What you don’t know about EMDR trainings can cost you.
As an EMDRIA approved training provider of EMDR Therapy Training and Advanced Trainings, I understand how difficult it is to get trainings approved through the EMDR professional organization, EMDRIA. I also understand how important it is to educate the public about why choosing an EMDRIA approved training is important.
There is a lot of confusion about EMDR trainings. What does EMDRIA approval for your training mean?
1. The training meets a very high standard for content.
2. It meets a minimum number of hours, at least 40 hours of training and 10 hours of consultation.
3. The training meets one of the requirements for EMDRIA Certification.
4. The person offering the training has completed the requirements of an EMDRIA Approved Consultant.
Anyone can offer an EMDR training. My dog Walter could offer a training. You might spend most of the training chasing squirrels around the yard, but technically that could be called therapy.
That is of course an extreme example but less misleading than some of the EMDR trainings that are offered out there. One place on the world wide web that offers EMDR “Intensives” is PESI. One training I found was this one:
“EMDR 3-Day Intensive Training: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Including Neuroscience, Diagnosis, and Effective Practices for Successful Trauma Treatment”
As I read through the description of the training they mention the effectiveness of EMDR therapy, the importance of trauma treatment and the use of bilateral stimulation. But it is what they don’t mention that matters the most.
What is not said?
1. This training is not EMDRIA Approved!
2. After the completion of this training you are not eligible for EMDRIA certification or many of the EMDRIA approved advanced trainings.
3. How much does the trainer know about EMDR? Who trained her to teach EMDR?
My EMDR career started in 1996 by taking an EMDR training in Lansing, Michigan. Dr. Gerald Puk was the instructor and he was one of Francine Shapiro’s original group of trainers. At that time they called the training Level 1 EMDR. For the 2nd weekend of training I flew to San Francisco to complete my training with Dr. Francine Shapiro, the originator of EMDR Therapy. I was then considered Level 2 EMDR trained. Now in order to be EMDR trained you need to complete all 6 days of training and 10 hours of consultation, to meet EMDRIA’s standard.
Prior to my training in EMDR I was trained behaviorally in my clinical psychology graduate program. I was doing Exposure Therapy with clients and it was working. Although I was providing effective therapy for most of my clients, after using EMDR therapy with clients I was immediately hooked and I became an EMDR therapist. I found EMDR to be much kinder and more gentle than Exposure therapy in most cases.
One quality of mine that can also be my downfall is persistence. If I am interested in something I want to know more, I want to take the next step in deepening my knowledge. After my 2nd EMDR training I called the EMDR Institute and asked if I could apply to be an assistant at their trainings. At the time I thought I was volunteering. I filled out the application, took a quiz and completed an interview. I was accepted and began to be trained to be an assistant. I found out after the training started that I would actually get paid to assist!
I was so sold on EMDR as a treatment that I kept taking more steps in my development without regard to money. It was that important to me and it felt that right!
A few years later a dear friend of mine told me that she had been invited to be an volunteer EMDR trainer for EMDR HAP, Humanitarian Assistance Program, now called Trauma Recovery. I immediately expressed that I wanted to do that too! I made a call and my friend and I were both on the road to becoming EMDR trainers who were trained by Dr. Francine Shapiro herself!
The EMDR HAP trainer’s training was held in Sea Ranch, California. We went first to be trained to do the first weekend and then again to be trained to teach the second weekend. Our trainings were held in a house we rented in Sea Ranch. There were about 12 of us becoming trainers and we sat around the living room learning to teach EMDR from Dr. Francine Shapiro! At night we sat in the hot tub together, processing the events of the day and laughing a lot. It was an experience I will treasure forever.
At our trainer’s training we were assigned a part of the training to present to the group and most importantly in front of Dr. Shapiro. I will never forget standing in that living room, looking out on the ocean as my heart pounded out of my chest! There was a beautiful hawk that landed on the tree outside of the window and appeared to be watching me. That hawk seemed to be telling me “all is well”.
After my presentation I was so jacked up that I went for a run during our lunch break. I saw what I believed to be the same hawk, sitting on a fence post, watching me run. The image of that hawk has stayed with me as a resource. As I am writing this I see that hawk as a symbol of my EMDR journey and how right it is for me.
