Course Description

It is not the role of EMDR therapists to force clients through the protocol, but instead to adapt the protocol to the specific needs of each client. ~ Francine Shapiro~

As therapists, how we adapt every phase of EMDR for the unique, complex human of any age is founded upon who we are, our clinical knowledge, and therapeutic framework, and the theory that we hold. Theory is everything it decides what we see, observe, feel, hear, and how we move with clients moment-to-moment to allow for innate healing. Prepare to reflect on EMDR as an integrative, transdiagnostic, client-centered, mind-body treatment, and be challenged to expand EMDR beyond an AIP approach to healing. Through grounding in theory of trauma, information processing, nervous system and body therapies, regulation, attachment, interpersonal neurobiology, and an embodied way of being Sarah will offer theoretical conceptualizations of all phases of EMDR. Sarah will share practical adaptations that allow theory and attunement to drive EMDR therapy, rather than EMDR being applied in a protocolized, scripted way.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe how numerous mind-body theories integrate into Shapiro’s (2018) AIP model, identifying similarities and differences as well as strengths and limitations of AIP and all theories discussed.
2. Participants will be able to connect the theoretical underpinnings of AIP to elements of EMDR therapy across all phases of treatment.
3. Participants will be able to enhance Shapiro’s (2018) standard protocol using client-centered adaptations for clients presenting with complex trauma to create a mind/body therapy for clients to use across the lifespan.

Presenter(s)

Sarah Schubert, Ph.D.

Sarah Schubert, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of trauma across the lifespan. Sarah is published and is an accredited trainer and consultant in the area of EMDR and trauma therapy for children, adolescents, and adults. Sarah is an editor for the Oxford Handbook of EMDR Therapy, she has contributed to the ISTSS (2020) international guidelines for PTSD, is an editor for the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, and a contributing author to the EMDR textbook (Shapiro, 2018). Sarah values flexibility and groundedness in theoretical knowledge in her approach to healing. She innovatively integrates mind and body therapeutic approaches with authenticity and compassion.