Consulting Best Practices and Protocols
Table of Contents
Submitting Your Listing Information and Rates
You as the Consultant or Consultant-in-Training (CIT) are solely responsible for keeping the ICM main office informed of your consulting rates, which can be done by keeping your ICM Network Directory listing current. If you have an upgrade from being a CIT to an AC, we need to know immediately. The ICM home office asks that ICM network members contact the home office directly about any changes to their status. Please do not have your approved consultant or faculty member you primarily work with contact us. If you have questions or concerns please contact Alicia immediately: alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com.
ICM network members who are consultants or consultants in training are required to pay a $5.99/month or $65.00/year fee to have an active directory listing with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. If you have questions about this process, contact Alicia at alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com
Consultation Pricing
The Institute for Creative Mindfulness allows Approved Consultants to set their own price points for individual and group consultation sessions. However, we ask you to be mindful, in setting your pricing, that lack of access to affordable consultation is a major reason that trainees report not pursuing EMDRIA Certification or getting the help that they need after they complete their initial training. Since many ICM network faculty members do not currently include the price of consultation in their training packages, we ask that ICM network members be especially mindful about affordability. While you are not required to offer price breaks for individuals who ask or offer lower cost or even free services for scholarship recipients or others from our special program, the ICM home office is appreciative of those who do.
Under no circumstances may Consultants-in-Training price their services above $45.00/hour for one-hour individual sessions and $45.00 per two-hour group, per person. CITs are asked to be mindful that they are still in training, and that their prices ought to reflect this reality. If CITs are concerned about this pricing policy affecting their overall income, you are encouraged to focus on building groups instead of offering individual services.
Consultant-in-Training (CIT) Monitoring & Listing
Every CIT who is brought on to be listed with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness must book a session every two months with their primary Approved Consultant (or another Approved Consultant on the ICM network that their primary consultant authorizes) in order to remain listed with ICM. During these meetings, it is important that CITs review their consulting work and bring up any questions about ICM training methods as they relate to student progress). CITs are also required to list the primary consultant that they are working with on their ICM profiles.
Per EMDRIA, a CIT is someone who plans on pursuing their Approved Consultant status within five years. Although we will allow you to remain listed as a CIT with ICM even if you are not especially active, you are still required to meet with your Approved Consultant every two months. If the five years pass and you decide not to pursue Approved Consultant status, your agreement with ICM will be terminated.
Submitting Groups
You are responsible for submitting your groups using the online Tockify portal that you can access directly on the Institute for Creative Mindfulness site.
- Begin by going to the Currently Scheduled Consultation Groups page.
- Use the SUBMIT EVENT Button that appears at the top of the calendar.
- Enter the details about your group. Please consult the Style and Consistency Guide for correct formatting on your submissions. Alicia will be immediately alerted to approve the listing once you submit, and she will let you know if there are any problems with your listing. If you have any questions about the particulars of the form, please contact Alicia immediately: support@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com
Verifications to Consultee
After you finish a group or an individual consultation session, you (or your office) is responsible for emailing each consultee an email verification of attendance. This email is the digital signature that is important for trainees to collect. The email can be simple, yet make sure it includes the relevant detail:
This email verifies that Francine Shapiro completed 2 hours of EMDR therapy group consultation with Pierre Janet (Approved Consultant) on 6-6-23.
Issuing Reminders
Especially if you facilitate consultation groups, please close each group with a reminder to consultees that if this is their last group or tenth hour of consultation, it is the responsibility of the trainee/consultee to submit their final consultation verifications to the faculty member with whom they completed the Part II training as ICM trainees. Such reminders are also helpful when you do individual consultation. If trainees are not sure where they need to send their verifications, have them contact the ICM home office: support@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com
Consultation Time Frames
The current EMDRIA compliance notice as it appears on the ICM website reads as follows:
As of January 1, 2023, trainees have ONE YEAR (12 months) from the time that they begin this training to complete all of the requirements, including the 10 hours of supplementary consultation that are required for you to receive your Certificate of Training in EMDR Therapy from the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. Exceptions can be granted only in extreme circumstances (e.g., a humanitarian crisis, illness or injury). If participants do not complete the required sections in this time frame specified by EMDRIA, they are required to complete Part I and Part II again before continuing. If you began your Part I training before January 1, 2023, the rules that were posted at the time you began your training apply to the completion deadline.
