How Online CE Credits Stays Affordable: A Transparent Look at EMDR Training Costs vs. the EMDRIA Closed Loop Model

At Online CE Credit’s we’re often asked, why do some EMDR trainings cost two to four times more than others? And why can Online CE Credits offer EMDR education at such accessible, sustainable prices without sacrificing quality, expertise, or instructor compensation?

The answer is actually simple:

We don’t participate in EMDRIA’s closed-loop financial model.
And that single decision removes layers upon layers of mandatory, repeated fees—fees that can substantially drive up training costs for clinicians and dilute the income of the trainers who teach them.

To understand how Online CE Credits keeps pricing affordable, you first have to understand the EMDRIA cost structure that every EMDRIA-approved trainer must pay into. These expenses are not one-time. They are recurring, cumulative, and unavoidable for anyone who wants to offer “EMDRIA-approved” training.

Below is a transparent comparison so you can understand exactly why our prices are lower, and how we redirect resources toward expert instructors, high-quality content, and learner support, instead of funneling them into costly credentialing requirements.

1. The EMDRIA Closed-Loop Model: A System Where Everyone Pays . . . Except EMDRIA

If someone wants to become an EMDRIA-approved trainer (and keep that status), they must pay EMDRIA at nearly every stage of their EMDR development/training, often multiple times over. Trainers, consultants, clinicians, and CE providers all pay into the system, repeatedly, in order to remain “approved.”

Here’s a visual breakdown of what EMDRIA collects:

The “Money spent” section is a broad summary, not exhaustive. To see exactly what EMDRIA spent in 2024, see: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742865263. Additionally, the “Money received” section may not include additional EMDRIA dues. For example, dues associated with altering curriculum materials may also exist, but the authors could not verify if/when they do, or to what degree materials must be edited/changed to warrant a new application.

And if you’re not a visual learner, here’s the breakdown described, and in more detail:

1. Clinicians pay EMDRIA for:

1. EMDRIA membership (ongoing/yearly)
2. Certification application fees
3. Re-certification fees (every 2 years, forever)
4. And, when clinicians purchase EMDRIA-approved CEs required for EMDRIA re-certification, the providers of those CEs have already paid EMDRIA for approving those CEs (meaning, in a sense, clinicians may indirectly pay for that as well).

1. Consultants pay EMDRIA for:

1. Consultant application fees
2. Consultant renewal fees (every 2 years, forever)
3. EMDRIA membership (ongoing/yearly)
4. EMDRIA-approved CEs (indirectly, as described in the last section)

1. Trainers pay EMDRIA for:

1. Certification (prerequisite)
2. Consultant credential (prerequisite)
3. Trainer application
4. Curriculum/materials approval
5. EMDRIA membership (ongoing/yearly)
6. Required EMDRIA-approved CEs (again, indirectly)

1. Companies pay EMDRIA for:

1. EC provider approvals
2. Curriculum review fees
3. Additional program approval fees (they pay all over again for each course they want to offer)

If a trainer wants to:

• Teach 1 course → pay EMDRIA (multiple times over; see above for the specifics) for approval
• Teach 3 courses → pay EMDRIA three times (they pay EMDRIA multiple times over, times 3)

Money flows in from everyone (trainers, CE providers, clinicians, consultants), and money flows out primarily to EMDRIA’s own operations, not to support trainers or learners.

2. What EMDRIA Spends — and Doesn’t Spend — Money On

According to their 2024 tax return, EMDRIA money was spent on:

• Salaries for 18 employees, plus contractors (exact number unknown)
• Marketing
• Conferences
• General overhead
• Other things – see https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742865263 for a comprehensive list of expenditures in 2024.

According to their 2024 tax return, EMDRIA money does not appear to be spent on:

• Paying trainers
• Subsidizing training costs for clinicians
• Supporting clinical services
• Funding mental health or community programs
• Helping trainers with business costs
• Research funding
• Compensating Board members in ways that reduce cost for learners

In other words:

➡️ Everyone else pays EMDRIA.
➡️ EMDRIA’s fees do not appear to directly subsidize trainer compensation, according to their tax return.
➡️ And none of those fees appear to reduce training costs for clinicians (also according to their tax return).

This is the definition of a closed-loop credentialing economy:
Money circulates upward, but benefits do not flow back down.

3. How This Drives Up Prices for EMDRIA-Approved Trainings

Imagine being an EMDRIA-approved trainer. Before you even earn a dollar teaching, you’ve already paid EMDRIA several times over. Here’s a visual (look at the green, circled/highlighted EMDRIA-Approved Trainers box and the red arrows, depicting what these trainers pay EMDRIA):

Put in words, if you’re an EMDRIA-approved trainer, before making a dime, you’ve…

• Paid for basic training
• Paid for consultation (many times over)
• Paid for membership (yearly)
• Paid for certification
• Paid for recertification (renew every 2 years)
• Paid for consultant-in-training status
• Paid for consultant status (renew every 2 years)
• Paid for trainer application
• Paid for curriculum approval (only good for one course)
• Paid for EC provider approval (or your organization did)
• Paid for curriculum re-review (it’s not free to update your materials)
• Paid for EMDRIA-approved CEs (ongoing, forever, or you lose your statuses)

Each layer adds hundreds or thousands in cumulative cost.
And these costs don’t just hit once. They repeat every year, every 2 years, or every time you:

• update slides
• update your manual
• create a new training
• revise your program
• add instructors
• change your schedule or agenda

No wonder EMDRIA-approved trainings cost $1,500–$3,000.
They have to.

