Consultations at The EMDR Center of Canada

At The EMDR Center of Canada, we offer both individual and group virtual consultations to help you hone your skills and deepen your understanding of EMDR therapy. Our consultations are thorough, compassionate, and designed to foster a non-judgmental learning environment where you can build confidence and expertise. Our EMDR Consultants are EMDRIA-approved.

Our Approach to EMDR Consultation: Ensuring Fidelity to Shapiro’s (2018) Standard EMDR Protocol 

The EMDR Center of Canada is committed to providing consultation services that align with the pure form of EMDR Therapy as taught by Shapiro (2018). We understand that many EMDR trained therapists have received their basic training from various providers, and the methodologies learned may differ.

Our consultation emphasizes a strong focus on Case Conceptualization. This approach requires clinicians to gather comprehensive client histories without relying on the “Float Back Technique,” where memories are hypothesized as etiological to presenting symptoms, issues, or triggers. We want to be transparent that clinicians trained to use the Float Back Technique five times to obtain five memories for Prong 1 are not practicing EMDR in a manner consistent with Shapiro’s (2018) text or EMDRIA’s definition of EMDR Therapy. This is just one of the many common misunderstandings we seek to correct for clinicians seeking training or consultation from us.

If your prior EMDR training or current practice is inconsistent with the pure form or Case Conceptualization approach, we invite you to join our consultation services with an open mind. We ask that you be receptive to receiving corrective feedback in a non-defensive way and be willing to re-learn EMDR consistent with Shapiro’s (2018) text. This may involve additional training, such as our on-demand Comprehensive Refresher on EMDR Therapy, which is eligible for 12 EMDRIA education credits. Alternatively, we recommend re-reading Shapiro’s (2018) text, committing to Leeds (2016) text, “A Guide to the Standard EMDR Therapy Protocols for Clinicians, Supervisors, and Consultants,” and being prepared to obtain and include additional client information and documentation in your case presentations.

The EMDR Center of Canada training faculty is dedicated to fostering a supportive and collaborative learning environment for all clinicians. As part of this collaborative process, we may identify areas where there are deficits or misunderstandings in practice, and these will be addressed thoughtfully in individual consultation or when it is within the group setting. We recognize that receiving feedback can sometimes be challenging, and it is entirely understandable if it feels frustrating to learn that prior EMDR training or practice might not fully align with Shapiro’s (2018) text or the EMDRIA definition of EMDR Therapy. Our primary goal is to help you successfully integrate the “pure form” of EMDR into your clinical work.

In our experience, an open and non-defensive approach is most conducive to a truly inclusive and effective learning environment. If, during consultation, you find yourself experiencing strong emotional reactions or becoming defensive when receiving feedback on your professional work, we encourage you to explore this in your own personal EMDR therapy. If responding to corrective feedback in this manner becomes a recurring challenge, we may suggest rejoining consultation at a future time, once any identified learning gaps and any personal history that makes receiving feedback difficult have been more fully processed.