDRIA-approved basic training (like PTI’s 6-Day Basic Training) covers the full standard protocol: history taking, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and reevaluation, along with supervised practicum and required consultation. When you complete it, you are trained in EMDR and can ethically use it with clients within your license and competence.
What you are not, yet, is “EMDRIA Certified.” Completing basic training makes you eligible to begin that path, not finished with it.
What EMDR certification is
Certification in EMDR is a separate credential granted by EMDRIA, earned after basic training through documented clinical experience, ongoing consultation with an Approved Consultant, and additional EMDRIA-approved continuing education. It signals to clients, colleagues, and referral sources that you did not stop at the training: you practiced the model under expert eyes and refined it.
EMDRIA’s requirements include a minimum number of EMDR sessions across a minimum number of clients, a set number of consultation hours with an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, additional EMDRIA-approved CE hours, and professional references. The specific numbers are set by EMDRIA and can change, so confirm the current requirements directly on EMDRIA’s website before you plan your timeline.
Do you need certification to practice EMDR?
No. If you completed an EMDRIA-approved basic training, you can use EMDR in your practice. Certification is optional.
So why do it? Three honest reasons. First, the consultation hours make you noticeably better; there is no substitute for reviewing your actual cases with someone who has seen a thousand of them. Second, the credential matters in directories, with certain referral sources, and increasingly to informed clients who search for it. Third, it is the required step toward becoming an Approved Consultant yourself later, if teaching and mentoring are in your future.
How PTI’s Advanced Certification Package works
Our Advanced Certification Package is built for clinicians who finished an EMDRIA-approved basic training and want to pursue certification with structure instead of piecing it together. The package meets the consultation and continuing education requirements set by EMDRIA, and it teaches the S.A.F.E. EMDR concepts (Somatic and Attachment Focused EMDR) alongside the traditional procedures. If your basic training was not with PTI, we recommend completing the 12-hour S.A.F.E. course before starting consultation so the framework is familiar.
One thing to know going in: this is a working program. You will demonstrate all phases of the EMDR model and receive specific, behavioral feedback from a PTI-approved consultant. If you are looking for a group that just talks about cases, this is not that, on purpose. The clinicians who finish it tell us the demonstration-and-feedback structure is where the real growth happened.
Which one is right for you right now?
If you have not done basic training, that is the whole decision: start there, and choose carefully (we wrote a companion piece on the seven questions to ask before registering). If you finished basic training in the last year or two and are using EMDR weekly, certification is the highest-leverage next step for your skills and your referrals. If you finished basic training a while ago and feel rusty, a refresher first is the honest move, then certification.
👉 Explore the Advanced Certification Package
👉 Sign up for our next free EMDR webinar
👉 Access the Pathways CE Library