Feeling stuck with clients who want to do EMDR but fight you at every step?

Pathological Demand Avoidance/Persistent Demand for Autonomy (PDA) is increasingly recognized as a heightened nervous system response to perceived threats to autonomy, driven by significant anxiety and fear of uncertainty. But many clinicians and their clients haven’t even heard of this profile, as it isn't a diagnosable experience. Therefore, these clients are often misunderstood as oppositional, aggressive, or as having borderline features, leading to both trauma and shame. And if the therapist does not know how to address the client’s needs, EMDR will become more of a trauma activator than a healer.

Through the lens of a lived experience, as a PDA profile clinician and an approved EMDRIA consultant and advanced trainer, you will gain insight into what PDA is and how it impacts day-to-day life for individuals with the profile. You will also learn how it creates trauma for the PDA client due to societal expectations, and how to adapt ALL eight phases of EMDR to make it more affirming and accessible. Case conceptualization, using video demonstrations and a powerful live demo at the end of the workshop on attunement for the History-Taking phase, will enable you to see the skills play out in real scenarios.

Participants will leave with a PDA Toolkit of handouts to use in their daily practice.

Important Details:
This is a distance learning Zoom event. You can learn at your own pace and have 6 months to complete the training.

You will receive a confirmation email with all the distance learning details. Please contact Christine MacInnis at [email protected] if you do not receive the emails.

Once you sign up, no refunds will be issued. It costs me money to refund via Stripe. Thanks for understanding!