This in-person six-hour training focuses on effective strategies in EMDR therapy with clients with complex trauma. It introduces strategies to help clients develop Phase Two resources when they have struggled to respond to resources using more traditional approaches. It offers sensible accommodations in the reprocessing phases of EMDR therapy when complex clients struggle.
Prerequisites
Training Level: Intermediate. This training is for clinicians who have completed an EMDRIA-Approved Basic EMDR Training (or compatible training in your country). Much of the training is unlikely to be helpful to therapists who do not have a solid foundation in EMDR therapy. Training Level: Intermediate.
Locations of In-Person Trainings
Middleburg Heights, Ohio. April 24, 2026. 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Cost
| Six Ohio CEs and Six EMRIA Credits (No Other CEs Offered) | Graduate Students, Financially Constrained, or Community Mental Health Worker Scholarship* |
| $70.00 | $35.00, use coupon code: CMH |
*Community mental health workers in this context means that at least 50% of the clients of the agency are Medicaid/Medicare or local government or board-funded clients.
Register
https://EMDRCleveland.as.me/complexin
Please review our Grievance, Cancellation, and Refund policies.
Agenda
| 9:00 AM | Welcome and Introductions |
| 9:15 AM | Review Trauma from an AIP Lens What Makes Complex Trauma So Complex in EMDR Therapy Core Resources for Complex Trauma |
| 10:15 AM | Understanding Containment |
| 10:25 AM | Strategies for Working with Dissociation |
| 11:00 AM | How we Interact with the Memory Matters |
| 12:00 PM-1:00 PM | LUNCH |
| 1:00 PM | Strategies for Use Between Sessions |
| 1:15 PM | Strategies for Working with Deficits of Adaptive Information |
| 2:45 PM | The Problem of Developmental Trauma Related to EMDR |
| 3:00 PM | Attachment Resources |
| 3:45 PM-4:00 PM | Wrap-Up |
The content of this program is consistent with the EMDRIA Definition of EMDR.
Learning Objectives
- Articulate why many clients with extreme trauma struggle using standard resources in EMDR therapy.
- List and describe how to conduct at least three “dip your toe in” resources that tend to be more tolerable starting places for clients with severe trauma.
- List three types of dissociation that are potentially problematic in EMDR therapy and strategies for managing them.
- Describe at least three strategies that can assist clients in the reprocessing phases of EMDR therapy clear targets with less risk of client decompensation and increased probability of memory resolution.
- List the advantages of attachment resources in the preparation phases of EMDR therapy.
- Articulate three strategies to help clients develop some of the needed adaptive information for EMDR therapy.
CEs
This training has been approved for six-hours for Ohio counselors, social workers, and MFT’s. It is approved for six EMDRIA credits. This training is NOT approved for any other CEs. Please verify that your state takes CEs from Ohio, many do not. If you are not pleased with this training, you can request a refund at any time and your payment will be refunded.
Zoom information by email will be sent upon completion of the registration.
About the Instructor
Thomas Zimmerman, Ms.Ed., LPCC, is an EMDRIA Certified Therapist and Approved Consultant who lives, practices, and conducts EMDR therapy training in Cleveland, Ohio, through EMDR Cleveland LLC. He is the author of EMDR With Complex Trauma, a book that helps therapists transition more effectively from foundational trauma trainings to treating clients with pervasively traumatized nervous systems. Thomas is known in the EMDR community as a moderator of some the largest social media communities of EMDR therapists globally, including the group of over 33,000 members of EMDR Therapist Resources on Facebook. He has one of the most popular podcasts for EMDR therapists, The EMDR Podcast (EmdrPodcast.com), which focuses on doing EMDR therapy with clients with extreme trauma well, safely, and in ways grounded in the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP). Thomas has been active in developing a version of the Flash technique specifically for complex trauma and has trained many thousands of trauma therapists globally in this approach, free of charge, including the use of Flash as a crisis intervention and as a self-administered version.
EMDR Cleveland LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content. There is no known commercial support for this program.
EMDR Cleveland 