Frequently Asked Questions

The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy is an EMDRIA-Approved training organization founded in 2020 by Deany Laliotis, LICSW.
The Center offers a full continuum of EMDR therapy training for licensed mental health clinicians — from EMDRIA-Approved Basic Training through the Master Certificate in Relational EMDR Therapy®.
The Center is based online and serves clinicians across the United States and internationally.

Deany Laliotis, LICSW is the Founder and CEO of The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy and one of the most experienced EMDR trainers in the field.
From 1993 until 2019, she worked directly alongside Dr. Francine Shapiro, the originator of EMDR therapy, serving as Senior Trainer and Director of Training for EMDR Institute Inc. — the program Dr. Shapiro founded to train clinicians worldwide. Deany is an EMDRIA-Approved Trainer and Consultant, the developer of Relational EMDR Therapy®, and a recurring contributor to the Let's Talk EMDR podcast produced by EMDRIA.

Yes. The Center's Basic Training is EMDRIA-Approved, which is the gold standard for EMDR training recognized by the EMDR International Association. Most Advanced and Master-level trainings also carry EMDRIA CE credits. R-TEP and G-TEP carry EMDRIA and NBCC credits only — general CE credits do not apply to those courses. Specific credit hours and accreditation details are listed on each individual training page.

The Center offers a complete continuum of EMDR training across five levels.

Explorer is a self-paced on-demand introduction for clinicians new to EMDR.

Basic Training is the EMDRIA-Approved foundational course covering all eight phases of EMDR therapy across two parts.

Advanced Training covers specialized clinical topics including attachment-focused work, AIP case conceptualization, and early intervention protocols R-TEP and G-TEP.

The Craft of EMDR Therapy is a multi-day immersion that deepens clinical skill and serves as a gateway to Master-level work.

Master Training explores Relational EMDR Therapy® and the self of the therapist, with both courses contributing toward the Master Certificate in Relational EMDR Therapy®.

All trainings at The Center are designed for licensed mental health clinicians, including LPCs, LCSWs, LICSWs, LMHCs, and psychologists. Clinicians who are not yet licensed but are on a licensing track under the supervision of a licensed professional are also eligible for Basic Training. Graduate students who have completed their core coursework and are working in a clinical setting may also apply. All participants in Basic Training should have an active caseload so they can apply what they are learning with real clients throughout the training.

The Center is a boutique, faculty-driven training organization rather than a broad credentialing network. Every trainer and facilitator has been personally trained, mentored, and evaluated by Deany Laliotis — there are no outside contractors placed into cohorts. The Center's training philosophy treats EMDR as a comprehensive psychotherapy rather than a protocol, with built-in case consultation included at every level at no additional cost. The Center also offers one of the few Master Certificate programs in Relational EMDR Therapy® available anywhere, providing a complete professional development pathway from first training through advanced certification.

To register for a training, please select the Add to Cart button located on the selected training page(s).

You will be directed to sign in to your account or create an account and purchase prior to completing the application.  
You must complete your registration application inside your course player to be fully enrollled into the training. You will be directed to this page after purchase.

All applications will be reviewed within 5 business days and you will receive an email advising when your application is approved or if we need additional information.  

Relational EMDR Therapy® is a framework developed by Deany Laliotis, LICSW that positions the therapeutic relationship as a central, strategic component of EMDR treatment — particularly when working with clients who have experienced complex developmental trauma and attachment injuries. It expands standard EMDR therapy to incorporate the relational dynamics between therapist and client as both a source of clinical information and a vehicle for healing. The Master Certificate in Relational EMDR Therapy® is awarded to clinicians who complete both Master-level courses at The Center along with additional requirements.

All trainings at The Center are delivered live online via Zoom. Occasional in-person trainings and events are offered outside the regular schedule — follow us on Instagram or join our newsletter to be notified when they become available. Basic Training and most Advanced and Master-level courses are conducted in small cohort groups, which allows for supervised practice, ongoing faculty feedback, and a shared learning experience among peers. Explorer is the only on-demand, self-paced offering. The Center currently offers in-person trainings.

Continuing Education credits for EMDR training are issued through The Center and our partner provider AMEDCO, depending on the board. CE credit hours vary by training — Basic Training carries 46 CE credits in total (18.5 for Part I and 27.5 for Part II), while Advanced and Master courses range from 6 to 32 CE credits depending on the program. EMDRIA CE credits are separate from general CE credits and are required for EMDRIA certification and consultation hours. R-TEP and G-TEP carry EMDRIA and NBCC credits only. Always verify CE acceptance with your licensing board before registering.

