Does Your EMDR Training Meet the Standard? Here’s What EMDRIA Approval Means
Does Your EMDR Training Meet the Standard? Here’s What EMDRIA Approval Means
Most clinicians who start exploring EMDR training go through the same experience. You search, you find a lot of options, and they all look more or less the same from the outside. Different formats, different prices, similar-sounding descriptions. What’s harder to assess upfront is which programs genuinely prepare you to use EMDR well with real clients, and which ones leave you with a certificate and a lot of unanswered questions.
EMDRIA approval is one of the clearest ways to tell the difference.
Who Is EMDRIA and Why Does Approval Matter?
EMDRIA is the EMDR International Association, the professional membership organization for EMDR practitioners and researchers. For more than 30 years, the organization has set the standards for how EMDR therapy should be taught and practiced. When a training program is EMDRIA-approved, it has met those standards — not just in total hours, but in how the training is structured and what it covers.
What to Look for in an EMDRIA-Approved EMDR Basic Training
EMDRIA requires that any approved EMDR Basic Training include at least 20 hours of instruction, 20 hours of supervised practicum, and 10 hours of consultation. That structure is deliberate, because each component does something the others can’t.
Instructional
The instructional hours cover the history of EMDR therapy, the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, and the full 8-phase methodology: history taking and case conceptualization, client preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and reevaluation. Special protocols and specific populations are part of the curriculum, as are professional and ethical considerations.
Practicum
The practicum is where you get your hands on the work. EMDRIA requires direct behavioral observation and feedback throughout, with real experiences used whenever appropriate. Every phase gets dedicated practice time. That matters, because there is a real difference between understanding a protocol and being able to run it with a client sitting across from you.
Consultation
The consultation hours are where clinical judgment develops. According to EMDRIA, consultation provides individualized feedback on case conceptualization, client readiness, target selection, treatment planning, and how to integrate EMDR into an existing practice. It is grounded in real cases, not practicum simulations. EMDRIA also notes that consultation reduces the formation of bad habits and helps clinicians develop their skills in ways that increase effectiveness across a wider range of clients. That last part is easy to overlook, but it’s often where the biggest gains in clinical confidence happen.
How EMDRIA-Approved Training Supports Your Long-Term Credentialing Path
An EMDRIA-approved Basic Training is also the foundation for whatever comes next. EMDRIA Certified Therapist status, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, further specialization — all of it builds on your foundational training meeting these standards. Starting in the right place keeps those paths open.
“For more than 30 years, the organization has set the standards for how EMDR therapy should be taught and practiced.”
EMDRIA-Approved EMDR Basic Training from AATBS
AATBS offers live online EMDRIA-approved EMDR Basic Training for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists. The program runs across two three-day intensive sessions via Zoom.
The training includes 40 hours of instruction and is approved for 40 APA CE credits. EMDR Basic Training also includes the 10 consultation hours required by EMDRIA for your Certificate of Completion.The format leans heavily toward practice: about 60% of the training is hands-on, with supervised practicum sessions alongside other licensed professionals. You will also experience EMDR as a client yourself.
Our trainers are Dr. Sarah Cairns, PsyD, an EMDRIA Approved Trainer, Consultant, and Certified Therapist who has built her career around EMDR therapy and specializes in trauma, PTSD, first responders, and complex presentations, and Wendy Byrd, LPC, LMFT, also an EMDRIA Approved Trainer, Consultant, and Certified Therapist, who served as President of the EMDRIA Board of Directors and has been featured on platforms including Good Morning America and USA Today for her work advancing EMDR therapy. Both bring deep expertise and a genuine investment in the clinicians they train.
Upon completing both parts and the required consultation hours, you will receive a Certificate of Completion verifying that you have finished an EMDRIA-approved EMDR Basic Training and are ready to begin using EMDR with clients.
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