I don't like using bilateral stimulation for installation of positive resources

(and other uncomfy things about EMDR I probably shouldn't say)

I don't. It just feels weird, ok. And I am saying this so quietly so the EMDR police won't get me. Maybe I shouldn't have posted this on the internet ...

Anyway. I just feel like that was worth saying. Because maybe there are a few different things about EMDR basic protocol you don't like either. Maybe it's the whole idea of using eyeballs to restructure traumatic memories (like ... what? how?!?). Maybe you feel cool using the SUDS scale (0-10 yes, makes sense), but the VOC scale just feels clunky and you hate explaining it (um ... so this one is 1-7. Like yeah I know ... not 1-10 ... I don't know why...). At any rate, there is a whole collection of things that might make EMDR seem awkward, gauche, and a touch like you're trying to sell someone on a Harry Potter spell as a graduate level medical professional. I get it.

And yet.

It works. It is incredibly effective and has a long-lasting impact on the client. Seeing someone gain freedom from a longstanding belief that was chaining them down is such a beautiful part of the work I get to do. It is, quite literally, my why.

I am not an EMDR Consultant. I am not a Counseling Supervisor. Please read: Do not take any of the things I say as an official advisement for your therapy career. But with that disclaimer in mind I say: do it anyway*. Do the EMDR anyway.** You have been trained, you have passion, and you know what to do.

Maybe, just like so many other aspects of this profession, you can take the parts of EMDR that really work for you and a particular client and leave the rest. I have admittedly used a 0-10 VOC scale on occasion because my client did not for the life of them understand why it had to be a scale of 1-7. And I felt like even the great Francine Shapiro herself would have rather this person receive treatment than have us get stuck on numbers. Because the point isn't numbers; it's healing. It is taking these incredible tools and using them for the betterment of our clients. The protocols are more like recipes, and some of us always add more garlic.

So, my dear therapist friend, add garlic. Or take it away. Or forget about it and then add it later. Tailor the EMDR process to you and your client because I think it would be a real tragedy to stay frozen in protocols rather than help your client heal.

You've got this.

<3 Sarah

*Unless you aren't EMDR trained, then please don't

**Seriously, don't. But here is a link to a great place where you can get trained. And certified.