Yes. The Center offers a special tuition rate for BIPOC clinicians who are actively working to improve access to psychotherapy services in underserved communities. Agency and nonprofit discount codes are also available for group registrations from organizations with a full caseload. Faculty members of The Center are eligible to attend all trainings at 50% of the standard registration rate. Contact admin@emdrtherapy.com for information on any of these options before registering.

We are happy to offer individuals needing ADA accommodations.  Please contact us at admin@emdrtherapy.com at least 30 days prior to the start date of the training to make advance arrangements for your needs. We cannot ensure accommodations without adequate prior notification. 

The Center has a relationship with Bilateralstimulation.io, a company that offers an online application for working with clients virtually using your computer screens.

It comes with the option of handheld tactile devices the client can use remotely while on the computer. For more information, check out their website using this link for a discounted offer: https://www.bilateralstimulation.io/thecenter.

Please note, there is no requirement to purchase equipment in order to participate in the training.

In rare cases where a training must be canceled due to severe weather or other major disruptions, participants will receive a credit toward a future training of the same type. If the same training is not offered again within the next 12 months, we will provide a makeup session or an equivalent alternative. We appreciate your understanding and flexibility when circumstances beyond our control require schedule changes. 

Submission of a Grievance Participants or prospective participants who wish to express a concern or file a grievance regarding The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy or any continuing education program may do so by contacting us via email at info@emdrtherapy.com. 

The Center does not guarantee a specific outcome; however, all grievances will be reviewed carefully. Appropriate decisions will be made, and the individual will receive a response within a reasonable timeframe.  

Grievances Related to Training Experience If a grievance concerns any members of the faculty, the content presented, the style or level of instruction, or the platform or format in which a training was delivered, the individual filing the grievance may be asked to submit the concern in writing to Dan Merlis (dan@emdrtherapy.com). 

The feedback will be reviewed by The Center and, when appropriate, shared with the speaker while maintaining the confidentiality of the individual submitting the grievance. 
If the participant requests follow-up action, The Center will evaluate the grievance, determine any necessary actions, and respond within a reasonable timeframe. 

Deany Laliotis has been practicing and teaching EMDR therapy since 1993 — more than thirty years. She began her training career at EMDR Institute Inc., the program founded by Dr. Francine Shapiro to train clinicians worldwide, where she served as Senior Trainer and Director of Training for over two decades. Since founding The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy in 2020, she has continued training clinicians across the United States and internationally, bringing the same standard of depth and rigor she developed during her years at the Institute.

Deany Laliotis worked directly alongside Dr. Francine Shapiro, the originator of EMDR therapy, from 1993 until Dr. Shapiro's passing in 2019. During that time, Deany served as Director of Training for EMDR Institute Inc. — the program Dr. Shapiro developed to train clinicians worldwide — and was mentored by her throughout. That relationship shaped Deany's understanding of what EMDR therapy is capable of when taught with depth and rigor, and it is the foundation on which The Center was built.

Deany Laliotis holds the following credentials: Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW), EMDRIA-Approved Trainer, and EMDRIA-Approved Consultant. She served as Senior Trainer and Director of Training for EMDR Institute Inc. from 1993 to 2019. She is the developer of Relational EMDR Therapy®, a framework for applying EMDR therapy through an attachment and relational lens with clients who have experienced complex developmental trauma. She is also a recurring contributor to Let's Talk EMDR, the podcast produced by the EMDR International Association, and has been featured in Forbes on the topic of AI in mental health care. She is also an international keynote speaker on the topic of EMDR.

Following the passing of Dr. Francine Shapiro in 2019, Deany founded The Center in 2020 with a clear purpose — to make the standard of EMDR training she had spent twenty-six years developing accessible to clinicians at every stage of their professional journey. Rather than building a broad credentialing network, Deany built a boutique, faculty-driven organization where every trainer is personally mentored and evaluated by her, where the clinical philosophy runs through every level of training, and where a clinician can develop from their first EMDR course through the Master Certificate in Relational EMDR Therapy® within a single, coherent community.

Relational EMDR Therapy® is a clinical framework developed by Deany Laliotis, LICSW that positions the therapeutic relationship as a central and strategic component of EMDR treatment. Rather than treating the therapeutic alliance as background rapport, Relational EMDR Therapy® uses the relationship between therapist and client as both a source of clinical information and a vehicle for healing — particularly with clients who have experienced complex developmental trauma and attachment injuries. Deany developed this framework over decades of clinical practice and teaching, and it is the foundation of The Center's Master-level training and the Master Certificate program.

