Why We Started a Training Center — What We Kept Hearing About EMDR Scared Us

By Kevin St-Jacques, PsyD and Linda Smith, LMHC — Northwest Mental Health Alliance

This is not an easy article to write. It requires us to say something uncomfortable about a field we love and a therapy we've built our practice around.

But we think it needs to be said. Because the pattern we kept seeing — across clients, across consultation sessions, across intake after intake — was too consistent to ignore. And staying quiet about it felt like a choice we couldn't make.

So here it is: a lot of EMDR being practiced right now is not being done correctly. And some of it is causing real harm.

What we started hearing

It didn't happen all at once. It accumulated.

Clients would come to us after working with another EMDR therapist — sometimes for months — describing sessions that didn't sound like EMDR. A therapist who did bilateral stimulation for twenty minutes straight without stopping to process what came up. Sessions that jumped directly into trauma material without any preparation, assessment, or resourcing. Clients who left sessions feeling worse than when they arrived, with no closure, no grounding, no way to put things back in a container before driving home.

Some of them had been retraumatized. Not because EMDR doesn't work — it does. But because what they received wasn't actually EMDR. It was bilateral stimulation applied to trauma without the protocol that makes it safe and effective.

EMDR is a structured, eight-phase protocol. Bilateral stimulation is one component of it. Bilateral stimulation alone, without the rest of the protocol, is not EMDR.

We also heard this from the other direction — from therapists who came to us for consultation. What they described in their sessions sometimes stopped us cold. Skipping the history-taking phase because it felt slow. Moving into active trauma processing without establishing any sense of safety or internal resources for the client. Not completing closure at the end of sessions, leaving clients emotionally flooded and ungrounded.

These weren't bad therapists. Many of them genuinely cared about their clients. They had completed EMDR training. They believed they were doing EMDR correctly. They just hadn't been taught what correctly actually looked like — and the gap between what they learned and what the protocol requires was significant.

Why this happens

EMDR basic training is a 5-6 day course. That’s it. For a structured, eight-phase treatment protocol designed to address some of the most complex presentations in clinical practice.

To be clear: that training is a beginning. EMDRIA — the governing body for EMDR — requires many hours of consultation beyond basic training before a therapist can become certified. Twenty hours of working with an approved consultant who can watch your clinical work, identify gaps, and help you develop genuine competence.

Most therapists who complete basic training never pursue that consultation. There's no requirement to. There's no enforcement mechanism. A therapist can complete a basic training and begin billing for EMDR the following Monday, indefinitely, with no further oversight.

The credential "EMDR trained" tells you almost nothing about whether a therapist knows how to do EMDR well.

What we decided to do

We'd been running our practice for years when we made the decision to formalize what we were already doing informally: training therapists to a higher standard than the field requires.

The training center at NWMHA exists because we couldn't find what we needed in the existing landscape. Basic training courses that send therapists out the door with a certificate and minimal supervised practice. Continuing education that teaches technique without clinical judgment. A culture in the field that treats EMDR as a skill to add rather than a discipline to develop.

We wanted something different. A program where interns and clinicians learn EMDR from the ground up, under close supervision, with ongoing consultation built into the model rather than treated as optional. Where the standard isn't "did you complete the training" but "can you actually do this safely and effectively."

What this means for clients

Every clinician at NWMHA — including our graduate therapists — practices under a model of ongoing clinical oversight. Cases are reviewed regularly. Consultation is built into the week, not an occasional add-on. We review transcripts of sessions and notes. When something unusual comes up in a session, there is a licensed, experienced clinician to consult with — immediately, not eventually.

This is not standard practice. In most private practice settings, a therapist sees clients alone, writes notes alone, and makes clinical decisions alone. At NWMHA, no one is working in isolation.

We built it this way because of what we kept hearing. Because clients deserve to know that the EMDR they're receiving has been taught carefully, supervised closely, and held to a standard that goes beyond the minimum the field requires.

That's what the training center is for. That's why it exists.

If you've had EMDR before and it didn't feel right — or didn't work — we'd like to talk to you. What you experienced may not have been the full protocol. There's a difference, and it matters.

Apply for an intake at NWMHA — we respond within 3 business days. →

What to Expect in Your First EMDR Session

What to Expect in Your First EMDR Session

If you've been told EMDR might help you — and you've spent the last hour down a rabbit hole trying to figure out what it actually involves — this post is for you.

EMDR has a reputation for being mysterious. People hear "eye movement" and picture someone dangling a watch in front of your face while you confess your deepest fears. That's not what happens. Let's walk through what actually does.

First, a quick reality check on what EMDR is

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. It's a structured therapy approach developed in the late 1980s that's now one of the most well-researched treatments for trauma and PTSD. The World Health Organization recommends it. So does the American Psychological Association. It's not fringe — it's evidence-based.

The basic idea: traumatic memories get stored differently in the brain than normal memories. They stay "stuck" with the full emotional and physical charge of the original event. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation — typically side-to-side eye movements, taps, or sounds — to help your brain reprocess those memories so they lose their grip on you.

Skeptical? That's fair. The mechanism isn't fully understood yet. But the outcomes are well-documented. We've seen it work on people who've tried years of talk therapy without much movement. That's why we built our entire practice around it.

What actually happens in session one

It's mostly talking

Your first session is an intake and assessment. Your therapist is getting to know you — what brought you in, what you've tried before, what your life looks like, what feels safe to work on first. There's no rushing.

Your therapist will explain the process

A good EMDR therapist walks you through exactly what to expect before anything happens. You'll learn about the phases of treatment, how to signal if you need to stop, and what "processing" actually feels like. You're in control of the pace.

You might do some resourcing

Many therapists will spend early sessions building "resources" — mental anchors of safety and calm that you can return to if feelings gets intense. Think of it as building the floor before you open the door.

You won't have to narrate everything in detail

This surprises people. EMDR doesn't require you to describe your trauma in detail to a therapist who writes everything down. You hold the memory in mind — your therapist doesn't need to know all of it (sometimes they don’t need to know ANY of it!). That's part of why it works for people who've found traditional talk therapy re-traumatizing.

What processing actually feels like

During bilateral stimulation, most people describe a sense of the memory "moving" — emotions and sensations shifting, sometimes getting more intense briefly before settling. Some people cry. Some feel nothing at all at first. Some feel physical sensations in their body as things release.

The goal isn't to relive the trauma. It's to change your relationship to it.

How long does it take

It depends on what you're working on. A single incident trauma — like a car accident or a medical procedure that happened to someone who had a pretty OK childhood— might resolve in 3 to 6 sessions. Complex, childhood, or developmental trauma takes longer. Your therapist will give you a realistic picture after the assessment.

What to do after a session

Processing doesn't stop when you leave the room. Your brain continues working on things between sessions. Some people feel tired. Some feel emotional in the days after. Some feel lighter. Don't schedule anything intense right after your first few sessions if you can help it.

One last thing

You don't have to be sure EMDR is right for you before you apply. That's what the intake process is for. You meet with a therapist, talk through your situation, and figure out together whether this is the right fit. No pressure, no commitment.

Ready to find out if EMDR is right for you? Apply online — we respond within 3 business days.