Generally the ICM home office is on the side of showing people some grace. If you are not a faculty member and a consultee asks you this question, we suggest you have the trainee contact the faculty member with whom they completed Part II, or the ICM home office at support@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com. There were a lot of different rule guidelines in place from 2017 through the pandemic transition and we realize that it is confusing. We can address situations on a case-by-case basis.
Managing Disagreement in Consultation
As is written into your ICM network agreements, ICM/Dr. Jamie expects you, when offering consultation, to be able to distinguish between what Dr. Shapiro would say in her official text (3rd edition 2018), what the ICM curriculum teaches, and what you personally do. All of these are relevant to bring into consultation as long as you qualify your comments and perspectives. Please read Jamie’s article on this issue if you haven’t already, and you can direct any questions to Jamie personally at: jamie@redefinetherapy.com.
An Open Letter to the EMDR Community: Stop Passing Off Your Opinions as Facts
There are many hot button issues in the EMDR community that get discussed in formal consultation, or informally in the online support groups. A shortlist
Know Where Team Members are Physically Located
Although technology and recent events have made our world smaller, ICM feels very strongly about creating networks in the local communities where people live. If you are consulting with someone from another state and think they would benefit from connecting with an ICM consultant in their own area, please make a practice of checking this map to know where team members are based.
Safety Statement on Zoom and Other Online Platforms Used
If you have attended an ICM team meeting or training, you have no doubt encountered the safety statement that we require people to read and to agree to before entering a meeting. We ask that you or your company (whoever owns the Zoom account that you use) consider implementing a similar statement for all of your online activity. Please do not mention the Institute for Creative Mindfulness in your safety statement; rather, use language that makes sense for your own company. If you’d like to see our sample, please email Alicia at alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com. You may also consult with your own legal counsel about what may be appropriate in your state.
Definitions and Collaborative Communications
For trainings and consultation, any individual who enlists your services as a trainee is your student/customer, although we ask you to be mindful of your connection to the Institute for Creative Mindfulness as a network member. What you do and how your business reflects on the Institute for Creative Mindfulness. As the provider of the curriculum and appropriate approvals and CEs, ICM bears a high degree of responsibility.
More information on expectations for business responsiveness are highlighted in the ICM Code of Conduct.
Protocol for Contacting Jamie, The ICM Home Office, & EMDRIA
ICM network members are asked to contact the customer service team (support@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com) or Alicia (alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com) for anything administrative or technical related to training protocols, consultation, and other best practices. They will forward the message to Jamie, Garrett, or other relevant parties if necessary. The preferred mode of contact is to use one of these emails, although if you believe that your situation is more pressing, you may call or text the ICM home office phone number at 330-203-1141. Please leave a voicemail if you do not receive an immediate answer. Inquiries will be handled in the order in which they were received.
Although many of you have Jamie’s personal email and cell phone number, you are asked to refrain from contacting her directly unless it is a matter related to course content, or if you are in an emergency clinical situation at a training or during a consultation. You may request to make an appointment with Jamie (these are mostly offered on Wednesdays) if you need to discuss a significant matter that relates to ICM.
ICM network members are asked to contact the ICM home office directly about issues related to their listing on the ICM website, or their relationship with ICM overall.
Additionally, network members are only permitted to contact EMDRIA regarding training dates (faculty who are authorized to do so), or on issues related to their own personal credentials. If you have a question of Sarah Tolino or EMDRIA that relates to (basic) training or ICM’s relationship with EMDRIA, please contact the ICM home office, and a member of our team or Jamie will contact EMDRIA.