Every trainer and facilitator at The Center has been personally trained, mentored, and evaluated by Deany Laliotis before they teach in a training cohort. Faculty members are drawn from clinicians who have completed The Center's own advanced and Master-level trainings and who participate in ongoing case consultation with Deany as a condition of their faculty role. This is not a network of independently credentialed trainers — it is a community of clinicians who share the same clinical philosophy and are held to the same standard of depth and rigor that Deany brings to her own teaching.

Every trainer and facilitator at The Center has been personally trained, mentored, and evaluated by Deany Laliotis before they teach in a training cohort. Faculty members are drawn from clinicians who have completed The Center's own advanced and Master-level trainings and who participate in ongoing case consultation with Deany as a condition of their faculty role. This is not a network of independently credentialed trainers — it is a community of clinicians who share the same clinical philosophy and are held to the same standard of depth and rigor that Deany brings to her own teaching.

At The Center, EMDR therapy is taught as a comprehensive psychotherapy — not as a protocol to be applied or a checklist to be followed. That distinction shapes everything. It means teaching clinicians how to think in terms of the Adaptive Information Processing model, how to make informed clinical decisions in the moment, how to be present with a client who is processing something painful and unfamiliar, and how to bring the therapeutic relationship to bear as a clinical instrument. Opportunities for personal reflection and professional growth are built into every level of training, because Deany believes the self of the therapist is not incidental to EMDR therapy — it is central to it.

The Center's regular training schedule is fully online, delivered live via Zoom to clinicians across the United States and internationally. Occasional in-person trainings and events are offered outside the regular schedule. Follow The Center on Instagram or join the newsletter to be notified when in-person opportunities become available.

Basic Training is open to licensed mental health clinicians — including LPCs, LCSWs, LICSWs, LMHCs, and psychologists — who are currently seeing clients. Clinicians on a licensing track under supervision are also eligible, as are graduate students who have completed core coursework and are working in a clinical setting.

Yes!  Graduate students need to have completed their core coursework before they can apply.  Non-licensed clinicians on a licensing track are also eligible. You are required to affirm that you are currently practicing under the supervision of a licensed professional.

Our Basic Training is organized into Part I & Part II.

Part I is typically offered over three consecutive days on Fridays-Sundays or Wednesdays-Fridays with variable start times to accommodate different time zones.

Part II is offered over five days - three consecutive days on Wednesdays-Fridays or Fridays-Sundays, and one month later, two days on Thursdays and Fridays, or Fridays-Saturdays, also with variable start times.

Each training segment includes a didactic portion with lecture, discussion, and videotape demonstrations of EMDR skills and concepts.

Trainees will practice EMDR methods with one another using real life issues as a way to learn the process as well as to understand it from a client's point of view.

There is a case consultation component included in each training segment where trainees will learn to apply EMDR therapy with their clients as they learn. 

There are three, 2-hour, post-training case consultation sessions included in the Part II to help you fully integrate what you're learning.

Additionally, trainees can drop in on a monthly, 60-minute Q & A session with Founder and Director, Deany Laliotis while you are enrolled in the training.  

The Center's EMDR Therapy Basic Training is a 6-month process that you can purchase as a bundle or schedule at your convenience — because we are committed to providing you with a solid foundation in the core elements of this powerful methodology.
Please keep in mind, you must complete both parts within 12 months to be eligible for EMDRIA certification.

Yes. All Basic Training participants are required to have a copy of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, Third Edition, by Dr. Francine Shapiro, before their training begins. The link to purchase can be found on the Training Registration Page. 

Your training materials are yours to keep. Forever.

Video recordings of the Basic EMDR Training will be available for review for 9 months to support your learning experience.

Training materials include two appendices with Worksheets and Forms for Practice as well as Resources to keep handy as a quick reference.As an added bonus, all of your Basic EMDR Training materials will continue to be updated over time and can be accessed through your personal account on our website.

Most trainings carry both general CE credits and EMDRIA CE credits. R-TEP and G-TEP carry EMDRIA and NBCC credits only. Specific credit hours are listed on each individual training page. 

Yes. The Center offers agency discount codes for group registrations. Contact us at admin@emdrtherapy.com to discuss group pricing before registering.