Introduction
Date Course Created: July 2026
There’s a conversation most EMDR clinicians aren’t having. EMDR is supposed to work. When it doesn’t, the instinct is to stay quiet, consult privately, and wonder if we missed something. This course is about having that conversation out loud, with a clinical framework that explains what’s actually going on.
Maybe your patient never responded in the first place. Sessions happened. Targets were worked. Nothing shifted. Or maybe they did respond, and the gains evaporated. The SUD came down, the VoC went up, the session closed cleanly. A month later, the patient returned and the symptoms were worse. Or the gains held in your office but fell apart in real life.
You’ve been told this means you missed a target, or the patient has complex trauma, or you need more advanced training. Sometimes that’s right. Often it isn’t.
EMDR works through a specific neural mechanism: memory reconsolidation. Like every neural process, reconsolidation can fail in identifiable, diagnosable ways. The new encoding can be weak. The context-binding can be incomplete. The somatic imprint can be untouched. Each of these looks, in session, like a successful reprocess. You don’t see the failure until weeks later. And here’s what most EMDR training doesn’t tell you: desensitization is the goal, and there are six different neural pathways to get there. EMDR leads with one. When reconsolidation alone isn’t doing the work, the answer is knowing which of the other five is.
This course gives you the diagnostic map and the decision framework to fix what you find. You’ll learn the six processes of change that underlie every evidence-based trauma therapy, where EMDR sits in that framework, what EMDR engages and what it doesn’t, and how to diagnose which mechanism has broken down in a stalled case. You’ll walk out knowing how to modify your next EMDR session to address what’s stalling it, when to integrate adjunctive work and which adjunct fits which gap, and when a different primary modality will get the patient there faster than pushing further with EMDR.
The clinicians who leave with the most from this workshop will be the ones who use EMDR most thoughtfully in their practice afterward.
DISCLAIMER: This program has been developed and offered by Online CE Credits, and it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any other organization, center, clinic, institute, psychotherapy broker, person, or other business entity.
This is a 2.5-CE noninteractive, self-paced online video course delivered in home study format via an industry-standard online learning platform.
Agenda
00:00 – 00:30 → Trauma Processing, Inhibitory Learning Theory, Goals of Trauma Processing, Desensitization Explained
00:30 – 01:00 → Habituation as a Process, Conscious Choices in Techniques, Impact of External Feedback on Memories
01:00 – 01:30 → Cognitive Change in Prolonged Exposure, Pain Tolerance and Self-Efficacy, Engaging with Memories
01:30 – 02:00 → Integrating Cognitive Approaches with EMDR, Incorporating ILT, Challenges of Habituation in Therapy
02:00 – 02:43 → Expectancy Violation Techniques, Defining Success in Therapy, Creating Retrieval Cues for Clients
Objectives
This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:
After completing this training, participants will be able to identify the primary and secondary neural mechanisms engaged by EMDR, and distinguish them from mechanisms engaged by other evidence-based trauma therapies.- After completing this training, participants will be able to recognize clinical markers that indicate when reconsolidation has occurred without durable new encoding, and differentiate this from other patterns of treatment stall.
- After completing this training, participants will be able to apply a mechanism-based decision framework to determine when to continue EMDR, when to integrate adjunctive approaches, and when to pivot to a different primary modality.
Target Audience:
The target audience for this course includes psychologists, social workers, counselors, MFT’s, and other clinical mental health professionals.
Instructional Level: Intermediate
Instructor(s): Jennifer Sweeton, PsyD, JD, MS, MA
Material Author(s): Jennifer Sweeton, PsyD, JD, MS, MA
For additional information about this course, the instructors, or the material authors, please contact Content Assistance at content@onlinececredits.com.
Course Materials & Delivery Method:
Course Materials – The course is composed of a recorded presentation and written materials (e.g. a slide deck and/or other worksheets, manuals, or handouts as provided by the instructor). The slide deck and any additional worksheets or handouts (as provided by the instructor) are made available inside the Lesson module after a course is purchased.- Delivery Method – This course is a recorded asynchronous, self-paced webinar training, and there is no access time limit or due date to complete it once enrolled. The enrolled learner will stream the recorded presentation and view the materials from their internet connected device via an industry-standard online learning platform.
CE Approvals:
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)
Online CE Credits has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6795. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Online CE Credits is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
Mind Works Professional Education, Inc. DBA Online CE Credits, #1974, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: July 23, 2025 – July 23, 2028. Social workers completing this course receive 2.5 clinical continuing education credits.
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- Posttest Requirements – You must answer 80% or more of the Quiz questions correctly to pass. If you fail to pass the first time, you may attempt the quiz again until you are able to pass with a score of 80% or better. Quizzes are graded instantly and automatically by the learning management system once your attempt is submitted.
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