EMDRIA-Approved Trainers are often trying to cover:

• their EMDRIA fees
• their consultant’s EMDRIA fees
• their organization’s EMDRIA fees
• their curriculum approval fees
• their mandatory CEs
• and overhead on top of all of that

The EMDRIA model encourages trainers to charge higher prices in order to break even.

4. How Online CE Credits Keeps EMDR Training Affordable — Without Cutting Quality

Online CE Credits doesn’t participate in the closed loop. Here’s a visual:

Here’s what it means in practice…

✔ We don’t pay EMDRIA 5+ times over

No certification dues
No consultant dues
No trainer dues
No curriculum fees
No CE provider fees
No EC provider fees
No membership dues

This single choice eliminates layers of structural costs.

✔ We don’t charge our trainers, we pay them

We actually pay our trainers, NOT charge them.

EMDRIA requires trainers to pay:

• application fees
• renewal fees
• curriculum approval fees

We do not.
We seek them out and compensate them fairly for their expertise, as it should be. In doing this, we ensure that we get truly amazing trainers. And, they don’t have to pay overhead or marketing expenses, or take business risks. We carry those burdens. Even so, our prices stay affordable because we don’t pay into EMDRIA’s closed system.

✔ We invest in our Advisory Board (and pay them well)

While we could spend more money on marketing, we instead prioritize paying our advisory board members, who ensure model fidelity and high training standards. Even though we pay them $100 per 15 minutes of work, this cost does not raise training prices because:

• It’s predictable
• It’s transparent
• It is not tied to a regulatory monopoly
• It is not a recurring credential-maintenance requirement

✔ We don’t inflate our own salaries

This prevents unnecessary price increases.

✔ We spend money on what actually improves education:

• High-quality trainers
• Thought leaders
• Neuroscientists
• Real-world clinicians
• Trauma specialists
• Course development
• Technology
• Learner support
• Accessibility

None of our budget is spent on credentialing bureaucracy.

✔ We are not required to pass any third-party’s fees down to learners

This is a major point.
Many EMDRIA-approved trainings build their pricing around:

• “EMDRIA consultant costs”
• “EMDRIA curriculum fees”
• “EMDRIA trainer dues”
• “EMDRIA membership requirements”
• “EMDRIA CE requirements”

We don’t have those.
So clinicians don’t have to pay for them.

5. The Bottom Line: Online CE Credits is Affordable Because We Are Not Paying Into a Closed System

Everything becomes clear when you follow the flow of money.

In the EMDRIA model:

• Clinicians pay
• Consultants pay
• Trainers pay
• CE providers pay
• Organizations pay

And EMDRIA collects from all of them.

In OUR model:

• We pay trainers
• We pay our advisory board
• We pay our staff
• We pay for technology and infrastructure
• We invest directly into education

But we don’t pay into a credentialing monopoly.
And we don’t pass unnecessary fees on to you.

6. A Note on Quality: Affordability Shouldn’t Mean Inferior Training

Online CE Credits isn’t inexpensive because it’s “cheap.”
It’s affordable because we removed all the middle layers that inflate prices elsewhere.

We offer:

• high-quality EMDR education
• taught by experts
• without taxing trainers
• without funneling revenue into bureaucracy
• without making clinicians pay for a certification ladder

We believe EMDR training should be:

• accessible
• reasonably priced
• taught by experts
• grounded in brain science
• open to innovation
• and free from unnecessary gatekeeping

And the only way to accomplish that is by opting out of the closed loop.

Final Thoughts: Freedom Creates Affordability

EMDRIA’s model works for EMDRIA, but not necessarily for all clinicians, trainers, or learners.

Online CE Credits chooses a different approach:
one rooted in transparency, innovation, and direct investment in people rather than credentialing hoops.

We stay affordable because:

• We invest in trainers
• We invest in content
• We invest in learners
• We refuse to pay into a cycle that forces higher prices

And we believe that EMDR education shouldn’t require thousands of dollars in dues, approvals, and re-approvals just to access good training.

By staying independent, we stay affordable.
By staying affordable, we stay accessible.
And by staying accessible, we help more clinicians deliver excellent trauma therapy to the clients who need it most.

Sources & Documentation

This analysis reflects publicly available data as of December 2025 and OCEC’s interpretation; actual figures may vary. The data, cost structures, and diagrams presented in this article were derived from publicly available materials/websites. Any proposed edits to the data shown here can be sent to cc@onlinececredits.com. Relevant source documents include:

Publicly Available EMDRIA Sources

• EMDRIA Membership Dues and Levels
  https://www.emdria.org/about-emdria/emdria-membership/
• EMDRIA Certified Therapist Requirements
  https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/emdr-certification
• EMDRIA Consultant Requirements
  https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/emdr-consultant
• EMDRIA Trainer Requirements (Basic Training Providers)
  https://emdria.org/wp-content/uploads/articulate-rise-360/emdria-approved-trainer-application-getting-started-final/index.html#/
• EMDRIA CE Provider Application Processes
  https://www.emdria.org/emdr-training/emdria-credit-provider/

Additional Background Research (Professional Context)

• Discussions within clinician communities (e.g., Reddit r/EMDR, therapist forums) describing the financial and gatekeeping pressures associated with EMDRIA’s approval model.
• Industry-standard CE provider practices (APA, NBCC, state boards), used to contextualize differences between open CE marketplaces and closed-loop credentialing systems.
• EMDRIA tax returns (mainly 2024 return referenced): https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742865263

These combined sources inform the comparative analysis between EMDRIA’s cost structures and Online CE Credits’ affordability model.