EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY

Prep 1 Vs. Reprocessing 4 In EMDR: Knowing The Difference

• Dani & Ally • Episode 6

Share episode

What’s The Difference Between Phase 1 Prep And Phase 4 Reprocessing?

Think EMDR is all about the tapping? We pull back the curtain on the real engine of change: strong history taking, clear treatment planning, and robust resourcing that make reprocessing possible and safe. We unpack the essential differences between phase one history, phase two preparation, and phase four desensitization, and we share how to tell when a client is truly ready to move forward.

We start with common misconceptions—like the idea that EMDR only starts when bilateral stimulation begins—and explain how the adaptive information processing model relies on linking left-brain understanding with right-brain emotion. Then we get practical. You’ll hear how we build readiness through safe or calm place imagery, container work, breath training, body awareness, and boundary-setting. We also walk through refining treatment targets, deciding when to pause reprocessing, and returning to preparation without losing momentum.

For clinicians working with complex trauma, we talk about extended resourcing and the cycle of strengthening, testing, and strengthening again. We explore how to identify the client’s real support network versus their social circle for fun—because the people who can sit with trauma disclosures are often a different set. Throughout, we emphasize clinical judgment, trusting your gut, and leaning on consultation to keep cases moving without rushing the nervous system.

If you’re a therapist wondering when to press forward and when to build more capacity, this conversation offers concrete cues, clear language for explaining the work to clients, and strategies you can use in your next session. Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review with the one resourcing tool you find most reliable—what should every new EMDR clinician master first?

To learn more about EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY visit:
https://www.DaniandAlly.com
EMDR WITH DANI AND ALLY
254-230-4994

SPEAKER_03:

Hey there, I'm Danny from Ontario, Canada. And I'm Allie from Texas.

SPEAKER_04:

Welcome to EMDR with Danny and Allie, your go-to space for collaborative consultation that connects and grows one clinician at a time. I'm your voice guide, not Danny, not Allie, here to introduce your host, Danny in Ontario, Canada, and Allie in Texas. Together they train clinicians around the globe and offer EMDR therapy that's as supportive as a great pair of walking shoes. Steady, reliable, and just what you need to walk alongside your clients. Whether you're a seasoned therapist or just starting your EMDR journey, you're in the right place to connect, learn, and grow without having to log thousands of miles. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_00:

Phase one and phase four may sound like steps on a checklist, but they serve radically different purposes in EMDR. So let's break it down. Welcome back, everyone. I'm Chelsea Earlywine, co-host and producer back in the studio with the host of EMDR with Danny and Allie. So glad to have you both back in the studio. How are you? Great. Doing great. Thank you. Amazing. All right. Well, let's dive in. So let's start with if you could tell me what's the difference, what's the main difference between phase one prep and phase four reprocessing?

SPEAKER_02:

So I would start by saying um, first and sort of most importantly, that um EMDR isn't always a linear process. So, you know, we sort of are taught to start with phase one and sort of then move along. And so phase one is where we learn about our clients, everything that it is that we need to know about them in order to sort of understand and move through to the next phase. But um oftentimes we'll go sort of back and forth um just as we sort of have permission from the client system to move forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And Allie, can you kind of uh walk us through what are those goals in phase one and how how do they really set up the rest of the protocol?

SPEAKER_01:

So in phase one, it's really the history in the treatment planning. And so we're assessing, we're gathering information, getting the trauma history, identifying potential targets for future setup, establishing their readiness. So the clinician will determine which memories of those experiences will be addressed and how to safely approach them. So that would be a lot of phase one, a lot of data gathering, treatment planning, uh, seeing how stable the client is. And then that moves us into phase two.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that's a very important part of the process. And Danny, for you, what are some common misconceptions that clinicians have when they're transitioning from that prep phase one into reprocessing?

SPEAKER_02:

One of the biggest questions that I get as a consultant is how do I know my client is ready to move into desensitization or phase four? Um, and so this is so different for every person. And so, which is why, you know, you might sort of be in phase one and you're learning lots about your client, and you move into phase two and you and you work to sort of resource and stabilize, as Allison was saying, and it's sort of like, okay, we're ready to go. And then you start doing phase four, and you know, oh, now we we sort of notice a space where we need to kind of go back a little bit and learn a little bit more about what's happening here. But oftentimes people misconstrue and think EMDR only happens in phase four.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So it only happens when we're doing bilateral stimulation. But that is uh so untrue because all of those steps are so important to the healing that happens within EMDR.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that's interesting. So EMDR really starts as soon as that phase one begins.

SPEAKER_01:

It's a it's a continual process. The it's it's a process, it's not a thing we do. I think sometimes people think it's that, oh, it's that bilateral thing that you do. Yeah. That's only one tiny piece. I mean, it's a it's a actually a really important piece, but you have to set the stage, get to know the client. That phase two for preparation is extremely important. And I think some clinicians or Danielle and I have to retrain some of our supervisees or or consultees with that thought process of hey, remember phase two is extremely important. If if we don't have the resourcing and the preparation, those, you know, um, the safe, calm place, our container, our uh support system, boundaries, learning how to set boundaries, just all of our resourcing, breathing exercises, body awareness.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

If we miss all of that and just jump into phase four, we're really doing a disservice to the client. And so we have to retrain some of the people that we work with in not forgetting about phase two.

