Am I eligible for the training?

Eligibility Criteria

For full Eligibility Criteria, please check EMDR UK website.

EMDR is an advanced psychotherapy requiring a high level of skill.

For eligibility to train and to apply to become an EMDR UK Accredited EMDR Practitioner, these are the Essential Prerequisites:

  • A mental health clinical background

  • “Accreditation” with one of the professional associations deemed acceptable by EMDR Europe and EMDR UK (see below)

  • Having attended EMDR training by an EMDR Europe Association accredited training provider

EMDR Accredited training is strictly limited to mental health professionals:

  • Clinical Psychologists (Registered with HCPC)

    Counselling Psychologists (Registered with HCPC)

    Educational Psychologists (Registered with HCPC)

    Forensic Psychologists (Registered with HCPC)

  • MRCPsych or equivalent (including Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training in any psychiatric speciality)

    Alternatively:

    Complete both long and short psychotherapy cases (and)

    Equivalent of three years full-time psychiatric experience (and)

    Letter confirming above from line manager and sent to EMDR Training Provider

  • Registered Mental Health Nurses (NMC), Registered Learning Disability Nurses (NMC), Arts Psychotherapists (HCPC), Occupational Therapists (HCPC) and Registered Social Workers who:

    Have mental health training, can recognise and assess common mental health problems and have experience of working in a mental health setting.

    Have training and a minimum of two years’ experience of providing one-to-one psychotherapy, in addition to their professional training.

    Have provided a reference from their clinical supervisor confirming the above.

  • MUST hold FULL accreditation by one of the following professional bodies:

    BABCP

    BACP

    UKCP

    British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)

    National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society Accredited Professional (NCPS Accredited Professional) grade

    Federation of Drug and Alcohol Practitioners (FDAP) who are NCAC accredited.

    Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP)

    COSCA

    COSRT

  • In their final year of training with a letter of recommendation from their clinical supervisor are eligible to begin the Standard EMDR Europe course but cannot fully complete it until their registration with HCPC is confirmed.

Expectations of participants

 In order to make the most out of the training and to develop the necessary competency in EMDR, there are certain requirements of participants, over the course of the full basic training. 

 Participants are required to:

  • attend all 7 days of the course

  • to take part in all the clinical practice sessions as both therapist and client

  • to use EMDR with a minimum of 3 clients over the course of the training

  • to receive 10 hours of supervision (in-built into the training)

 Participants must meet all these requirements in order to receive certificate of attendance.

 Additionally:

  • All applicants must have a significant proportion of their current primary role delivering 1-1 psychotherapy.

  • All applicants must have the full support of their clinical supervisor to attend the training.

  • All applicants must have access to training cases for the duration of the course.