2026 EMDR Training Courses

Welcome to an immersive, 5-day, in-person workshop tailored exclusively for mental health professionals like you—counsellors, psychotherapists, marriage and family therapists, social workers, and psychologists.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), hailed as an “indispensable modality of treatment” by the esteemed Bessel van der Kolk, offers your clients a way to safely process traumatic experiences.

This EMDRIA-approved, 5-day EMDR Training Course isn’t just about acquiring knowledge…

…it’s about gaining clinical pearls of wisdom that you can immediately integrate into your practice.

Emphasizing attunement, attachment, and clinical judgment, this course covers the essentials of:

• how to integrate EMDR into your clinical practice
• how to customize treatments for diverse scenarios, including children, recent events, couples, grief, pain, phobias, addictions, and dissociation
• reinforcing your skills in treatment planning, preparation, and processing interventions.

Unlike research-oriented approaches to EMDR, this course places a spotlight on the interpersonal aspects of EMDR work. Immerse yourself in a multimedia learning experience, combining lectures, videos, and practice opportunities. Listen, observe, and implement new concepts and skills, ensuring a comprehensive understanding.

This updated EMDR course builds upon the original procedures developed by Francine Shapiro in 1995 to expand your expertise in treatment planning, preparation, and processing interventions. With over 43 videos, downloadable training materials, and access to a community-wide listserv, you’ll receive support before, during, and after the course, ensuring confidence as you integrate EMDR into your clinical practice.

After completing this course, participants will have:

• applied the Adaptive Information Processing theoretical approach to psychotherapy;
• demonstrated the eight phases of EMDR therapy; and
• identified how to utilize EMDR with a variety of clinical populations.

Special instruction is given on varying applications of bilateral stimulation that uses a client-centered approach to address the unique needs of each client. This course also teaches clinicians how to utilize EMDR in a telehealth environment.

Also included with this course:

All participants receive 10 additional hours of post-training consultation with approved consultants via small-group phone/online video conferencing. This is an excellent opportunity to fine-tune your understanding and skills with personalized guidance.

Don’t miss this comprehensive and engaging learning experience! Empower yourself to make a profound impact on your clients through the transformative power of EMDR.

After completing this EMDR 5-day basic training course and the post-training consultation hours, you are considered an EMDR-trained clinician and will receive a Certificate of Course Completion.

1. Summarize Francine Shapiro’s development of EMDR.
2. Describe processing mechanisms (BLS, REM, orienting response, and taxing working memory with DAS).
3. Recognize EMDR as evidence-based practice.
4. Describe the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Approach.
5. Demonstrate stabilization and affect management skills.
6. Demonstrate developing a neural network target sequence plan.
7. Identify ways to explain EMDR to clients.
8. Discuss EMDR client selection criteria.
9. Summarize the use of the Phase 3 Assessment questions before EMDR processing.
10. Demonstrate standard EMDR and adaptations (contained and restricted processing).
11. Recognize the re-evaluation phase as part of treatment integration.
12. Identify three-prong processing (past, present, future).
13. Identify ways to provide EMDR via telehealth.
14. Recognize modifications to utilize EMDR with children.
15. Recognize ways to use EMDR with couples.
16. Identify EMDR options with recent or crisis events.
17. Demonstrate self-use techniques one may teach a client.
18. Recognize the AIP approach to neurobiology with clients with complex presentations.
19. Summarize front-loading additional resources for use with clients with complex presentations.
20. Identify two or more ways to approach target sequence planning in EMDR.
21. Describe the use of cognitive interweaves during processing.
22. Identify clinical processing interventions to assist in managing client emotions during processing.
23. Recognize ways to help client stay within their window of processing tolerance.
24. Describe phase 8, re-evaluation phase of EMDR, and its purpose.
25. Discuss EMDR with first responders.
26. Describe modifications for working with dissociative tendencies.
27. Identify the EMDR approach to treating addictions.
28. Recognize the use of EMDR with grief.
29. Explain an EMDR approach to working with phobias.
30. Describe using EMDR with pain.
31. Summarize how to integrate EMDR into one’s clinical practice.

