How to Become a Certified EMDR Therapist

The innate desire to help people is a wonderful trait. Becoming a therapist takes compassion, patience, and determination—with extremely gratifying results, knowing you have truly helped someone in their mental health journey.

You may want to stay current or expand upon your professional expertise through continuing education (CE). You may want to learn how to help people deal with trauma or wish to explore which area of mental health you’d like to specialize in. That’s where we come in. Here at PESI, we provide a multitude of online courses for therapists. Our courses provide education about treating people with a number of mental health conditions ranging from anxiety and addiction to panic disorders and PTSD.

One of the most effective treatments for PTSD and trauma-related disorders is called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). It’s helpful to understand exactly what a therapist’s role in EMDR therapy is.

What Does A Therapist Do In EMDR?

As a certified EMDR therapist, your main role in providing treatment for trauma-related conditions is the practice of bilateral stimulation. This technique is used while the client talks through their trauma. It engages both the left and right side of the brain simultaneously, allowing the client to make new connections and process traumatic memories. Bilateral stimulation involves distraction techniques that may include:

• The client conducting body scans
• The client following a dot on a screen with their eyes
• The client following your finger with their eyes while talking through their trauma

EMDR therapy typically follows an eight-part process over 12 weeks or so. The eight stages the therapist would cover during this time frame are:

1. History taking
2. Client preparation
3. Assessment
4. Desensitization
5. Installation
6. Body scan
7. Closure
8. Reevaluation of treatment

Learn about the eight phases of EMDR therapy in more detail, as well as how EMDR therapy works, from our detailed guide on what EMDR therapy is.

Criteria for Becoming an EMDR Certified Therapist

To become an Evergreen certified EMDR therapist, you must meet the following criteria:

• License: You must have a valid license, certification, or registration to practice as a mental health professional.
• Training: You must complete 42 continuing education hours, including 18 hours specific to trauma topics, 18 hours specific to EMDR topics, and 6 clinical practice hours.
• Consultation: At least 15 hours of Evergreen approved consultancy in EMDR is required to become an Evergreen certified EMDR therapist. This includes 10 hours of small group consultation and 5 hours of individual.
• Experience: You will need to have a consultant review at least 1 client session either by video submission or have the consultant present for live observation for review of your clinical work.
• Reading: You will need to read at least two different practitioner books on the practice of EMDR Therapy.
• Evergreen Policy: When all of the above criteria have been completed, you must agree to adhere to Evergreen Certifications Code of Ethics.

It’s important to note that your EMDR certification must be renewed. EMDR certified therapists must complete 12 hours of continuing education every two years in the latest clinical information and research data related to EMDR.

List of EMDR Therapy Courses Available

Here at PESI, we provide a multitude of courses for various specialties of EMDR. For example, a certified EMDR therapist could specialize in the fear of public speaking or use EMDR as an integrative trauma technique. Some of the EMDR therapy courses we have available to aspiring EMDR certified therapists include:

• Fundamentals Of EMDR Therapy as an Integrative Trauma Treatment
• EMDR Step by Step
• EMDR For Fear of Public Speaking
• EMDR & Mindfulness

For more information and support on how to become a certified EMDR therapist, browse our full list of EMDR therapy courses online today.

EMDR Resources and Support

The list below showcases a variety of blogs and informative videos which can help support you as an EMDR certified therapist:

• 5 Resources for Virtual EMDR
• Adapting EMDR to Telehealth
• EMDR: Safety and Stabilization
• Effective Trauma Treatment with EMDR
• Attachment-Focused EMDR

For more information and advice on how to get trained in EMDR or for our range of EMDR certified therapy courses online, speak to a member of our expert team today.