Prior to beginning any consultation process, we expect both parties to discuss and verify the purpose of the consultation hours and enter into a written contractual agreement for consultation services. Our EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards document can help you get started.
Consultant FAQs
Initial Application Requirements (2026)
Our EMDRIA Approved Consultant Standards were updated and implemented in January 2026. This included updating the requirements for the initial and renewal applications for the consultant credential. You can view more information about the standards process on our Updating EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards page.
No. You must be a current EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ before you can declare your CIT status and start working on the requirements for the initial EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ application.
You can view our infographic, CIT Quick Start Guide, to get you started!
The first few steps are:
Yes. The declaration process includes specific terms & agreements for CITs. Those who complete & submit the CIT Declaration Form have agreed to the following:
- To maintain active credential as an EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ in order to be considered a CIT. If your certification credential expires, the CIT status will no longer be valid.
- To provide the names of the EMDRIA Approved Consultants™ that the CIT is working with to EMDRIA™.
- To complete the requirements and become an EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ within the next 5 years; however, no earlier than one-year post the CIT declaration date.
- To adhere to EMDRIA™ Policies
Yes. Please use our Find an EMDR Therapist® directory to verify the status of an EMDRIA Approved Consultant In Training™ (CIT). Please note that only EMDRIA Approved Consultants in Training™ who are current EMDRIA™ Full Members, who have opted in to being on the public directory, will appear in the search results.
EMDRIA’s time requirements help ensure that therapists have enough real-world experience using EMDR before applying for advanced credentials. This waiting period gives clinicians time to build confidence, strengthen their skills, and be fully prepared to guide others and uphold the quality of EMDR therapy.
Yes. While there is a time requirement of at least one-year post your CIT declaration form submission date, you can start working on the requirements for the consultant application once you have completed and submitted your CIT declaration form. You just won't be able to submit the initial consultant application until you hit the one-year post CIT declaration form submission date.
As a reminder, please make sure you have found a consultant to work with and updated your EMDRIA profile with that information so your CIT status is activated.
No. You will not be required to list the names of the individuals that you provided consultation hours to on the consultant application.
At least three out of the five consultees you work with will need to have already completed an EMDRIA Approved EMDR basic training, in its entirety. This typically means you might be providing consultation hours for the certification credential or EMDR case consultation. The other two consultees can also have completed an EMDRIA Approved EMDR basic training which means you could provide consultation hours for certification and EMDR case consultation. Alternatively, the two consultees can be in the process of completing the basic training, and with permission from your consultant and the EMDRIA Approved Trainer, you could provide consultation hours for their basic training.
No. You will not be required to list the date and number of consultation hours provided to your consultees on the consultant application. That being said you will want to keep that documentation based on EMDRIA's suggestion in the consultant standards document.
Documentation & Record Retention: Consultants are expected to track and maintain accurate records for the consultation hours they provide and are expected to retain this documentation for a five-year period from the date the consultation concludes.
No. The requirement is that you provide at least 15 consultation hours total to your consultees. For an example, you might provide five consultation hours to each of the five consultees. This would total 20 consultation hours, therefore you have met and exceeded the consultation hour requirement.
For the 20 consultation of consultation hours requirement, at least 10 of the hours will need to be counted as individual hours. The remaining hours can be counted as individual, group, or a combination of the two.
You are more than welcome to work with multiple consultants; however, for the initial consultant application, we will only accept consultation of consultation hours from up to three EMDRIA Approved Consultants™. This means you will want to make sure you have completed at least 20 hours, with at least 10 of those hours being individual hours, between the three consultants.
Unfortunately, we cannot accept any consultation of consultation hours completed prior to alerting EMDRIA of your CIT status via completing and submitting the CIT declaration form.
Providing consultation hours to a spouse or partner is considered an ethical violation and is not allowed for the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ application. You should be working with a consultant who is not related to you.
Yes. There is a way to earn individual hours within a group setting. You can view more information about how this is possible in our Earning Individual Hours Within a Group Setting resource, or within our EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards document . You will also want to talk to your consultant to ensure you both are on the same page about counting individual hours within a group setting.
You can view the PDF version of the CIT Verification, Evaluation, and Recommendation (VER) form here.
This form replaces the traditional letter and recommendation from the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ that was used for the consultant application, to promote greater consistency, transparency, and accountability in the verification of consultation of consultation hours, evaluation, as well as recommendation of EMDRIA Approved Consultants in Training™ (CITs).
While this PDF version of the form can be used multiple times throughout the consultation process, EMDRIA will only accept the completed online version of this CIT verification, evaluation, and recommendation form when verifying consultation hours as well as providing an evaluation and recommendation for a CIT completing the initial EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ application.
Yes. Each consultant that you work with, (no more than three consultants), will need to complete the CIT Verification, Evaluation, and Recommendation (VER) form for us to move forward with your application. We will not accept any other documentation from the consultant except the CIT VER online form.
You must receive a recommendation from the consultant who provided the majority of their consultation of consultation hours. If you worked with more than one consultant, you can receive the additional recommendation(s).
The two consultant courses, Foundations of EMDR Consultation and Core Competencies in EMDR Consultation, will need to be completed within the five year time frame since declaring your CIT status. For the remaining EMDRIA Credits, they must be completed within the most recent certification renewal cycle or later to be eligible for the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ application.