Protocol for Recommending and Onboarding New People to the ICM Team
As we’ve grown, ICM has found it necessary to craft formal policy around bringing new people on to the ICM team as Consultants, Consultants-in-Training, or Facilitators. We want to maintain the high quality of service, and also make sure that we continue to work with people who are committed to the Mission and Values of ICM, as well as to our overall educational approach. ICM also wants to ensure that we are transparent about our process.
For an individual to be considered for the ICM team, they must have a direct recommendation from one of our faculty members, or a well-established Approved Consultant. Be advised that if the candidate was not trained by ICM, they must audit a full training at their own expense (ICM does offer a half discount for these purposes with an appropriate recommendation).
First, please make sure that the candidate is registered with EMDRIA as a consultant-in-training under you, the recommender. Once that existing ICM network member recommends the candidate to Jamie (please get their CV sent with the recommendation), that candidate is asked to provide 10 hours of consultation-under-consultation while being monitored by you. This trial consultation can include co-facilitating groups with you, or offering consultation to people at their own worksite, or other ICM trainees that you refer in their direction. If they are looking for opportunities for practice consultation, the ICM home office can send some scholarship participants their way. Although the candidates are not formally listed yet, ICM will count any of this consultation offered for ICM trainees.
If you are the recommender, please be in consistent communication with the ICM home office about their progress, and let us know when you believe they are prepared to be listed. Also, make sure you advise anyone wanting to join the ICM team that: (a) they will be required to attend at least 2, one-hour team meetings a year, (b) they will be asked to follow the ICM Mission and Values Statement, and (c) they are okay with paying the $5.95 per month (or $65.00/year) listing fee, (d) they will be asked to submit a copy of their current, clinical malpractice insurance policy to be on file with the Institute for Creative Mindfulness.
Once the new networkmember is approved, the ICM home office will send them an official agreement(s) for Dr. Jamie Marich to personally sign. At that point, Dr. Jamie will send them the countersigned agreement back with a welcome email. Alicia confirms that we have a CV, and get the relevant details from the new network member to set up their initial bio and get placed on the team map. We will add their email address to the team group email Listserv.
New team members may request to join the ICM EMDR Therapy Team Members Facebook group by clicking HERE.
Advertising Your Events on Social Media
Due to changing Facebook formatting guidelines, it is no longer easy to list an event ticket link to an outside platform (e.g., your own website, the ICM website). It is VITALLY important that you not list an event as FREE on Facebook, and then include an outside paid link in the description.
You are free to advertise on other social media (Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube) although the ICM home office will let you know if we see any problems.
Part of your advertising may include the use of flyers or online-friendly memes. You are permitted to use the ICM logo and describe your connection with ICM on these materials. The ICM office asks that you use the most updated version of the ICM logo, which is attached below, and you are also free to use the ICM Network member badge.
ICM Logo Downloads
Additional Resources for ICM Team Members
The ICM home office currently has video replays of Dr. Jamie offering the full EMDR Therapy Training in the online format. This resource is set-up as a course on Thinkific available to ICM team members free of charge. If you’d like to be registered for this replay course, please contact Alicia at support@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com, or Alicia at alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com.
If you would like more insight on promoting your trainings, consultations, and other work, please be advised that Dr. Jamie put a workshop together in December 2020 that highlights her secrets and best practices. The ICM home office also has a replay of this course available to you free of charge. Contact the ICM home office team if you wish to be registered for this homestudy replay. You may also access the webinar replay via YouTube by clicking HERE.
The ICM home office also asks, if you are going to promote your trainings or consultation groups on social media or highlight your connection to ICM on social media, that you review this article: Five Principles for Ethical Photography Use in Classes & Workshops. The ICM home office appreciates your enthusiasm yet asks you to follow these guidelines.
Malpractice Insurance Policy
ICM no longer requires that consultants and CITs have the Institute for Creative Mindfulness listed as additional insured on your personal, clinical malpractice policies. This is, however, still a requirement for network faculty members. All ICM network members are expected to have copy of their most current personal, clinical malpractice insurance on file with the ICM home office. Please send the current version to Alicia at alicia@instituteforcreativemindfulness.com whenever you renew.
