The EMDR Therapy Training Committee is charged with and primarily focuses upon maintaining, updating, managing, and teaching ISSTD’s EMDR therapy basic training and other long-form EMDR therapy courses offered by ISSTD. The committee is also responsible for coordinating/ collaborating with the EMDR SIG on the development and promotion of periodic webinars and conference workshops on advanced topics on the specialized use of EMDR therapy with persons with complex trauma and dissociative symptoms.
For those not yet familiar with ISSTD’s EMDR therapy basic training, it consists of four modules and a total of 81 hours that combine didactic, practicum, seminar-style, and group consultation learning formats. The training teaches the responsible application of EMDR therapy in its Standard Protocol form by helping learners become attuned to the presence and forms of simple trauma, complex trauma, and dissociation. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, participants will learn how to discern when (and how), at this stage in their learning, they can safely use the standard EMDR therapy protocol and procedures to resolve a person’s presenting issues.
What that means is that we teach the foundational elements of EMDR in a more nuanced fashion than is typically the norm, and stress repeatedly, throughout the training, that advanced study, training, knowledge, and experience in treating dissociative disorders, using complementary methods with EMDR therapy as an adjunctive approach is essential to treat persons with complex trauma histories. This approach is in line with and complementary to ISSTD’s guidelines for treating adults with DID/dissociative disorders.
The training course focuses on the needs of new learners who have never participated in EMDR therapy training of any kind, and combines both in-person and live, webinar-based learning. However, we’ve also seen significant interest and participation from ‘auditors’, who have previously completed basic training (and possibly even gone on to achieve more advanced credentialing) in EMDR, but want either to ‘refresh’ or to fill in some gaps in their existing knowledge. Notably, auditors attend only the 47 hours of didactic learning, which allows ISSTD to offer them a reduced cost—and over twice as many hours as is the norm for the didactic portion of most EMDR therapy basic trainings. The course is taught by ISSTD Fellows and EMDRIA Approved Consultants/Trainers Jennifer Madere, LPC-S and Jillian (Jill) Hosey, MSW, RSW, LICSW, and myself. The practicum and interwoven consultation sessions are facilitated by a slightly larger grouping of professionals, all ISSTD members.
In late-2022, the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), which credentials EMDR therapy professionals and accredits trainings in North America, updated its EMDR therapy basic training guidelines for curriculum developers to include, for the first time ever, an explicit requirement that screening for dissociation be taught. This is a huge step forward, as it raises the bar for all EMDR therapy basic trainings, some of which may not have given anything but cursory attention to that topic. I’m pleased to say that ISSTD’s iteration of the basic training was well ahead of the curve, and maybe even, by example, helped influence this change, since we have taught in depth about screening from the start.
As of this writing, we are in the process of wrapping up a very successful 2022-2023 run of the basic training. The committee is also looking ahead to further evolving its training consultation model and developing some new policy to offer more nuanced support to learners. We also continue to collaborate with ISSTD’s EMDR SIG to foster continued learning and critical thought about, and perhaps, one day, formal research into the safe and effective use of EMDR therapy in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation.
The next run of ISSTD’s EMDR therapy basic training course will take place fully virtually for all (learn from the comfort of your own home or office!) and is open to both qualified new learners and auditors alike, begins in September 2023 and continues through June/July 2024. Registration is now open, with enrollment limited to 18-21 new learners. For further details, including the syllabus, training policies, and other important information including the link to register for the course, you can visit https://www.isst-d.org/training-and-conferences/emdr-therapy-training/.