You can audit a basic training to complete the EMDRIA Credit requirement in lieu of completing the 9 EMDRIA Credits. For us to accept the audit, you must audit the entire basic training and receive a completion certificate from the trainer with your name on it. You do not need to complete the consultation hours from the basic training since you are auditing it, not retaking it.
You will still need to complete the two required consultant courses (approved to offer 1.5 EMMDRIA Credits for each course) to complete the EMDRIA Credits requirement for the initial consultant application.
Yes. The two consultant courses, Foundations of EMDR Consultation and Core Competencies in EMDR Consultation, are required to be completed and count towards the total of completing 12 EMDRIA Credits. Since each of the consultant courses offers 1.5 EMDRIA Credits each (3 EMDRIA Credits total), this means you will need to complete an additional 9 EMDRIA Credits outside of the two consultant courses.
Yes. The two consultant courses, Foundations of EMDR Consultation and Core Competencies in EMDR Consultation, are required to be completed as part of the consultant application. These courses are free to complete and can be found on our EMDRIA OnDemand Education platform.
The two consultant courses, Foundations of EMDR Consultation and Core Competencies in EMDR Consultation, offer 1.5 EMDRIA Credits for each course and count towards the required 12 EMDRIA Credits requirement for the consultant application. These courses are free to complete and can be found on our EMDRIA OnDemand Education platform.
CIT POV
EMDRIA does not require an applicant to retake or audit a basic training as part of the initial consulant application requirements. That being said, we would encourage the applicant to consider retaking or auditing a basic training, or completing a refresher course. If you are intereseted in retaking or auditing a basic training, our suggestion would be to reach out to your consultant or trainer to see if they offer discounts to retake the training. You can find refresher courses in our EMDRIA OnDemand Platform.
While you can provide multiple consultation hours to a certification applicant, for the initial certification application, EMDRIA will only accept up at 15 consultation hours provided by the CIT. The certification applicant will need to obtain a minimum of 5 consultation hours with an EMDRIA Approved Consultant.
Although a CIT can provide a letter of recommendation for the consultee seeking certification, a letter of recommendation from an EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ is required for consultant recommendation requirement.
Make sure to identify yourself as an EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training™ (CIT) and provide the name of the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ with whom you are working. We will need to see the total number of consultation hours that you provided to the certification applicant, how many of those hours were counted as individual or group hours, the date range that these hours were provided, feedback from the consultation sessions, an evaluative statement about your consultee's use of standard EMDR therapy with clients and awareness of situations in which modifications to standard EMDR therapy are necessary, and a recommendation, if applicable, for the certification credential.
Please note that as a CIT, we want to see a recommendation; however it will not count towards the consultant recommendation or peer recommendation requirements.
Make sure to identify yourself as an EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training™ (CIT) and provide the name of the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ with whom you are working. The letter should include details about the consultee's use of EMDR with clients and give background if possible about the consultee's demonstration of the AIP model and 8 phases of EMDR. The letter should also include an evaluation statement from the CIT recommending the applicant for the EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ credential.
Although a CIT can provide a letter of recommendation for the consultee seeking certification, a letter of recommendation from an EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ is required for the certification consultant recommendation requirement.
No. Only EMDRIA Approved Consultants™ can provide the 20 hours of consultation of consultation hours to CITs.
- Member Marketplace: You can advertise your services through our member marketplace, specific under the Consultation Groups/Services, which is a great way to connect with individuals actively seeking consultation.
- Consultant Collaboration: Another option is to speak with your consultant about the possibility of working with some of their current consultees. This can be a helpful way to gain experience and build your network.
Consultant POV
Our EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards were updated and implemented in January 2026. This included updating the requirements for the initial and renewal applications for the consultant credential. If you are already a current consultant, you will not need to complete the initial application again. However, when it comes time to renew your consultant credential, you will renew based on the updated consultant standards and renewal requirements. You can view more information about the standards process on our Updating EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards page.
Consultants are expected to track and maintain accurate records for the consultation hours they provide and are expected to retain this documentation for a five-year period from the date the consultation concludes.
While the CIT must work with at least 5 consultees, we do not require that the CIT has to consult with their consultant on each of the 5 consultees; however, it is ideal. We leave the specifics of the consultant's written contractual agreement with the CIT up to the consultant to determine what the consultant wants/expects to see during consultation.
We don't require the CIT to audit a basic training or shadow a consultation group as a requirement for the initial consultant application; however we would encourage the CIT to do so. That being said, while we (EMDRIA) don't require it, it might be a requirement for consultant that is providing the CIT with consultation of consultation hours. If this is something the consultant is wanting to see from the CIT, we suggest that the consultant include it in their written contractual agreement, so both parties are aware of the expectations.
Yes. In the letter you provide to the certification applicant, we ask that you list the hours, including individual v group and the date range, provided when you were a CIT and then a consultant. You would also be able to provide a recommendation as a consultant for their certification application.
EMDRIA Approved Consultant In Training™ Declaration Form
Ready to take the next step? Complete the EMDRIA Approved Consultant in Training™ form and one of our staff will be in touch with you.
EMDRIA Approved Consultant In Training™ Search
Use our directory to verify the status of an EMDRIA Approved Consultant In Training™ (CIT). Please note that only EMDRIA Approved Consultants in Training™ who are current EMDRIA™ Full Members, who have opted in to being on the public directory, will appear in the search results.
Consultant Standards
Download the EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ Standards document to review clear standards and best practices for consultants, as well as outline the knowledge, skills, and attitudes in a consultant's professional practice.