To participate in this EMDR 5-day training course, you must meet all of the following requirements:

1. 1. Have already completed a master’s degree or higher in an established mental health discipline such as Counselling, Marriage Family Therapy, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Psychiatry, or Social Work (or a related mental health discipline), or provide proof of current enrolment in a post-graduate program leading to a master’s degree or higher and be independently licenced to practice through your state board/provincial regulatory body. If you are a student currently enrolled in a post-graduate program as noted above, you must have completed your core academic coursework and be active in the practicum/internship portion of your graduate program and working under the supervision of a fully-licenced or registered mental health clinician. Students must also provide a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between themselves and their designated supervisor who agrees to oversee their EMDR practice throughout the duration of this EMDR training course. The designated supervisor must be an independently licenced supervisor but does not need to be EMDR-trained.

1. 1. Have active membership in a college or professional regulatory body that oversees the practice of psychotherapy. Clinicians who have qualifying status (i.e.; associate, intern, limited, provisional, temporary, pre-licence) with their regulatory body are required to provide a signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between themselves and their clinical supervisor.

1. Have active Professional Liability insurance.

Note: First-year graduate students are not eligible to participate in this 5-day EMDR Training Course.

See a sample MOU here.

View/Download a list of designations and regulatory bodies recognized by EMDR Canada.

Once you have registered by paying in full or paying your first instalment payment, you will be sent a Confirmation of Eligibility Form to complete and return to Leading Edge Seminars within seven (7) days.

If it is determined that you do not meet the course eligibility requirements, you will be issued a complete and full refund, without penalty, of any registration fees you have paid.

• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Clinical and Counselling Psychologists
• Psychiatric Social Workers
• Social Workers
• Psychotherapists
• Psychiatrists
• Physicians
• Nurse Practitioners
• Counsellors
• Master’s Students in accredited programs in the above fields who have completed their coursework*
• Licensed Professional Counsellors

*As long as noted eligibility requirements are met.

We are pleased to offer you 2 choices of accommodations for our out of town guests for our EMDR Toronto trainings:

Courtyard by Marriott Toronto Downtown – A limited number of rooms have been reserved for participants attending the Leading Edge Seminars EMDR Training in Toronto from Monday, August 10 to Friday, August 14, 2026 for the special group rate of $349 CAD per night.

Last day to book: Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Book your room here

Rooms are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so we encourage participants to book early.

Tartu College offers summer stays, available for both our May and August Toronto EMDR coursess. They offer four room types, from Standard to Premium.

Tartu College is centrally located in the Annex neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, just one block east from Bloor Street West and Spadina Ave. There is a restaurant onsite with meal plan options available (May-July), and access to an app-operated laundry room, ATM, weekly housekeeping services (in common areas), and limited underground car/bike parking (additional charge). There is also a 24/7 Front Desk.

The Best Western Plus Chocolate Lake Hotel is offering a special group rate for accommodations for participants of this course – just $214* per room per night!

Two Ways to Book Your Room

1. Call Central Reservations at (800) 528-1234 – you must quote block name: LEADING EDGE SEMINARS
2. Call the hotel directly at (902) 477-5611 ext. 0 – you must quote block name: LEADING EDGE SEMINARS

Group Accommodation Block Details

Block Name: Leading Edge Seminars
Check-In Date: July 19, 2026
Check-Out Date: July 24, 2026
Number of Nights: 5
Available Room Types: 1 Queen Beds, 2 Queen beds, 1 King bed
Room Rate: $214 per room per night*

*Plus applicable taxes (3% Halifax Marketing Levy and 15% HST).

Room Rate includes:

• Complimentary breakfast
• Single/double adult occupancy in a standard room with 1 queen bed, 2 queen beds, or 1 king bed
• Third and fourth adult occupants’ rate is an additional $20* per guest per night, plus applicable taxes
• Maximum of four guests per room
• Check-in time 3:00 pm; Check-out time 11:00 am

*Note: Early check-in and late check-out may be available for a fee but is never guaranteed. Please check availability directly with the hotel at (902) 477-5611 ext. 0.

Best Western Plus Chocolate Lake Hotel
250 St Margarets Bay Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3N 1J4
Canada

(902) 477-5611