What Makes a Good EMDR Therapist? Exploratory Findings From Client-Centered Inquiry

Abstract

There are several qualities of good EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapists that must be examined to understand what clients most value in this specialized treatment. These qualities, as defined by former clients, include therapist personality, an ability to empower clients, flexibility, intuition, a sense of ease and comfort in working with trauma, and a commitment to the small measures of caring that clients identify as helping them feel safer. This article highlights the importance of honoring client safety in EMDR treatment by further exploring a theme from a phenomenological parent study on the use of EMDR with women in addiction continuing care. The parent study offered qualitative evidence showing that there is a place for EMDR as part of a comprehensive women’s addiction recovery program when applied properly. In this article, participants’ descriptions of their EMDR therapists and how these therapists were able to establish safety are described in greater detail than the parent study article allowed. Implications for emphasis on client-centered factors in the training and formation of EMDR therapists are discussed using the data extrapolated from the clients’ experiences, and further directions for researching the client-centered perspective in EMDR are presented.