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EMDR for Complex Trauma

Join Deborah Korn for this practical and compassionate training on working with complex trauma using the EMDR protocol, designed to help your clients heal from deep, long-standing wounds.

Deb Korn smiles at the camera, wearing silver earrings and a necklace. She is dressed in a blue patterned top. The background features soft shades of green and white geometric shapes.

About Your Online Training Course

Start date
Starts 27 October 2026
Length
6 weeks | 16 hours total (12 months access)
Who this course is for
For EMDR Trained Therapists | Advanced Level
Accreditation
16 CE/CME + 16 EMDRIA PointsSee all accreditation details

Unfortunately, many of our adult clients report histories of prolonged or repeated exposure to interpersonal abuse and neglect.  Their traumas occurred at particularly vulnerable developmental stages, often beginning in infancy or early childhood, compromising both their physical and psychological maturation. Typically, it involved both direct harm or attack as well as deprivation or abandonment by those who were supposed to be protective, validating, and consistently loving. 

Survivors often present for treatment with affect and relational phobias, rigid defenses and avoidance patterns, high levels of dissociation, and an inability to access important internal resources.  Meeting these clients with hope and confidence requires an advanced understanding of how and when to adapt and supplement standard EMDR protocols.  “Staying out of the way” is usually not an option when clients need significant relational support, assistance with emotional and somatic regulation, and active interweaves to facilitate effective processing.

In this advanced course, EMDR expert Deborah Korn, from Francine Shapiro’s EMDR Institute, will help you apply multiple “conceptual maps” in assessing clinical needs and making moment-to-moment decisions with complex trauma clients. Although this course addresses relevant issues related to all 8 phases of EMDR therapy, it primarily focuses on the importance of comprehensive case conceptualization and treatment planning AND the therapist’s role in facilitating and deepening reprocessing. 

Significant time will be devoted to identifying common blocking beliefs and demonstrating different types of interweaves, each with its own function and goal.  Finally, there will be an emphasis on moving beyond symptom reduction to developmental repair, post-traumatic growth, and increased resilience.

EMDR for Complex Trauma
$590
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Learn From a Leading Expert in EMDR and Complex Trauma

This course is taught by Deborah Korn, internationally renowned EMDR teacher, facilitator, consultant, and author, known for her work treating survivors of complex trauma, particularly those who endured abuse and neglect in childhood.

Dr. Korn has been training therapists and consulting as a faculty member of the EMDR Institute for over 30 years.  She is also part of the training faculty at Bessel van der Kolk’s Trauma Research Foundation.

This course features her accessible and well-organized instruction, therapy demonstrations, and practical strategies for applying EMDR with challenging complex trauma cases. It also includes rare archival footage of EMDR founder Francine Shapiro, together with insights from other leading EMDR experts, offering a rich and integrative approach to treating complex trauma survivors.

Debra Korn teaching
Clinical Skills You’ll Gain

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:

  • Describe how complex trauma differs from other forms of trauma

  • Identify the kinds of symptoms and difficulties most associated with a history of complex trauma

  • Consider different ways to approach history-taking and the sequencing of targets with complex trauma survivors

  • Decide whether a client needs to focus on preparation/stabilization before approaching more in-depth history-taking 

  • Bring a culturally aware, anti-oppressive, intersectional approach to history-taking 

  • Use a range of “conceptual maps” to help with case formulation, moment-to-moment client tracking, and decision-making

  • Delineate the focus of each of the 8 Phases of EMDR treatment and some special considerations related to treating highly dysregulated complex trauma clients 

  • Describe how to move from a solid case conceptualization to a comprehensive EMDR treatment plan 

  • Recognize the trauma-related phobias and blocking beliefs commonly exhibited or expressed by complex trauma survivors

  • Maximize the use of Resource Development and Installation (RDI) in preparing complex trauma clients for effective EMDR trauma processing

  • Discuss how to recognize and respond to different attachment styles, ego state conflicts, and defensive patterns

  • Describe how different kinds of interweaves can be used to address potential blocks to processing during the Desensitization Phase of EMDR treatment

  • Provide examples of how interweaves can be used to address developmental repair and blocked adaptive action tendencies 

Debra Korn therapy demonstration
Your Learning Experience Includes

This six-week course combines expert instruction, clinical demonstrations, and real-world strategies to deepen your EMDR practice with complex trauma. It offers:

  • Beautifully produced video lessons that guide you through history-taking and case conceptualization and the application of a wide range of EMDR interweave strategies

  • Therapy demonstrations and case examples showing how to apply EMDR interventions with clients who present with significant dysregulation and dissociation, a range of defenses, debilitating shame, and different attachment styles

  • Expert interviews exploring key topics such as adapting the EMDR standard protocol to meet the needs of complex trauma clients, resourcing, and applications of the three-pronged protocol.

  • Downloadable tools and handouts to support practical application in your sessions

Enrollments

We're happy to help if you can't attend the current intake. Once your purchase is complete, contact our customer service team and we can enrol you in a future intake.

If you need an invoice, please fill out the form here.

phobia and trauma illustration

What You'll Learn

Course modules

Course excerpts

 
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Accredited Continuing Education Credits

EMDR for Complex Trauma is designed for EMDR trained therapists worldwide. On completion you'll receive an official certificate of completion, which can be submitted to registration bodies for CPD.

Participants can earn 16 EMDRIA Points for this training.

This course is also accredited for 16 CE/CME credit hours for US licensed professionals:

  • Psychologists - 16 CE hours, APA - co-sponsored with Amedco, an APA-approved sponsor

  • Social workers - 16 general CE credits, ASWB ACE

  • Physicians - 16 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™, ACCME

  • Nurses - 16 contact hours, ANCC

  • Counselors, MFTs & addiction professionals - 16 hours, accepted by most US state boards via APA and ASWB ACE credit — see the state-by-state list

  • Approved CE activity with the New York State boards for Psychology, Social Work, Mental Health Counseling, and Marriage & Family Therapy.

View the full learner notification for this course (PDF) - includes complete accreditation statements, state board acceptance lists, learning objectives and faculty disclosures. 

cognitive interweaves

How Your Course Works

Build Skills Week by Week

New content is released weekly, designed to support steady learning and integration. You can follow the recommended schedule or move at your own pace.

Access Anytime for 12 months

You’ll have a full 12 months to explore the entire course, return to key ideas, and learn at your own pace. There's no set time to be online.

Supported While You Learn

Join our course forum to ask questions, share experiences, and connect with expert trainers and fellow professionals in a supportive environment.

Explore Bonus Content

Your course includes optional bonus content, so you can dig deeper into topics that matter most to you.

Download Free Digital Library

Download a library of extra tools and resources to enrich your learning and support your practice. Yours to keep!

Receive a Certificate

Receive a certificate and the option to earn CE / CME credits upon completion of your course.

Frequently asked questions

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