SPEAKER_00:

Interesting. Can you tell me a little more about the resourcing and how that plays a big part into phase four?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. So the adaptive information processing model, which is sort of the foundation for EMDR, is sort of based on the premise that the that EMDR is effective when you can pull information, adaptive information from the left brain and integrate it with, you know, some of the more emotional stuff that's happening on the right. And so we have to work to build up adaptive information or even help a client notice what their adaptive information is and sort of strengthen those internal resources before we can sort of move into phase four. And I often describe this to people as like if you like to crochet and you've got a crochet hook, it's like you've got to be able to hook that adaptive information from the left in order to sort of integrate it with what's happening on the right and to ultimately be able to make a shift.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a great analogy. And so you said adaptive information. Can you put that in a in a term that you know maybe people that aren't familiar with that could understand? What exactly is adaptive information?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I would say it, I mean, it definitely is our self-regulation tools. It's our grounding skills. So learning to breathe and how to breathe, uh, body awareness. What's what is going on? What am I feeling in my body when I am anxious, when I am around this person, when I'm thinking something really negative about myself? Like, where do I feel that in my body is really important. Um, so we do exercises like a safe, calm place. So I uh thinking uh it could be a real place or an imagined place that when they think about it, it really brings up for them safe, calm feelings. And so we install those, is what we call it in the phase two process. We install those things as resources in people's lives. Uh, another one is a container exercise. So we have a there's a lot of exercises that we can do and we install those because it's like we're building up some of the positive side of things. Yeah. Because when we get to phase four and beyond, right, we're going to be diving into the hard, challenging, negative places. And so having this stronger built-up muscle, if you will, is going to help them and they're going to be able to then refer back to these phase two exercises and people and boundaries, right? When things get harder and tougher before they get better. So important to have those tools. Well, because with it, you really are setting the client up for failure. Because if you just jump into reprocessing and they're not yet ready for that, then they're going to leave your office dysregulated and not really safe to drive on the road, or maybe you return back to work, or those kinds of things, because they don't have that adaptive information to be regulated.

SPEAKER_00:

And can you share an example of a client who maybe needed that extended time in that prep phase before the reprocessing could begin?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Allie and I are going to be presenting later today on sort of working with complex trauma, which is really super exciting. And so these uh these people who we refer to as having complex trauma presentations, they often need extended resourcing. But also what happens is what I was describing earlier, where you sort of go in and you sort of work on something, and then it's like, oh, we need more adaptive information, or we really need to put it into different terms. We got to like build up the good stuff. And we have to work on just juicing everything that we can out of that lemon to really strengthen that for them. And that could be internal resources. It could be like sort of notice that strong and capable part of yourself as we're sort of moving through this. Um yeah. So it happens often. More often than not, it happens.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think too, it sometimes it helps the client process whether or not the people that are currently in their life that they may think are a strong resource may not actually be a strong resource when they are having someone in their corner to talk about this process or what they're going through or what they're experiencing. They may be a really good friend to go to dinner with or do something fun with, right? But who are my people that are also going to walk with me through the hard things? And so it's helping clients see that also of sometimes who they think may be in their circle may not really be in their circle when it comes to these kind of topics, if that makes sense. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh my goodness. Oh, so how do you support clinicians who feel kind of stuck in that phase one with a client and they're not really sure if they should move forward yet?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, so it's sort of like a lot of that has to do with um Allie and I talk a lot about like helping uh clinicians sort of like trust their gut, you know? So trusting their, their, their own insights when it comes to um working with clients. And sometimes I will, sometimes I will say, you know, just, you know, because EMDR can just become, you know, when you're first trained, it's just it's this thing in the room. So sometimes I'll say, you know, let's just put EMDR on a shelf for just a minute. And I just want you to think about what's happening for your client and what are they most in need of. And then we sort of figure out what is the EMDR solution for that need. How do we meet that need using EMDR?

SPEAKER_01:

It goes back to just that therapeutic relationship. You know, you're building that relationship with the client and getting to know them and also hearing about their day-to-day things that sometime need to be talked about during this EMDR process anyway. And so that's another added part that we're just building that therapeutic relationship, trusting our gut, and then using our clinical judgment as best we can, and then having consultation with other counselors. That's why our time with other counselors is so important, you know, to be able to talk and and uh share those cases and get feedback from other people.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, wow. You're doing such important work, and thank you so much for breaking all of this down so clearly, Danny and Allie. We will see you next time on EMDR with Danny and Allie.

SPEAKER_03:

Hey there, I'm Danny from Ontario, Canada. And I'm Allie from Texas.

SPEAKER_04:

That wraps up another insightful episode of EMDR with Danny and Ally, where our slogan, collaborative consultation that connects and grows, one clinician at a time, isn't just catchy. It's our mission. Want more tools, training, or just need to ask Danny or Ally a question? Visit Danny at Alley.com or call or text 254-230-4994. Thanks for tuning in. And remember, the best healing starts with connection.