Over the past year, thousands of EMDR therapists have started to offer their clients remote EMDR therapy via remotEDMR – the world’s leading online platforms for EMDR therapy. The first reason for this shift towards online EMDR therapy was, of course, the COVID-19 outbreak, which forced therapists and clients worldwide to stay inside their homes. The second reason was that EMDRIA updated their recommendations regarding remote therapy and even posted supporting guidelines to ease the transition.
Although the COVID-19 outbreak certainly contributed to the recent online EMDR therapy boom, conducting EMDR online actually has many benefits that have nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic and the extraordinary circumstances it brought on. These are some of its key advantages:
- Doing EMDR remotely saves time – as opposed to an in-person meeting, the client doesn’t need to get dressed, leave the house, spend precious time standing in traffic on the way to and from the therapist’s office, etc. Instead, they just click on a link, join the session, and receive the same invaluable treatment as they would in an in-person session.
- It’s more convenient – the client will probably feel most at ease in their own home, wearing comfortable clothes. In this state, they will likely be more open and cooperative, and less defensive, and the treatment will become more effective.
- Fewer cancellations – when offering EMDR therapy remotely, there is a lower chance for cancellations on both sides. For example, when there is extreme weather or when the client or the therapist feels a bit sick, they can still meet online.
- More discreet – online EMDR therapy eliminates the client’s risk of popping into anyone they know when entering or exiting the therapist’s clinic. This can be very significant for some clients who wish to keep the fact that they’re seeing a therapist private.
- Perfect for travel and digital nomadism – when doing EMDR remotely, the client can continue his therapy while traveling or working abroad, as geographical distance holds no meaning.
- Increased versatility of clients and therapists – online EMDR therapy opens a wide variety of options for both the clients and therapists. Clients can now pick their preferred therapist from a larger pool of options from all over their country and even worldwide, which makes it easier for them to find a therapist that truly suits their needs and preferences. On the other side, therapists can offer their service to more clients, which can help them grow their clinic.
- More flexible scheduling – when doing online EMDR therapy, there is much more flexibility for both the client and the therapist when scheduling the meeting. The therapist can schedule sessions throughout the entire day without being limited by considerations such as clinic hours etc. At the same time, the patient can benefit from the same flexibility and fit the session anywhere in their schedule.
- More bilateral stimulations (BLS) variety – remotEMDR offers a wide variety of visual and auditory bilateral stimulations in addition to a variety of colors and shapes. This way, the therapist can better customize the stimulus according to their client’s needs.
- Saving time by saving each client’s preferences – remotEMDR enables therapists to save the settings they chose for each individual client, eliminating the need to change the settings again at the beginning of every session. The platform’s Presets feature offers even greater precision and time saving by enabling up to 3 sets of preferences per client so the therapist can easily switch between them when moving from one state to another during the session.
- A screen capture option – remotEDMR also has a screen capture feature, which allows therapists to record therapy sessions easily for therapeutic purposes or EMDR certification.
If you haven’t tried doing EMDR therapy remotely, now is the time. remotEMDR gives you all the tools you need to provide your clients with excellent EMDR therapy online, and our extensive library of video and text guides will help you jump right in and get started. Click here to start your free 14-day trial now.
*Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels
remotEMDR Blog 