Five Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Running an EMDR-Informed Group Practice

I started Whole Mentality as a solo practice. EMDR was central to my clinical work from early on. I was an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, I was seeing clients, I was starting to understand how much I didn't know yet.

What I didn't have was much guidance on what it looks like to build EMDR into a group practice, how to hire for it, how to support it, how to make it something the practice does well rather than something individual clinicians happen to do.

Here are five things I've learned, mostly the hard way.

1. EMDR training is a starting point, not a credential

Basic training gives clinicians a foundation. It does not make them competent EMDR practitioners, and the literature is pretty clear on this. Competence develops through supervised practice, consultation, and a lot of clinical hours.

If you're building a team that does EMDR, think carefully about what support structures you're building around the training. Are clinicians getting consultation? Are they able to bring their toughest cases somewhere? Do they have access to someone who can help them figure out when something isn't working?

A practice full of clinicians who completed basic training two years ago and haven't thought about EMDR much since is not an EMDR-informed practice. It's a practice where some people once did a training.

2. The preparation phase is where most EMDR problems start

When I'm in consultation with clinicians who are stuck, clients who aren't progressing, reprocessing that keeps getting derailed, sessions that feel chaotic, the issue is almost always in the preparation phase.

Not enough history taking. Not enough resourcing. Not enough assessment of window of tolerance. Jumping to reprocessing before the foundation was solid.

The preparation phase is not glamorous. It doesn't feel like "real" EMDR to some clinicians. It's also the thing that makes everything else work.

If you're building clinical culture in a group practice, build a culture that takes preparation seriously.

3. EMDR intensives are worth understanding even if you don't offer them

EMDR Intensives, extended reprocessing sessions, often half-day or full-day blocks, are a different model than weekly therapy. They're not right for every client or every practice. But understanding how they work, who they're appropriate for, and what the clinical considerations are is worth your time even if you never offer them yourself.

Clients are increasingly asking about them. Having a thoughtful answer; whether that's a referral or a conversation is part of being an informed clinician in this space.

4. Supervision and consultation are not the same thing and you need both

For practices employing pre-licensed clinicians, supervision is a legal and ethical requirement. For EMDR specifically, consultation is a separate professional development need., and it doesn't stop being relevant once someone is fully licensed.

Ongoing consultation is what keeps the work sharp. Build it into your clinical culture from the beginning.

5. Your practice's EMDR identity needs to be explicit, not implied

If EMDR is central to what your practice does, say so explicitly, in your marketing, your intake process, your clinician onboarding, your supervision conversations.

"We're a trauma-informed practice" is not the same as "we provide EMDR therapy and take the model seriously." The second statement is more specific, more credible, and more useful to the clients who need to find you.

It also sets expectations for your clinical team about what the practice prioritizes. Implicit culture is harder to maintain than explicit culture. If EMDR fidelity matters to you, say that it matters.

Whole Mentality is a group practice in Raleigh, NC. I provide clinical supervision for LCSWAs and EMDR consultation for clinicians working toward certification or deepening their practice.