The Pendulum Swing: Why Newly Trained Therapists Wait Too Long to Use EMDR | Early Learner
Sixteen years ago, EMDR training culture said: go after it. First, worst, present, future, done. Today, a lot of newly trained therapists finish their consultation hours with every resource in place and still haven't run a first reprocessing session. The field swung. This episode is about the middle.
One week out from training forty new clinicians, Jen and Bridger go back to their own first sessions. Jen, a year into her provisional license, in substance abuse treatment with a court-mandated caseload and an eight-session expectation. Bridger, a counseling intern seeing men in a residential recovery program for thirty minutes at a time, in a utility closet, on a bucket. One ran a teenager through a full three-prong plan. The other built a calm safe place out of a Coke bottle. Both would do some of it differently now. Both are glad they started.
This episode is part of Early Learner, our series for clinicians in their first year after EMDR Basic Training.
IN THIS EPISODE
• Why we started the Early Learner series, and what newly trained therapists are asking now that they weren't sixteen years ago
• Tool in the toolbox, or identity? The question underneath "I'm still integrating it"
• Finding yourself inside a structure without letting it define you
• Jen's first caseload: court-mandated, complex, and an eight-session expectation
• Bridger's first session: thirty minutes, a utility closet, and a Coke bottle calm safe place
• Your clients don't have to fit EMDR. Figure out how EMDR fits your client.
• Why the hard clients teach you more, and the easier ones keep you going
• Pacing as cost-benefit, not gas or brake
• The pendulum swing in the field, from "first, worst, go" to never starting
• Resourcing should start immediately. With everyone.
• "Will you try something with me?"
• Homework invitation for every early learner
THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY THERAPY GROWTH SYSTEMS
Websites and search optimization built for therapists, including the AI-driven search more and more clients are using to find a therapist. Submit your site for a free audit and a free preview of what they'd build for you: https://therapygrowthsystems.com/?utm_source=nt&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=NT_FirstTimeEMDR_Therapists_Fall_2026
RESOURCES & LINKS
The first Early Learner episode: I'm an EMDR Therapist: Amanda Hearne on the First Year After Basic Training | Early Learner
EMDR Basic Training and follow-up consultation with Beyond Healing Institute: https://connectbeyondhealing.com/?utm_source=nt&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=NT_FirstTimeEMDR_Therapists_Fall_2026
The Relational Thread, Bridger and Jen's book and essay series: https://connectbeyondhealing.com/the-relational-thread/?utm_source=nt&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=relational_thread
ABOUT NOTICE THAT
Notice That is an EMDR podcast for therapists, counselors, and social workers, hosted by Bridger Falkenstien and Jen Savage, co-authors of EMDR and the Therapeutic Relationship: Reclaiming the Relational Thread. The show explores the real clinical practice of EMDR therapy: attachment, ego states, somatic processing, resourcing, complex trauma, and the relationship doing the work. Subscribe for conversations that treat both you and your clients as human.
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