The Council of Scholars Symposium 2019 event was the first of three symposiums to be held annually as part of a larger project called the Future of EMDR Therapy Project, a multi-year initiative to examine the field of EMDR therapy. The day and a half of meetings with thought leaders in the field were filled with discussions and presentations on the best ways to conceptualize moving forward as a field.

Questions discussed were:

• What are the evidence-based research expectations from the larger mental health field?
• Are EMDR researchers meeting these expectations?
• What type of training research is needed to create comprehensive training standards?
• How has the current body of research been translated into clinical practice?
• What is our current criteria for defining EMDR therapy?
• What would be of interest to policy makers and healthcare systems about EMDR therapy?

During the group process, attending scholars self-selected into four working group topic areas:

• Research
• Clinical Practice
• Training & Credentialing
• What is EMDR?

Over the course of the three year project, each working group will identify goals and directions in that area and initiate longterm projects. We will continue to provide updates as this project unfolds.