Most therapists come into EMDR training expecting to learn a method. What they often leave with is an entirely new way of seeing healing and a deep respect for what the mind and body can do when given the chance.

But let’s bring it down to earth. What actually happens during EMDR training? What should you expect, and how can you prepare?

Whether you’re new to the modality or finally saying yes after years of consideration, here’s what you’ll experience.

Structure: Two-Part Training + Consultation

EMDRIA-approved EMDR training consists of two main components:

1. Part 1: Introductory training (typically 3 days)
2. Part 2: Advanced training (typically 3 days)
3. 10 hours of consultation (completed between and after the trainings)

At EMDR Educators, we offer this in an intensive 5-day format, followed by the required consultation hours. This immersive approach helps you absorb the material more deeply and stay closely connected to your learning process.

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The Flow: What Happens Each Day

Each day of training is a blend of lecture, live demonstration, discussion, and practice. Here’s a general rhythm you can expect:

• Didactic teaching: Learn the 8-phase protocol, history, and mechanisms of EMDR
• Demonstrations: Watch live or recorded sessions with real clients
• Dyad practice: Partner up with fellow trainees and experience EMDR from both therapist and client roles
• Integration: Discussions, Q&A, and insights from Dr. Dobo, whose approach to Transformational EMDR™ brings wisdom and nuance to each training

It’s not passive learning. It’s full engagement—from your mind, your heart, and often, your own history.

Experiencing EMDR as the Client

One of the most profound aspects of EMDR training is sitting in the client’s chair.

You’ll select a personal issue (nothing too big or raw) and experience the EMDR process firsthand. This isn’t just to practice technique, it’s to feel what your clients will feel. To witness the subtle yet undeniable shift that can occur when the process is allowed to work.

For many therapists, this alone changes everything. It softens theory into knowing. It replaces performance anxiety with reverence.

Learning the Standard Protocol (and Why That Matters)

You’ll be trained to use the standard 8-phase EMDR protocol created by Francine Shapiro. This is not a flexible framework to casually adapt. It’s a precise, time-tested structure designed to facilitate safe and complete reprocessing.

At EMDR Educators, we emphasize strict adherence to the protocol before introducing any variations. Because mastery requires discipline. And transformation requires trust—in the process, and in the client.

Read more about the EMDR protocol

Support Beyond the Training Room

After the 5-day intensive, your journey continues through 10 consultation hours. These small-group sessions help you:

• Navigate your first EMDR sessions with clients
• Deepen your understanding of complex presentations
• Stay grounded in the principles of client-led healing

At EMDR Educators, consultation is a place of safety and candor. It’s where you ask real questions, share clinical moments, and integrate the learning into who you are—not just what you do.

Emotional Readiness

While the training isn’t therapy, it can be therapeutic. You’ll be invited into deep presence, honesty, and self-reflection. Some moments may be lighthearted. Others may surprise you.

Come ready to engage. To listen. To let go of needing to know. The more open you are, the more you’ll receive—not just information, but transformation.

Final Thoughts

What you learn in EMDR training will change your work. But if you allow it, it will change you, too.

Not because of flashy techniques or special interventions, but because you’ll begin to trust something deeper: the client’s system. The process. The unfolding.

And that trust is what makes you not just an EMDR therapist—but a healing presence.

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