Phase 2 Practice Tips for EMDR Therapists

EMDR therapy has 8 phases. In my therapy sessions with clients and EMDR consultations with therapists, I have found the following 19 EMDR phase 2 (Preparation) practice tips invaluable. As EMDR therapists might guess, they are not for every client in every situation; context is key. So please use your clinical judgment.

Phase 2 tips

The 8 phases of EMDR can seem complicated to new therapists. To simplify and help clients better understand EMDR therapy and its purpose, it can be helpful to encourage clients to think of EMDR as a noninvasive form of emotional surgery. Using the Adaptive Information Processing [AIP] perspective to heal emotional wounds is similar to healing physical injuries that are too severe to heal on their own. Just like a skilled physician would assess where the injuries are on the body, and their severity, by administering X-rays without piercing the skin, an EMDR therapist assesses emotional wounds in phase 1. As a physician prepares the body for the surgery(ies) by cleaning cuts with rubbing alcohol or applying numbing agents to the areas that need them, EMDR therapists use regulation strategies in phase 2 to prepare the client for reprocessing. Then, in phases 3 to 7, each emotional wound is systematically addressed, generally one at a time as a physician, surgeon, or MD would address physical wounds, often starting with the biggest wounds but sometimes starting with the smallest, depending on the client. Lastly, we check back (phase 8) to assess and ensure healing and integration (Shapiro, 2018).
Phase 2 (Preparation) is ultimately about creating safety that allows clients to feel, identify, and organize their experiences in ways that trauma prevented them from doing, and then developing flexibility and trust in the full 8-phase EMDR process. In this spirit, to keep clients more connected to positive/pleasant body sensations (the most powerful component to strengthen), you can prompt them to continually “discover any positive sensations” connected to the current resource you are building with them. As we know, trauma can condition clients to feel unsafe in their bodies. As clients gradually learn to connect with positive bodily sensations, they can begin to develop a greater sense of safety, strength, and wisdom, which are important components of healing from trauma. Developing safety in their body will then help them more successfully and efficiently engage in the reprocessing phases of EMDR.
Assign all or most phase 2 resources one or multiple positive cognitions (PCs), and strengthen these PCs with bilateral stimulation (BLS).
It is part of our job to be a detective for a client’s resources constantly, not only in phase 2, but throughout treatment. Anything can be a resource, in theory. I have successfully resourced a dream, a nice walk, a tree outside of a client’s home, etc. If they say they enjoyed a day or event, any positive aspects of that can be a resource: joy, calm, presence, strength, confidence, hope, etc.
A possible mastery resource (Korn & Leeds, 2002) could be something they overcame when they did not think they could. Most clients can think of one example of this, even if it is as simple as tying one’s shoes. I find the question “What is an example of you learning a skill you didn’t think you could?” to be particularly useful in phase 2.
One tenet of Phase 2 is setting up a calm/safe state. Vivify phase 2 resources by working with the client to deepen and magnify their positive felt experiences and sensations if and as they are ready to do so. For example, if your client is describing enjoying the sense of “cool breeze” during the calm/safe state exercise, you can point a gentle fan in their direction if they are open or would like it. The same applies to playing ocean sounds during a session if the beach is their calm/safe state. You could also invite them to adjust their sitting posture in line with how they would position themselves directly in the resource, and continually adjust accordingly during each set (R. Shapiro, 2005). Maybe they wish to enhance their experience of a calm/safe state by taking their shoes off and propping their feet up, if that position is how they would sit when anchored in their resource.
If the client has a particular song or playlist that enhances their resource, you can play and add that music during resource development and installation (RDI; Korn & Leads, 2002) procedures in session to further enhance their positive felt experience. Positive experiences can combat trauma’s impact, enliven and broaden focus, and set clients up for more future positive experiences that ideally become increasingly stronger, deeper, and more readily available.
Consider strengthening positive elements of affirming memories, such as Hoerstring’s Tree of Life exercise (2022). This might include strengthening visual, emotional, cognitive, somatic, and/or auditory components of an affirming memory.
For clients who have difficulty connecting with phase 2 resourcing, especially the calm/safe state, you can use the movie analogy to spawn the power of their imagination: although we know movies are just acting, they have real effects on our felt experience. You can do this by merely asking the client if they ever felt so moved by a movie that they cried. Most say yes. Resourcing in phase 2 can be about creating and accessing the best movie for the clients’ healing process.
Remind traumatized clients that calm/safe state may be difficult, and if so, invite them to continuously scan for safety in your office or wherever they practice to ensure they feel safe enough, based on their own observation. This tip aligns with Jim Knipe’s (2008) Constant Installation of Present Orientation and Safety (CIPOS), where the clinician periodically and continually helps the client attune to the peace of the present moment. The therapist might ask, “Is there anything happening now that is dangerous?” If the client answers “No,” the therapist can continue, “So is it OK to feel safe now in the short-term?” If they say Yes,” you can explore/address the perceived danger, and then when appropriate, process what it is like for them to open to the safety in the present, to access the pleasant/positive aspects of it, then ‘Go with that’ and continue the exercise. If the present moment continues to feel dangerous, you can invite them to imagine what it would feel like if it did feel safe.
I have invited safety through music by saying, “All sounds in calm/safe state are like music; each is nourishing, delectable, and delicious. See what that feels like” during slow BLS.
I have found that starting calm/safe state with a statement like “Let’s pretend that nothing else exists in the universe, but this calm state” invites an open and productive mindset for the calm/safe state exercise.
I have found Dyadic Resourcing (Manfield, 2010) crucial for attachment trauma, especially when a client has never had a securely attached relationship. It can help catalyze effective interweaves during stuck reprocessing. Similar to the Flash technique (Manfield, Lovett, Engle, & Manfield, 2017), I see Dyadic Resourcing as “phase 2.5,” a mix of trauma reprocessing and resourcing. It can be helpful for clients to give their child selves the felt experience of good parenting, better late than never. This often includes preparing them for their child-self to initially and possibly push back and mistrust the resource for a time to ensure they can trust it before being entirely nurtured by it.
Dyadic resourcing often includes sadness about what did not actually happen in real life. Prepare clients for this possibility and validate any related feelings. Since we do not have time machines as clinicians, an important part of trauma work is feeling the grief of what cannot be changed (i.e., a neglectful childhood).
Remind clients that calm/safe state and resource development are access points to clients’ natural, true, real, and authentic states above all the debris from the trauma.
To help clients slow down their minds and bodies for calm/safe state, you as therapist might slow down your speech, and optionally ask if the client is open to doing the same. The language of resourcing is slow, soft, steady, somatic, and specific.
Phase 2 involves cultivating the opposite of trauma’s insidious effects. Over time, the momentum and energy of phase 2 can absorb and diminish the deleterious effects of trauma. Building and strengthening positive memory networks is more important long-term than targeting every single dysfunctional memory network.
Remember, phase 2 can have challenges (or become contaminated), especially when feeling good is triggering. For example, your client may not initially feel worthy of installing a helpful resource. I have found a small number of clients who respond well to phases 3 to 7, but do not do so well with phase 2. Once client readiness and preparation are sufficient, and the client demonstrates an ability to soothe themselves, proceeding into phase 3 to 7 can work (ideally on a low subjective units of distress (SUD) memory first) if the client is aware of reprocessing risks, consents, and can contain effectively.
When accessing a resource, continually invite clients to ask themselves, “Who are you really if you live with this resource in your bones and cells for the rest of your life?” This is a powerful question that can lead to more successful future visualizations, future templates, and even a more efficient and streamlined flash-forward technique (Logie & De Jongh, 2014). You can then strengthen their answer with BLS.

