Want to serve on the EMDRIA Board of Directors?
Run for something. Help shape the future direction and scope of activity for your professional organization.
The application deadline to serve on the EMDRIA Board of Directors is March 1, 2025.
EMDRIA has two positions open for the Board in the coming election, each with a four-year commitment. Terms start on January 1, 2026. We provide leadership training and development.
Five Reasons to Serve on the EMDRIA Board
- Help shape the future of EMDR therapy.
- Advance EMDRIA standards, membership, and value
- Use and expand your leadership skills.
- Broaden your EMDR network and knowledge
- Build public awareness and understanding of EMDR.
Board members also noted that they had learned much about EMDRIA, EMDR, and the context and intersections of organizational policy, practice, standards, education, and business for organizations and practitioners.
Board members estimate that service to the organization requires approximately two to four hours a week of meetings and work between meetings, depending on their role on the board of directors. This includes an initial orientation meeting just before your term begins, board committee Zoom meetings, virtual and in-person quarterly board meetings, required attendance at the EMDRIA Conference, and typically one, but possibly two, strategic planning meetings during your 4-year term. Please note that all EMDRIA Board members automatically serve as members of the Board of Trustees for the EMDRIA Foundation during their term. This dual role allows board members to support both the association’s operational goals and its philanthropic mission through the Foundation.
We Need Your Unique Perspective
EMDRIA continues to experience significant growth—approximately 2,000 new members per year for the last few years. The Board has engaged in substantial strategic planning to expand programming and provide relevant and meaningful benefits and services for new and longer-term members. The Board is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive leadership that reflects our membership.
Candidates should be prepared to actively support EMDRIA’s commitment to anti-racism, its policies on IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access), and its policies regarding Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE).
What skill sets, qualities, and characteristics are needed?
- Proactive Thinkers. All Boards need people who are contextual, systemic, and critical thinkers. Gathering and assimilating data, looking at trends and conditions, and understanding the implications for the organization and its members are vital. While we recognize no one can “see around corners,” our goal as a Board is to be proactive and predictive and be prepared to respond to our members’ needs and opportunities even before they are fully aware.
- Divergent Views. To create and sustain a positive culture, the Board needs individuals who can engage in issues without taking divergent views personally and can work and play well with others. We want to take our work seriously but not take ourselves so seriously that we lose the joy and collaborative spirit that reflect the best of the therapeutic tradition.
- Ethical Decision Making and Conduct. A commitment to ethical decision-making and conduct principles is essential in Board service. We want to ensure we comply with all relevant laws but aspire to ethical standards much higher than the legal minimum requirement. This includes a focus on transparency and honesty.
- A Commitment to EMDRIA and EMDR Therapy. We need individuals who desire and can promote the value of EMDRIA and our membership rather than focusing on their personal, professional, or business goals. Each board member is required to serve on at least one board-led committee as part of their leadership commitment.
- Hard Workers. Board work is hard work but also fun and rewarding. As part of the selection process, each candidate must submit application materials and references and will participate in a phone interview. Once the review committee develops a slate of qualified candidates, we will present them to the membership for a vote. The EMDRIA Board of Directors is a strategic working board of directors; however, many board members forge long-term professional and personal relationships with each other during and after their terms of service.
Qualifications
To be qualified for the Directorship, you must:
- Have been a Full or Associate Member of EMDRIA for at least two years.
- Have served on an EMDRIA committee or demonstrated equivalent services for other EMDR or similar organizations and demonstrated an unambiguous commitment to and identification with EMDRIA.
- Be prepared to actively support EMDRIA’s commitment to anti-racism, IDEA, and policies regarding Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE).
- Be willing to meet virtually or in person at quarterly board meetings and a strategic planning meeting. These usually occur on the weekend. One of the quarterly board meetings includes the one that occurs before the annual EMDRIA Conference. Attendance at the EMDRIA Conference is mandatory, too.
Potential nominees should read about the volunteer commitment, time expectations, and what EMDRIA will expect from you before applying.
Thank you for considering this leadership opportunity.
Questions? Email info@emdria.org.
Submission Deadline: March 1, 2025 – 11:59 p.m. C.T.