Rick Levinson, LCSW is a clinical social worker in Austin, Texas with over 40 years of experience specializing in the treatment of trauma. He received his MSW from the University of Kansas at Lawrence in 1979, followed by a fellowship in child, adolescent, and family therapies at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Department of Psychiatry, from 1979–1981. Throughout his career, Rick has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings and has maintained a private practice in Austin since 1990. He completed his EMDR training in 1996 and has been an EMDR Trainer since 2005. Although trained in other cutting-edge trauma treatments, including Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and Somatic Experiencing, EMDR Therapy has remained his primary therapeutic approach.

Rick is the founder of the EMDR Training Center of Texas (ETCT), whose primary focus has been to bring EMDR Therapy training to nonprofit and governmental agencies. ETCT has developed training programs in collaboration with the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault and the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas for their member agencies. To date, ETCT has provided EMDR training to the clinical staff at more than 60 rape crisis centers, domestic violence agencies, children’s advocacy centers, community mental health centers, and law enforcement agencies across Texas. ETCT has also trained child psychiatry fellows at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, El Paso, and graduate students as a part of the Baylor University School of Social Work and the U.S. Army Chaplaincy, Marriage and Family Therapy Training Program at Fort Cavazos.

Rick has consulted with law enforcement agencies and presented at their conferences over the years on the importance of trauma-centric treatment for the continued high functioning and well-being of officers and staff, while simultaneously educating on the multitude of reasons why EMDR Therapy is uniquely suited to be their treatment of choice.