The importance of phase 2

EMDR therapy offers a structured yet flexible pathway for healing, and its success often depends on the thoughtful application of small, practical choices we make as clinicians. From building safety and resourcing in phase 2 to setting up optimal conditions for reprocessing, these nuances can make the difference between stalled progress and transformation. While no single tip applies to every client, staying attuned, creative, and grounded in the AIP model allows us to support clients in accessing their innate capacity for healing. I hope that these reflections serve as a useful companion in your ongoing practice—and inspire you to keep experimenting, refining, and trusting the process.

Dr. Jason N. Linder, Psy.D., LMFT, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, is a bilingual (Spanish-speaking) therapist specializing in relationship, trauma, addiction-related, and mindfulness therapies. Dr. Linder completed his Doctor of Psychology degree at the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego, his Master’s in International Counseling in Mexico City at Alliant International University, and his Bachelor’s in Spanish and Psychology at UC Davis. His doctoral research focused on integrating EMDR and EFT with couples.

References

Hoerstring, R. (2022). EMDR Tree of Life. EMDR Canada Conference.

Korn, D. L., & Leeds, A. M. (2002). Preliminary evidence of efficacy for EMDR resource development and installation in the stabilization phase of treatment of complex posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(12), 1465-1487. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.10099

Knipe, J. (2008). The CIPOS method-procedures to Therapeutically reduce dissociative processes while preserving emotional safety. Master class at the EMDR European Conference, London.

Logie, R. D. J., & de Jongh, A. (2014). The “Flashforward Procedure:“ Confronting the Catastrophe. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.8.1.25

Manfield, P. (2010). Dyadic resourcing: Creating a foundation for processing trauma. Cornucopia Publishers.

Manfield P., Lovett J., Engel L., & Manfield, D. (2017). Use of the flash technique in EMDR therapy: Four case examples. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1891/1933-3196.11.4.195

Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures. Guilford.

Shapiro, R. (2005). EMDR solutions: Pathways to healing. WW Norton & Company.

Back to Focal Point Blog Homepage

Additional Resources

If you are a therapist interested in the EMDR training:

If you are EMDR trained:

If you are an EMDRIA Member:

Phase 2 Practice Tips for EMDR Therapists