Workshop Description

This intermediate-level training is designed for EMDR-trained clinicians seeking to enhance their ability to work with both client and clinician avoidance that interferes with trauma processing. The program teaches EMDR-based targeting tools for working with defenses using procedures drawn from Jim Knipe’s EMDR Toolbox. Consistent with the EMDR eight-phase protocol, the training focuses on clinical strategies that support attunement, affect management, and effective processing when defenses and blocks arise.

Participants will learn to assess and intervene with Knipe’s five trauma-related defenses—avoidance, dissociation, idealization, shame, and addictions—using tools such as the Blocking Beliefs Questionnaire, Level of Urge to Avoid, Level of Positive Affect, CIPOS, and future-first targeting. An introduction to parts-informed concepts within EMDR therapy is included to support understanding of internal protective responses and their role in blocking trauma processing.

Experiential practice is a central component of the training. Participants will engage in dyad and triad practice sessions that allow clinicians to work with their own avoidance, blocks, and defensive responses, deepening their ability to apply these interventions with clients. Facilitator guidance during practice sessions supports clinical integration, skill development, and application of EMDR procedures aligned with participant treatment goals.

Intended audience: Master’s level social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists; psychologists; psychiatrists.

Eligibility Requirements: PARTIAL EMDR TRAINING
This workshop is open to clinicians who are at least partially trained in EMDR which means they have completed part of an EMDRIA Approved Basic EMDR Training and/or still finishing their 10 hours of required consultation.It is recommended that participants have completed the full EMDR Basic Training and have experience in using EMDR with clients. This workshop is not an EMDR Basic Training.

Level of Content: Intermediate

Course Interaction
This live webinar is fully interactive. Attendees may ask and answer questions throughout the workshop, participate in instructor-led discussion, and practice skills in a dyad or triad with facilitator able to provide assistance.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify client defenses
2. Describe Blocking Beliefs in clients using the Blocking Beliefs questionnaire
3. Describe preparation skills for addressing defenses and avoidance in EMDR therapy
4. Recognize ways to use EMDR with dissociation
5. Summarize targeting client avoidance/defenses safely with EMDR therapy techniques
6. Discuss EMDR for the positive affect of defenses
7. Recognize and target Shame using integration of parts work
8. Introduce IFS language of parts work for shame

Day 1: Thursday, February 12, 2026
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time

10:00–11:30 a.m.
Introduction to Blocking Beliefs and Trauma-Related Defenses
(Lecture, large-group exercise, demonstration)

This segment introduces the core concepts of the workshop, with a focus on tools and strategies for working with client defenses and avoidance that interfere with EMDR trauma processing. Blocking beliefs and common trauma-related defenses—including avoidance, idealization, addictions, dissociation, and shame—are defined and examined using concepts drawn from The EMDR Toolbox by Jim Knipe. Participants will be introduced to the Blocking Beliefs Questionnaire and will complete it as a large-group experiential exercise designed to identify and loosen cognitive barriers to effective EMDR processing.

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11:30–11:45 a.m.
Break

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11:45 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Building a Processing Resource
(Lecture and video demonstration)

This segment introduces the Processing Resource, an enhancement of Leeds and Korn’s Resource Development and Installation (RDI). The Processing Resource is used when clients feel blocked or stuck in EMDR processing. The instructor will demonstrate how to guide clients to identify needed internal resources by noticing present challenges and accessing past experiences of competence or resilience.

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12:00–1:00 p.m.
Practice: Processing Resource
(Dyad/triad experiential practice)

Participants will practice the Processing Resource intervention in dyads or triads, rotating roles to deepen understanding of the intervention from both therapist and client perspectives.

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1:00–2:00 p.m.
Lunch

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2:00–3:15 p.m.
Trauma Defenses, Dissociation, and Stabilization Strategies
(Lecture and guided experiential exercise)

This segment focuses on the five main trauma defenses, with particular emphasis on dissociation. Assessment and screening tools for dissociation will be reviewed, including Jim Knipe’s Back of the Head Scale, which participants will complete as a guided group exercise to assess present orientation and moment-to-moment dissociation. CIPOS (Constant Installation of Present Orientation and Safety) will be introduced as a pendulation strategy for use with highly dissociative clients. Clinical applications of CIPOS for enhancing distress tolerance and maintaining dual awareness during EMDR processing will be discussed.

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3:15–3:30 p.m.
Break

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3:30–5:00 p.m.
Targeting Future First in EMDR Therapy
(Lecture, practice, and large-group discussion)

This segment introduces the clinical rationale for targeting future templates before past memories when working with highly defended or dissociative clients. The concept of “future-first targeting” will be presented as a titration strategy to increase client tolerance for trauma processing. Clinical examples and practice exercises will be used, with reference to the work of Robbie Adler-Tapia and Ad de Jongh. The day will conclude with large-group discussion and questions.

Day 2: Friday, February 13, 2026
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Eastern Time

10:00–10:30 a.m.
Level of Urge to Avoid (LoUA): Targeting Avoidance Defenses
(Lecture and video/demonstration)

This segment introduces Jim Knipe’s Level of Urge to Avoid (LoUA) scale, an adaptation of the standard EMDR 0–10 Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) scale. Participants will learn how the LoUA scale is used to safely work with clients who experience strong avoidance defenses by turning toward avoidance without overwhelming the client. Clinical applications of LoUA for assessment and targeting in EMDR processing will be demonstrated.

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10:30–11:15 a.m.
Idealization Defense and Level of Positive Affect
(Lecture and demonstration)

This segment focuses on idealization as one of the five primary trauma-related defenses described by Knipe. Participants will learn how to assess and target idealization using the Level of Positive Affect scale (0–10). The clinical rationale for activating idealization and applying bilateral stimulation to reduce attachment to problematic relationships, behaviors, or addictions will be discussed and demonstrated.

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11:15–11:30 a.m.
Break

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11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Practice: Targeting Avoidance or Idealization Defenses
(Dyad/triad experiential practice)

Participants will practice EMDR targeting strategies using either the avoidance defense (LoUA) or the idealization defense (Level of Positive Affect), based on personal or clinical relevance. Dyads or triads will rotate roles to enhance skill integration.

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1:00–2:00 p.m.
Lunch

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2:00–3:00 p.m.
Working with Shame in EMDR Therapy
(Lecture and demonstration)

This segment addresses shame as a trauma-related defense that can block EMDR processing. Participants will learn strategies for turning toward shame safely within EMDR treatment. The Loving Eyes intervention will be demonstrated as a method for fostering self-compassion by helping clients access distance from traumatized child parts while engaging bilateral stimulation.

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3:00–3:15 p.m.
Break

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3:15–4:00 p.m.
Integrating EMDR and Parts Work
(Lecture and large-group experiential exercise)

This segment introduces the integration of EMDR therapy with parts work, with specific reference to Internal Family Systems (IFS)–informed concepts. Participants will explore how protective parts can function as defenses against trauma processing and will engage in a group exercise focused on beginning the process of unblending from parts that have concerns about EMDR work.

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4:00–4:15 p.m.
Phase 8: Reevaluation in Complex EMDR Cases
(Lecture)

This segment reviews Phase 8 (Reevaluation) of the EMDR eight-phase protocol, with emphasis on its role in work with complex PTSD and defended clients. Participants will learn how reevaluation can be used to assess residual disturbance, defenses, and blocks to processing, and how this informs treatment planning aligned with client goals.

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4:15–5:00 p.m.
Case Consultation, Demonstration, and Wrap-Up
(Case discussion, instructor demonstration, and Q&A)

The day concludes with case consultation, optional demonstration, large-group discussion, and participant questions.