5 Things Every EMDR Therapist Should Know About Virtual EMDR

If you’re an EMDR therapist, you’ve probably seen these questions come up over and over again:

Can I do EMDR virtually?

How do you do EMDR virtually?

What platform do you use?

What’s the best bilateral stimulation for virtual EMDR?

I see some version of these questions all the time in EMDR Facebook groups, consultation groups, and listservs.

And I actually think we’re sometimes asking the wrong question.

Instead of asking “Can EMDR be done virtually?” I think the better question is:

“What do EMDR therapists need to know to do virtual EMDR well?”

The majority of my EMDR practice has been virtual, so I’ve spent hundreds of hours providing EMDR remotely. And over time, there are a few things that have really shaped the way I think about doing this work.

Because virtual EMDR isn’t just about figuring out how to get eye movements onto someone’s computer screen. It’s about thinking intentionally about the entire experience of doing trauma work virtually.

Here are five things I think every EMDR therapist should know.

1. Prepare for the Unexpected Before You Start Reprocessing

The first one is probably the least exciting—but it’s important.

Have a plan.

A lot of this is really just good telehealth practice. I want to know where my client is physically located. I want an emergency contact. And I want us to have a plan for what happens if technology fails.

But EMDR asks us to think one step further.

What happens if the internet cuts out right in the middle of reprocessing?

Who calls whom?

What does the client do while you’re trying to reconnect?

What happens if your client starts to dissociate and then you lose your connection?

These are not things I want to figure out for the first time while they’re happening.

So I talk about them ahead of time.

That doesn’t mean I expect something to go wrong every time we start reprocessing. It means that if something doeshappen, both of us already know the plan.

And I think there’s something really important about that predictability, especially when we’re asking clients to do trauma work.

2. Think Beyond the HIPAA-Compliant Platform

Obviously, we need to be using appropriate technology and protecting our clients’ confidentiality.

But privacy in virtual EMDR is about more than the platform we’re using.

I also want to know what’s happening on the other side of the screen.

Can my client actually speak freely?

Is someone else home?

Could somebody overhear them?

Are their kids going to come running through the door?

Are they sitting somewhere they feel comfortable talking about really vulnerable things?

Because trauma work asks a lot of our clients.

If part of their brain is constantly tracking whether their partner can hear them from the other room, that matters.

So when I’m thinking about readiness for virtual EMDR, I’m not only asking whether the client is ready for reprocessing.

I’m also asking whether their environment supports reprocessing.

3. Use the Client’s Environment Instead of Fighting Against It

This is actually one of the things I’ve come to really appreciate about virtual EMDR.

The client’s environment doesn’t have to just be the place where therapy happens.

It can become part of the treatment.

Maybe they’re sitting in their favorite chair.

Maybe their dog is lying next to them.

Maybe they have a weighted blanket nearby.

Maybe there’s an object in the room that feels meaningful or grounding.

Maybe they simply feel really safe in their own home.

We can use that.

Can something in the room become a Phase 2 resource?

Can we orient to the client’s actual environment together?

Can we use familiar objects for grounding or containment?

Can we intentionally notice what it feels like to be sitting in a place where the client feels safe?

Sometimes, when it’s clinically appropriate, I might even have a client notice:

I’m safe.

I’m home.

I’m here in my own space.

And we can pair that with slow bilateral stimulation.

I think sometimes we approach virtual EMDR as though we’re trying to recreate our therapy office through a screen.

But we don’t necessarily need to.

The client already has an entire environment around them. We can think about how to use it.

4. Stop Looking for the “Best” Virtual Bilateral Stimulation

This might be the question I see most often:

What’s the best bilateral stimulation for virtual EMDR?

And I don’t really think there is one.

There are so many ways we can do bilateral stimulation virtually.

In my own practice, I use bilateralstimulation.io, and it’s worked really well for me.

But I think the more important question is:

What is helping this particular client stay engaged in the process?

Are they maintaining dual attention?

Are they staying connected to the target?

Is the bilateral stimulation helping the work—or has it become distracting?

Some clients immediately know what they like.

Other clients need to try a few things.

And I tell my clients all the time that we can change it.

Just because we start with one type of bilateral stimulation does not mean we have to keep using it.

I think sometimes, especially when we’re newer to virtual EMDR, we can get really focused on finding the “right” technology or the “right” form of BLS.

I’d rather stay flexible and pay attention to what is actually happening with the client in front of me.

5. Don’t Let the Screen Make You Less Present

Technology changes the setting.

It doesn’t change the relationship.

And honestly, I think virtual EMDR sometimes asks us to be more intentional about our presence.

Clients notice when we’re distracted.

They notice when our eyes keep moving over to another monitor.

They notice when we’re looking at something else.

They notice when our attention feels divided.

And they should.

Trauma work deserves our full attention.

Now, that doesn’t mean I think virtual therapy needs to feel sterile or perfectly controlled.

I have three rescue beagles.

Every once in a while, one of them decides that right now is the perfect time to bark.

My clients know this about me. Sometimes we laugh about it.

And then I bring my attention right back to them.

Because presence isn’t about pretending that nothing unexpected will ever happen.

It’s about communicating, over and over again:

I’m here.

I’m with you.

I’m paying attention.

Our clients still need us to be attuned.

They still need us to pace appropriately.

They still need us to notice subtle shifts.

They still need us to repair ruptures when they happen.

And they still need us to create enough safety for meaningful processing to happen.

A screen doesn’t change any of that.

So, Can EMDR Be Done Virtually?

At this point, I don’t think this is the most interesting question anymore.

We have a growing body of research suggesting that EMDR delivered via telehealth can be an effective treatment option for many clients when it’s clinically appropriate.

So instead of continuing to ask:

“Can EMDR be done virtually?”

I’d rather we ask:

“How can we provide virtual EMDR in a thoughtful, relational, and clinically intentional way?”

Because after spending the majority of my EMDR practice working virtually, I don’t see virtual EMDR simply as an alternative to in-person EMDR.

It has its own strengths.

It has its own challenges.

And it has its own clinical opportunities.

The goal isn’t to perfectly recreate in-person EMDR through a computer screen.

The goal is still what it has always been: providing thoughtful, responsive, client-centered EMDR therapy.

Want More on Virtual EMDR?

I talk through all five of these considerations in my latest Club07Clear YouTube video: 5

Things Every EMDR Therapist Should Know About Virtual EMDR.

And because one of the questions I get asked most often is about bilateral stimulation, I’m also diving deeper into the different options for virtual bilateral stimulation and how I think about choosing between them in clinical practice.

If you’re an EMDR therapist interested in treatment planning, virtual EMDR, stuck processing, working memory, and practical ways to strengthen your EMDR practice, you can find more over on Club07Clear.

Looking for EMDR Consultation?

I also offer EMDR consultation for EMDR-trained clinicians who want support with treatment planning, complex cases, stuck processing, virtual EMDR, and bringing a more relational approach into their EMDR work.

EMDR basic training is just the beginning.