After becoming a volunteer trainer for EMDR HAP, I volunteered for more than 40 trainings across the country. My family would often ask if I was getting paid for the weekends. When I told them no, I was volunteering, I knew they didn’t understand, but I did. I knew that teaching EMDR to clinicians across the country was very important. Like waves from a drop of water, spreading out in all directions, my teaching EMDR was a way to help ease the suffering and pain in the world.
In 2013, after years of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy training, I wrote my own EMDR training manual and developed an EMDR training we call the S.A.F.E. Model. Somatic and attachment focused EMDR was developed to address some of the things I saw missing in the traditional EMDR trainings I was teaching. My Certification in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and extensive EMDR training inform our way of teaching EMDR, S.A.F.E. Model.
Dr. Francine Shapiro is one of the most amazing human beings I have ever met. After the development of EMDR therapy, the 2nd most important thing she did with EMDR was to create EMDRIA, our professional organization. By doing this she has allowed EMDR to have standards and wings. EMDRIA does many things including setting standards and approving training providers and training programs.
Dr. Shapiro’s EMDR Institute and our Personal Transformation Institute are both required to meet the same EMDRIA standards. I spent a year writing the S.A.F.E. Model of EMDR Therapy. It was immediately approved by EMDRIA and we have continued to develop new ways of teaching and supporting the learning of future EMDR therapists. The journey continues!
Excellent update and confirmation that the EMDR training I received through EMDRIA is valid and the only approved approach to become certified in EMDR. Thanks for the update.
Calvin Nelson, LPC, MAC, CCS
Hello Calvin!
Yes, to be clear, your training was through Personal Transformation Institute, which is an EMDRIA approved provider. EMDRIA does not actually offer trainings, it is just our professional organization. Thank you so much for your comment. The conversation helps with making this more clear.
Thank you for being a part of PTI!
Take care!
I did the PESI EMDR training, and it was fantastic! I agree with the importance of having a quality trainer. In the case of PESI, I believe Linda Curran (who typically does those trainings) is very well equipped to do so (and EMDRIA certified, I believe). However, for clinicians struggling to decide if they should do the EMDRIA trainings or not, I would pose the question: Are you certified in CBT? Most clinicians are not, but they use CBT interventions anyway (or ACT, TF_CBT, etc). The same applies to EMDR. I have very successfully incorporated EMDR interventions into my practice, but have no intentions of maintaining an EMDRIA certification. The truth is, you can save a lot of money and hassle by avoiding the training mill of EMDRIA. They have somehow managed to convince clinicians that this is a requirement if they desire to use EMDR. This just isn’t true; but allows EMDRIA to continue to profit by convincing uninformed clinicians it is fact. The only people that should consider an EMDRIA certification are those who would like to be trainers of EMDR, or those who want to strictly practice as EMDR clinicians.
Of course, as with all new additions to your practice, be sure to receive supervision/consultation from someone well-versed in that area until you are confident it is within your scope
Hello Frank,
Thank you for your comment. I’m happy you found your PESI training to be useful. Since I haven’t taken that training, I can’t speak to the quality of it. I can only say, some people have been mislead into thinking they are taking an EMDR training that qualifies them to go on for EMDRIA Certification and this is not the case with a PESI EMDR training. According to the PESI site, it looks like Linda has completed the basic EMDR training but there is no reference to certification or EMDRIA approval. I’m not saying she hasn’t completed it but it says Level 2 trained, which is an old term for the completion of the 6 day EMDR initial training.
EMDRIA doesn’t profit, EMDRIA is the EMDR professional organization that helps set standards. EMDRIA doesn’t offer trainings, they only set standards and approve training programs that meet those high standards.
One of the things that we as the members have developed is the EMDRIA Certification. I have found the best reason to go for certification is to increase competency in EMDR. This step isn’t for everyone but it is beneficial in more ways than just being a trainer.
I welcome your conversation.
Respectfully,
Deb
I think it’s pretty misleading to say that EMDRIA doesn’t profit. They have their hand in our pockets for everything. The cost of an EMDRIA approved basic training, the required consultation, the 12 hours of additional CEUs and the payment for certification is over four THOUSAND dollars.
PESI training is just fine for learning the basics of EMDR. I am sorry but one does not need to be “Certified” to offer “CBT” or the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). You also don’t need to be “certified” to do basic drug and alcohol counseling.
