If you're considering EMDR therapy in the Cincinnati area, you've likely already done some research and understand that this powerful approach can be life-changing for trauma, anxiety, and other mental health challenges. But here's where many people get stuck: how do you actually find a therapist who's truly skilled at EMDR, not just someone who has the basic certification?
As we’ve covered in our previous blog post, the reality is that not all EMDR therapists are created equal. Unfortunately, many people don't know what questions to ask or what red flags to watch for when searching for an EMDR therapist.
That’s where this blog post comes in: I want to empower you so you can figure out if a potential local EMDR therapist is well trained and can help you. In each section, I’ll go over what qualities you should be looking for in a Cincinnati EMDR therapist, and also give some examples of questions you can ask a prospective EMDR therapist. I believe that a therapist should always be willing to talk to you and answer any questions that you have before starting therapy, which is why all of our therapists at Therapy Cincinnati offer a free 15-minute phone consultation.
What I’m about to share in this blog comes from my experience as an EMDRIA approved consultant, which means I have been trained to help other EMDR therapists perfect their EMDR skills. I hold weekly consultation groups for Cincinnati therapists learning how to implement EMDR into their therapy, and I also assist at local EMDR trainings for new EMDR therapists. In other words, I’m very familiar with the landscape of newly trained EMDR therapists in the greater Cincinnati area, as well as the therapists who have been doing EMDR for a while. With that in mind, let’s talk about how you can determine if someone is a skilled EMDR therapist.
1.How Often Do They Use EMDR
In my opinion, the most important factor in determining how skilled an EMDR therapist is depends on how often they use EMDR with their clients. Simply put, you don't know what you don't know until you are actually forced to realize what you don't know. The best way for a therapist to become more skilled in EMDR is by actually doing it, which will help them realize what areas they need to improve in and become better at.
This may seem like a no-brainer - if a therapist was trained in EMDR then of course they are using it, right? But the truth is that many therapists who get trained in EMDR actually don't regularly use it. Why not? There are several reasons. Some people work in settings where EMDR-appropriate clients are rare. Other therapists don't feel confident in using EMDR, while others never planned on using EMDR much anyway - they just got trained in it because it was another tool they could use. Still others heard it was an "in" therapy, and decided to see what it was all about. The bottom line is that just because someone is trained in EMDR doesn't mean they are competent in EMDR.
Besides for getting better at EMDR therapy by actually using it, another important reason why it’s important for a therapist to regular use EMDR is that EMDR is not just a tool, it’s a philosophy. What I mean by that is that there are different ways of understanding how we function in general, and more specifically how trauma affects us. EMDR has its own model that helps us understand how trauma affects us, and so in order to use EMDR effectively a therapist also needs “buy in” to the EMDR understanding of how trauma affects us. With out having this understanding of trauma that EMDR gives us, it’s very hard for a therapist to use EMDR effectively.
So how can you determine how often a therapist is using EMDR? First, it's helpful to know that typically most EMDR therapists use EMDR with at least 10% to 20% of the clients they are seeing. If it's higher than that, even better.
This percentage may surprise those who assume a skilled EMDR therapist should be using EMDR nearly 100% of the time. However, this expectation is unrealistic. Even the most competent EMDR therapists don't use EMDR in every session due to various clinical considerations, so as long as they are consistently using EMDR in at least 10% to 20% of their weekly sessions that is a good sign.
Questions to ask your perspective EMDR therapist: On average, what percentage of your weekly sessions are you doing EMDR therapy?
2. Ongoing Training
The next most important factor is ongoing consultation or training. As I mentioned in my last article, many people are under the mistaken impression that EMDR is a skill that you simply learn, and once you learn it, then it’s straightforward, like learning to riding a bike. However, this is not at all the case.
As many EMDR therapists realize once they undergo training, the training needed to become an EMDR therapist is actually just the beginning of becoming an expert EMDR therapist. The first EMDR training is actually called “basic training” because it quite literally is just that. There are much more advanced techniques in EMDR that have been developed over the years, and make a big difference in making EMDR more effective.
So then how can you know if someone is an advanced EMDR therapist or not? One of the ways to measure this is to check if they are receiving ongoing training. Obviously, it is difficult for the average person to know what additional trainings are out there for EMDR therapists, so below, I’ve listed some of the more well-known additional trainings that advanced EMDR therapists have taken. Even if a therapist has not yet taken any of these trainings, as long as they have heard of some of them, that is a good sign. On the other side of the spectrum, if you mention some of these trainings to a potential EMDR therapist, and they have no idea what you are talking about that might be a sign that this therapist has not pursued any additional training.
