Thinking about training as an EMDR therapist? It’s not an easy option, EMDR training is intense (as it should be!). So if you want to find out more about what is expected of you as a delegate please do read on. You might want to check you are eligible by looking at the guidance here
1. To draw upon your therapy knowledge in EMDR Training
All delegates who train in EMDR on Accredited EMDR Training courses in the UK must “have a significant proportion of their current primary role delivering 1-1 psychotherapy” and generally be a Psychologist, Accredited counsellor/psychotherapist or a nurse with 2 years experience of 1-1 psychotherapy, Psychiatrists who meet certain criteria plus other relevant professionals are also eligible to train too.
There is an assumption therefore that even before you train in EMDR you have basic clinical skills, including assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, and rapport-building.
We expect delegates to already have a strong understanding and experience of working with traumatised clients.
We teach EMDR initially as something that you can add onto your Clinical skills and knowledge that you use day in day out in your clinical role.
2. To come with an open mind, enthusiastic to learn and try something new.
This kind of goes without saying but well you might be surprised to hear that on some rare occasions it has been known that delegates haven’t come with this mindset. But we do want you to come to EMDR Training enthusiastic and open minded. I started my training a bit skeptical really but I was open minded and I was interested enough to give it a go!
3. To be enthusiastic and open in role plays
EMDR is an experiential training. At mindsync EMDR training we want you to leave with both an understanding and experience of being a client and a therapist.
You will be expected to actively take part in practicals, role plays and supervision within groups. We provide a space for around 18 hours of this on our trainings, it is a massive part of your learning in EMDR.
We understand that this can bring up challenges and some performance anxiety but hope to create a safe environment where you feel contained enough to push yourself out of your comfort zone because we know that this is where the magic happens.
4. To bring your own past memories to work on during EMDR training.
EMDR training is an experiential training, we want you to leave with an understanding and experience of being both a client and a therapist. The value of being in these roles is phenomenal
But be mindful that this is not your own personal therapy so therefore we would not want you to bring to the EMDR training something that you would work on in therapy. The trainer and facilitator will always check in to see what memory you intend to work on. They will use their clinical judgement and experience of the training environment to help you decide whether these are the right memories to work on. Please do respect their opion, they have years of experience in EMDR that they are drawing on.
We talk about so much trauma in our trainings. We know that the whole training needs to come with a trigger warning. There is no getting away from this. We start to see trauma everywhere. And occasionally attending EMDR training can make us as clinicians reflect on our own life experiences and often memories that we thought were dealt with can pop back up again. As delegates you have a responsibility to take care of your own emotional needs. We always encourage delegates to be mindful of this throughout the training. And to take themselves out of the room for a rest if they are feeling triggered by the material presented.
5. Bring your clients to discuss in EMDR supervision.
A large part of EMDR training involves thinking about how can you integrate EMDR into the therapy work that you are already doing. So there is no expectation that you will let go of everything you have already learnt or the clinical skills that you have found helpful. To start with the expectation is that you will add EMDR to the clinical skills you already have. You might want to do a bit of EMDR work within your treatment as usual approach.
At Mindsync EMDR training we also want you to build your confidence to work with new clients using EMDR. There are 10 hours of group supervision woven into the course. This is divided between each training part. Parts 2 and 4 are predominantly supervision. You must attend and participate in all parts and all supervision.
You will have a set amount of time to present a case in a group supervision session. We ask you to prepare an EMDR specific question, this might be something like ‘How would I work with this client? ’ on your part 1 training or ‘Help the memory is stuck/SUDs aren’t decreasing’ on part 2 and 4. As you progress you will be expected to provide the ‘EMDR formulation and treatment plan.
Still interested?
Then click here to look at availability of training locations and dates for you.
Who are we at Mindsync EMDR Training
Caroline van Diest – our Senior trainer. Having started her career as a learning disabilities nurse in the NHS, she trained initially in CBT before starting her EMDR journey. Caroline has worked for many years delivering EMDR training. She is the co-founder of Mindsync EMDR Training. She is a dynamic trainer, with an interest in storytelling. Caroline likes our delegates to have a clear understanding of EMDR. She will use a lot of clinical examples and story telling in her teaching. There is never a dull moment when Caroline is teaching!
Caroline has a special interest in working with neurodiversity, when she is not delivering training Caroline sees clients for 1-1 work as well as running many supervision sessions and fitting in the odd pottery class!
Dr Hannah Bryan – is our Facilitator and trainee Trainer. She started her career in the NHS as a Clinical Psychologist. Hannah worked in secondary mental health services. She started her EMDR journey in 2005 and has seen the positive impact EMDR has on clients where other types of therapy seemed very slow going.
She is the co-founder of Mindsync EMDR training. Hannah has worked as a training Facilitator since 2019 and is really passionate about supporting delegates to grow their confidence and skill in EMDR.Hannah has a special interest in using EMDR within a coaching framework, she also sees clients struggling with their mental health due to their past experiences as well as providing supervision in EMDR.