I often tell my EMDR Therapy students that if I had it my way, I would place EMDR Therapy Phase 2 (Preparation) before EMDR Therapy Phase 1 (Client History), especially in working with people with complex trauma or those who navigate dissociative responses. However, I do not have it my way in teaching EMDR Therapy Basic Trainings because I am entrusted, at least in the EMDRIA-approved system, to teach the EMDR Phases in the order in which Dr. Francine Shapiro originally presented them.
The reality I face as a clinician is that many things are going on in Phase 1 Client History as described by Shapiro, especially if we are approaching EMDR as a comprehensive approach to psychotherapy. Indeed, many of the tasks in Phase 1 are things that we would do anyway as clinicians: taking a general mental status exam, making a preliminary diagnosis, and determining if there are any health risks or other extenuating circumstances that might impact the therapeutic process. Yet the problem arises when, in executing all of the tasks in Phase 1, we move into the target selection part of Client History without having a sufficient basis of skills that we can call upon to assist the client if engaging in target selection itself becomes too activating.
In teaching an Advanced Topics course over the last year specifically on Phase 1 and the approach to Client History I’ve traditionally taught called Thematic Client History, an interesting concept slipped out of my mouth during teaching that I’d like to formally propose here: Phase 1a and Phase 1b. Phase 1a denotes the tasks that we conduct as part of EMDR Therapy Phase 1 that we would do anyway in psychotherapy. The general intake, if you will; yet perhaps delivered with an understanding of trauma and how the way in which traumatic memories are linked in the brain may make it difficult for a therapy participant to respond to the typical, All-American intake. I teach in the Institute for Creative Mindfulness EMDR Therapy Basic Training that the best clinical intakes are those conversations that we can have with our therapy participants organically, and from there we ought to be able to jump around our forms to get information entered. Too often, people find a rigid delivery of an intake form overly intrusive, activating, and shaming, especially during a first session or two. So Phase 1a encourages us to do what is asked of us in our settings and clinical practices, yet with a higher degree of sensitivity to the reality that not every question can be or ought to be answered until a therapy participant knows that they are safe enough with you as the clinician.
Depending on the client (therapy participant), doing the target selection part of Phase 1, which I am referring to as Phase 1b, may be too much to handle safely before a modicum of affect regulation skills are in place. I do not want to put this idea out there as a broad sweeping generalization. Some people, even those with complex trauma and dissociation, may be able to go right into Phase 1b after Phase 1a, especially if they come in already well-resourced. Another possibility is that being able to trace the origin story of what is causing them suffering, as we do in Phase 1b, might bring them a great deal of immediate relief. Yet for other therapy participants, going into anything that resembles a “trauma history,” even if it is delivered in a more trauma-responsive way like I teach in Thematic Client History can feel like too much, too soon.
That is when we, as EMDR Therapists, have the option to move from Phase 1a into Phase 2 work. The purpose of Phase 2 Preparation in EMDR Therapy is to teach people the skills that they need to be able to better tolerate, at least from an affective perspective, what might arise in Phases 3-6, which we generally describe as the reprocessing of trauma phases. While the most common Phase 2 skills taught in EMDR Therapy basic training curricula include Calm Safe Place, Light Stream, and Container, these may not be optimal, or will only scratch the surface for some folks struggling with the impact of complex trauma. In my program, I regularly emphasize that skills like mindfulness, using any and all available senses, grounding or anchoring techniques, and the expressive arts can be optimal for people who dissociate. Or these multi-sensory and creative skills may be used to enhance the Big 3 that we usually teach in EMDR Therapy. In Phase 2, we also teach our therapy participants skills like the Stop Sign Technique, where we develop a physical signal for stopping (or pausing) that the client is empowered to flash up for us if they are feeling overwhelmed or have questions.
Yet engaging in Phase 1b and selecting targets might also require a level of practical preparation and reminders that they are in control of the process. Parts exploration might also be part of Phase 1 work, yet in this system I would contend it is better placed as a Phase 1b activity following a modicum of affective preparation and orientation to the EMDR process. I believe, as a long-time EMDR therapist, consultant, and trainer, that many of us know this intuitively. Yet some newer EMDR therapists need to hear things named in order to feel confident about putting an intuitive idea into practice.
How might you already be putting these ideas of Phase 1a-Phase 2-Phase 1b into practice? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.
To learn more with Dr. Jamie about Phase 1 Thematic Client History, consider checking out her upcoming course on it (which can also be taken in a bundle with a course that she teaches on Phase 8 Re-Evaluation), January 28-29, 2026 by clicking HERE.
