12.2.25 EMDR Basic Therapy Training Course

IMPORTANT: Course is provided through Harmonyhearth Center for Widsdom, Kriss Jarecki, LCSW-R. CEUs, registration, and customer support are being offered through the UB School of Social Work Office of Continuing Education. ADA requests go to HarmonyHearth Center for Wisdom. Please see customer service information at the bottom of the description for contact information. Discounts and reward points can not be used on this course.

Description:

This course will teach clinicians interventions for every step of the way in treatment from the first session to the last. For example, they will learn current information and research on trauma and neurobiology so they have a base for their practice and information to share with clients, they will learn how to conduct a trauma-sensitive session take a trauma-informed list of client experiences, presentation of case formulation and treatment planning during the first phase- Client History and Treatment Planning,

Participants will move on to learn several relaxation and resource tools for the phase 2 Preparation phase such as breath work, imagining a calm safe place to relax the body and mind, and mindfulness tools that help clients maintain here-and-now awareness and grounding. Participants.

We will then learn the EMDR protocol phases 3 Assessment (asking questions about a memory to start focusing on it), 4 Desensitization and Reprocessing (working on a memory until the disturbance around it is a 0, 5 Installation (strengthening a positive self-belief about the memory), 6 Body Scan (check all through the body for any remaining tension or disturbance), 7 Closure (create a container in your mind to put any unfinished work into and do other relaxing activities) and 8 Re-evaluation (what to do to follow-up in the next session after EMDR).

Participants will learn EMDRs mechanisms of effect (hypothesis for how it works) for their own foundation and to explain to their clients. For example, EMDR mimics Rapid Eye Movement-REM sleep, utilizes  working memory (area of the brain that holds what’s on your mind right now) to help address and digest information). They will learn the EMDR modality (steps in the procedure) and model (Adaptive Information Processing (AIP)which explains how the brain digests and utilizes experiences.

They will learn EMDR specific tasks such as how to help a client get unstuck in their work (cognitive interweaves), how to do a floatback (checking for and working on other past experiences that are effecting the current experience being worked on), how to work with a cluster of experiences (things that happen multiple times such as verbal abuse throughout childhood) and how to do a future template to prepare clients for future situations (dating, family gatherings, job interviews, etc.). They will learn EMDR protocol variations for special populations such as children, addictions, and dissociation.

They will also receive case consultation on their cases via their client videos, filling out and presenting case consultation forms and general discussion. The course will offer all this and more via lecture, practicum, group discussion, client videos, handouts and practice with their clients. Participants who successfully complete the course will be eligible to go on to become certified in EMDR (go to emdria.org for certification requirements).

EMDR COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  1. Discuss how the brain takes in, processes, and digests experiences. 
  2. Explain to client’s what trauma is (how it happens, symptoms, etc.)
  3. Locate links to current research on trauma
  4. Interpret the meaning of trauma in behaviors
  5. Utilize assessment questionnaires such as Post Traumatic Checklist-5 (PCL-5) and Impact of Events Scale (IES), to measure signs and symptoms of trauma.                    
  6. Formulate and present a trauma informed case formulation to a client
  7. Discuss the history of EMDR (inception to present)
  8. Name at least one intervention for every phase of treatment
  9. Collect a journey list of client’s good and not-so-good experiences (phase 1- client history and treatment planning).                                                                  
  10. Prepare a client for EMDR (safe place, container and other relaxation and resource tools). Phase 2 (preparation)-
  11. Select a trauma-informed target order for clients (top 10 worst, order by theme, chronological, etc.).
  12. Demonstrate how to do the EMDR standard protocol Phases 3 (assessment) - 7 (closure)
  13. Choose when and how to close a session (container, breath work, etc.).
  14. Prepare a client for what to expect between sessions.
  15. Conduct a check-in (phase 8, re-evaluation) at the next session. 
  16. Evaluate next steps based on re-evaluation outcomes.
  17. Integrate the interventions including EMDR into an existing practice.  
  18. Indicate what is meant by EMDR’s mechanisms of effect (hypothesis for how it works).
  19. State how EMDR replicates Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM sleep).
  20. Specify how EMDR promotes mindfulness (staying in the moment).
  21. Explain the working memory theory for how EMDR works (ask questions about the event to put info on working memory part of the brain then, use eye movements or other distractors that compete for working memory space. Keep going until the past memory information gets kicked off the working memory space in the brain).  
  22. Distinguish differences between EMDR and other therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, exposure,

              psychoanalysis, etc.                             

  1. Define EMDR’s model (Adaptive Information Processing- AIP) for how the brain digests experiences and how EMDR interacts with aspects that can get stuck (maladaptively stored) to help them get unstuck and process.  
  2. Explain the EMDR procedure to a client.                                                          
  3. Conduct the EMDR standard protocol with clients.                                                                                
  4. Name at least three cognitive interweaves (ways therapists can intervene if a client is stuck).
  5. Evaluate when to use cognitive interweaves.
  6. Practice floatback (how to take a current memory and explore past events that night be contributing to how the current events are experienced).
  7. Evaluate when to use floatback (help clients see how the past connects to the present, to jump start stuck processing, etc.).
  8. Detect when there is/are clusters (same events happening over and over again).                                                        
  9. Organize the use of EMDR on cluster memories.
  10. Practice future template (imaginal rehearsal of possible future challenging situations to prepare for them) .               
  11. Apply at least three modifications when using EMDR with children/teens.
  12. Review the spectrum of dissociation.
  13. Apply at least three grounding tools for dissociation.
  14. Express a beginning conceptualization of using EMDR with special populations such as military.
  15. Diagnose the use of EMDR with special challenges such as physical illness and phobias.
  16. Estimate when and how to implement the recent events protocol (events that happened within three months).
  17. List the requirements for EMDRIA certification upon completing this course.**             

RESEARCH:   For the research on EMDR please visit the EMDRIA publications website.                                                                                    

Customer Service

We are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.

ADA Accommodations: If you require any support for your ADA needs in the United States, please email Kriss Jarecki at krissjarecki@harmonyhearthwiseom.com at least 3 weeks prior to the start date.


Registration

Registration open until: Day of event