The important thing is to have serious training on trauma and the treatment of trauma. If you take the PESI training and start offering EMDR, make sure you have consultation and supervision in place for trauma related issues.
But let’s be clear – certification is completely voluntary. If you have received training through an approved CEU provider to your profession (APA for example or NASW), you can ethically and legally state you have been trained in a modality.
I also thought the PESI training was fantastic. Ms. Curran makes it clear from the start of the training that is it not an EMDRIA approved training. She doesn’t hide this fact at all. I understand that it may be frustrating for those who have trained extensively that someone can practice EMDR with a shorter training time, though this is the same argument that psychologists hold over LPMHCs. Just because you spent more time training doesn’t mean I can’t effectively practice EMDR. I don’t pretend to be credentialed in it, but I have been trained and have practiced it innumerable times. If I don’t utilize it where I feel it could be useful then I am failing my profession. I wouldn’t utilize a treatment modality unless I felt knowledgable enough to do so.
I respect your passion for EMDR, just think it is exclusive to those who maybe can’t afford the EMDRIA trainings and still want to practice it.
Hello Katie,
I appreciate the discussion. As I look at the advertisement for the PESI training there is nothing in that material warning that it is not EMDRIA approved and therefore, cannot be applied toward EMDRIA certification. The cost is 549.00 for a 3 day training. Our trainings are 6 days and 10 hours of consultation. Our discounted sponsoring agency price is 999.00 for the full training. That makes it less expensive per hour than the PESI training and people get an full EMDRIA approved training. I’m not arguing that Linda is not good trainer, she does a lot of training and I’m sure she is good at it. I just think people should know from the advertising exactly what they are getting. I have met people who did not feel informed and were upset to find they could not attend some EMDRIA advanced trainings and were not eligible for certification.
I’m also not saying you are not effectively using EMDR, I have not way of knowing that. In theory, someone may be able to effectively do EMDR with no live training, only reading the book and watching youtube videos. I’m talking about being clear from the advertising so people know exactly what they are getting when selecting an EMDR Therapy training.
Respectfully,https://www.emdr-training.net/wp-admin/edit-comments.php#comments-form
Deb
I am an EMDRIA Approved Consultant and have facilitated multiple EMDRIA Approved Basic Trainings. I have been able review a copy of the PESI training manual so have some actual means of comparison. The PESI training is a significantly modified version of EMDR and certainly not the model developed by Shapiro as it does not include Eye Movements and only teaches Tactile Bilateral Stimulation. In reviewing the EMDR therapy research all controlled studies have only used Eye Movements. At this point we do not know the effectiveness of using Tactile Bilateral stimulation only.
EMDR therapy under the Shapiro model is a comprehensive treatment modality not just a technique for trauma processing. The 8 Phases of the Shapiro model which the controlled research is based on has very specific processes. According to the ACA code of ethics:
”C.2.b. New Specialty Areas of Practice
Counselors practice in specialty areas new to them only after appropriate education, training, and supervised experience. While developing skills in new specialty areas, counselors take steps to ensure the competence of their work and protect others from possible harm.“
PESI training gives you a three day training and says you are competent to do their version of EMDR. As stated above Standards of Care guidelines through EMDRI state that you must complete 40 hours of training and 10 additional consultation hours to be considered the basic level of training. I have personally witnessed in multiple trainings the intense struggle for practitioners to absorb the massive amount of information given to them in these two weekends and then try to implement in practice. Having also provided the consultation hours to these therapists I believe the ability for them to review the materials, ask questions one on one, and get direction on actual cases is a critical step towards competency. Additionally it is an important question to be asked that if you are called before the board in your use of EMDR how will you defend your decision to deviate from the establish standards of care in taking the PESI training?
I am a practicing EMDR therapist and use it as my primary modality. I have observed beautiful results from clients whose life has been transformed through the use of the model. I have also treated clients who have done EMDR with incompetent therapists who are in desperate need and refuse to try EMDR again because of there horrific experience. Fidelity to the Shapiro EMDR model has been studied and demonstrated that novice therapists who are true to the model obtain better results than experienced therapists that deviate. The PESI EMDR model is a significant deviation and has the potential of polluting the public mind who do not know the difference in the levels of training that does not meet sufficient standards to be utilized safely with clients.