Advanced trainings:
Flash/4 blinks
Attached Focused EMDR -
EMDR 2.0
2 handed interweave
Integrating parts work/IFS with EMDR
Question to ask your perspective EMDR therapist: Have you gone for additional EMDR training such as ….(add in the training).
3. Working With Trauma
In order for EMDR therapy to be successful, your therapist not only needs to be trained in EMDR and be competent in using that, but your therapist also need to have a deep understanding of trauma and how it impacts people. To give an analogy: EMDR is like LASIK surgery for eyes, and understanding trauma is like being an ophthalmologist. You can have an amazing machine called LASIK that has been proven to help people’s eye sight, but if the doctor using it doesn’t know much about eyes the procedure probably won’t go so well.
The same is true with EMDR and trauma therapy. Having a deep understanding of trauma helps your therapist use EMDR in the right way, and makes sure they don’t overwhelm you when processing old traumatic memories. It also helps your EMDR therapist know what past memories or issues are important to target in the EMDR processing instead of getting lost in tangential issues and waiting time. if your therapist doesn’t have expertise in trauma, EMDR may not be very helpful.
Typically speaking, a good trauma therapist will have at least 40 to 50% of their caseload consist of clients with trauma. In most cases, a trauma therapist focuses on seeing individual clients with trauma - they don’t see families, offer couples counseling, or run groups. With that in mind, it’s fairly easy to find out from a therapist how much they work with trauma.
On a related note, it’s also important to make sure your EMDR therapist has training and experience treating people who have experienced your type of trauma. If for example, you are working to resolve a car accident, you should make sure that your therapist has experience working with car accidents. This is important, as not all traumas are the same and they affect our body differently.
Questions to ask your perspective EMDR therapist: How much of your average caseload is trauma? And how often do you work with people who have the particular trauma that I have?
4. Consultation
Similar to ongoing training, EMDR therapists will often be a part of an ongoing EMDR consultation group with other therapists. These groups typically meet monthly or bi-monthly, and each therapist will usually get a chance to discuss a client they are working with (without providing any names or other identifying information). The group will then discuss ideas that they may have for that therapist to use, as well as different perspectives on how the therapist might go about helping that client.
These groups are often peer lead, meaning there is not a particular therapist who is providing guidance. Instead, everyone provides feedback as equals. While this type of group may not be quite the same as undergoing advanced EMDR training, it is still a very helpful resource in helping therapists practice their EMDR skills. Perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates that a therapist is motivated to become a better and more skilled EMDR therapist, as well as make sure they are doing a good job in treating clients.
Question to ask your perspective EMDR therapist: Are you a part of an ongoing EMDR consultation group?
5. Why Experience Alone Isn't Enough
You might be surprised that experience is listed so low on my list. While experience is definitely important and something you should look for, I feel it is sometimes overemphasized, and people forget the other things I have listed above.
Allow me to share a personal story that illustrates why experience may not matter so much. Several years ago, I decided to go for my own personal EMDR therapy. I found a very experienced EMDR therapist who had been doing EMDR for over 20 years. This person met all the qualifications that I was looking for, and I set up an initial appointment with them.
During our first session, it quickly became apparent that this therapist either had made up their own version of EMDR or had forgotten how to do EMDR. Since I was trained in EMDR, I immediately recognized that the type of therapy he was doing was not at all in line with the EMDR that is taught, and I stopped the session.
If we were to value experience as a key indicator of how well skilled a therapist is in EMDR, this person would be at the top of the list. Yet in reality this person was practicing in a dangerous and reckless way that could have resulted in emotional damage to myself, had I been not able to stop the session.
On the other side of the coin, I recently had a newly trained EMDR therapist in one of my training groups. In talking with them, I was blown away by how well they understood EMDR, and how they were using it to help a client who had experienced significant trauma. While this person has had less than a year of EMDR training and experience, I would have no hesitations in referring clients to them.
Because of this and other experiences I have had I believe that while experience is important, even more important is making sure that an EMDR therapist is regularly using EMDR, has training in understanding trauma, is attending advanced trainings on how to deepen their EMDR skills, and is regularly talking to other EMDR therapists about using EMDR. Someone who does all this is almost guaranteed to be a competent and strong EMDR therapist, even if they don’t have a large amount of experience.
Looking for an expert EMDR therapist in Cincinnati?
At Therapy Cincinnati, EMDR is the primary type of therapy that we use, and we help people of all ages heal from trauma. With 4 EMDR therapists who offer in person sessions in our Montgomery office, monthly consultation groups, and advanced trainings, our practice has 4 experienced EMDR therapists who are ready to help you. Reach out to us today by scheduling a free 15 minute phone consultation with one of us so we can review if EMDR can help you in your healing.