Zero Disturbance

Y’all know that I believe EMDR is magic. And I think, among the many reasons, the magic of EMDR lies within its structure. 

It can feel safe to hear and repeat the message of “stick to the script and trust the process.” And while the message has a positive intention, it's just not good enough.

In fact, it's basic. And EMDR is too sophisticated to be basic.

At first we see the benefit of this message with our peers in basic training exercises and single-incident trauma clients in our practices; it feels reassuring and so we internalize it.

But then something troublesome can happen. 

When a complex trauma client walks through our door and the line-by-line script doesn’t offer what that client needs, we get cold feet with EMDR.

And not only do we lose trust in the process, but we lose trust in ourselves.

Sticking to the script and trusting the process should no longer be the default message in basic EMDR training or Facebook comments for those seeking consultation. We deserve more nuance than that because we are far beyond basic.

So, I’d like to offer something different. What if this idea just meant that we believe in the power of EMDR, the value of the 8 Phases, and that we trust the AIP model? And what if we used this as encouraging blueprint instead of a line-by-line script to be repeated?

If we can alter the way that we value the structure of EMDR, we can alter the relationship that we have with ourselves as EMDR clinicians. 

Listen to my most recent podcast to understand how we limit ourselves with this message and what we can do instead. 

You deserve to trust yourself because EMDR is magic… and so are you.

---

If you're looking for clinical consultation that's going to offer you frameworks and insight to strengthen your EMDR training, I encourage you to check out The Consultation Program. Apply today to embark on an eight month journey in the only comprehensive consultation program out there.

I promise you, there's nothing like it.

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

We know that every experience has feelings attached to it. And, as therapists, we’re apt to listen to and validate those feelings for our clients and (hopefully) for ourselves.

And learning, just like all of the other experiences in life, has feelings attached to it. And while we would typically create space for the feelings that come up, in Phase 4 we tend to pick and choose what feelings we think are appropriate for this time.

Reprocessing in Phase 4 is just learning, y’all. And for our clients (and for us), there are going to be feelings that show up as this happens.

Our job is not necessarily to interfere with these feelings because we believe that something else should be happening. Our job is to understand if that frustration, or other feeling, is clinically relevant.

And spoiler alert, oftentimes, it is.

I’ve identified the 5 questions that I ask myself whenever I’m feeling “stuck” in Phase 4 and my hope is that this framework will help you understand that sometimes “stuckness” is the clinical stepping stone you need to understand for your client.

If you're looking for clinical consultation that's going to offer you frameworks and insight just like in this podcast, I encourage you to check out The Consultation Program. Embark on an eight month journey in the only comprehensive consultation program out there. Apply here today!

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

If your experience as a newly trained EMDR therapist was anything like mine, you probably started to see that “sticking to the script” to navigate through standard protocol was confusing when working with complex trauma clients. Why? Because the beauty of standard protocol often needs interweaves, parts work, and more Phase 2 preparation (things not in "the script") in order to flow. And while some basic trainings teach us these things, many of us don't get to learn these more advanced topics in the beginning of our EMDR training. 

And far too often, the lack of understanding to work with these complex clients creates a fear in us. We worry that we can’t do EMDR because we don’t know what to do when reading the line-by-line script isn't working.

I want to offer a framework for you to think about case conceptualization in a way that lowers the stakes when it comes to choosing a target with your complex trauma clients. 

What if I told you that you don’t have to dive into the first, worst, or touchstone memory right away with your new EMDR clients? What if I told you that, instead, you can pick an initial target where the stakes are lower because the SUD is lower?

And what if I told you that this “pilot” would breathe life into your relationship with your client and your client's relationship with EMDR?

Listen to my most recent podcast where I unpack case conceptualization with all types of clients so we can decrease our anxiety. 

It's time to give yourself permission to gather information so that you may make informed choices. 

Learn more about standard protocol, case conceptualization and more with The Consultation Program. Embark in an eight month journey to enhance your clinical confidence. Apply here today!

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

If you think about what traditional images of psychotherapy look like, you might imagine something hierarchical, impersonal, and precise. Where the clinician is as good as invisible and the sessions sound scripted. 

But what we know now is that effective therapy happens when stuff gets relational and creative integrations are designed. Because the clinicians who offer something inspiring to the world are the ones who show up with intention, authenticity, and an openness to experiment. 

I sat down with EMDR clinicians Andrea Skitch and Norine Vander Hooven to talk about what it means to blend powerful tools like Kundalini Yoga and Brainspotting with EMDR therapy. 

I’m inspired at how these women have stacked their talents and blended them with EMDR therapy. Because I can feel that not only do they offer something beautiful for their clients, but that they also do for consultees and for themselves.  

Listen to this Spotlight episode as we unpack what it means to experiment clinically and with our business models, and you’ll find that all of it is connected. 

 ---

Want to keep learning with us?

Learn alongside clinicians just like Andrea and Norine in The Consultation Program. Apply today to embark on an eight month journey in the only comprehensive consultation program out there. It’s time that you stack your talents because there’s nothing like it. 

---

Learn more about this episode’s spotlight guests:

Norine Vander Hooven, LCSW

www.norinevanderhoovenslcsw.com for training, consultation, and suicide prevention course.

www.westlaketraumaandresilience.com for counseling services.

Contact Information:

[email protected] 

[email protected]

Andrea Skitch MSW RSW

Psycho-Spiritual EMDR Consultant-in-Training 

Founder of The Aquarian Academy 

Raising the consciousness on Mother Earth by healing trauma, one soul at a time. 

andreaskitch.com

@andreaskitch 

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

Every clinician, whether they think they work with reproductive issues or not, needs to hear this discussion! Why? First, even if your clinical work doesn’t focus on these topics, you’re still likely to find them showing up in your office. Next, how we think about incorporating EMDR therapy during the reproductive period, especially during a client’s pregnancy, can be applied conceptually to every client! By exploring the hopes, fears, and hesitations that arise when incorporating EMDR during the reproductive period, we illuminate what comes up across clinical practice areas. 

There are a lot of alarming messages in the therapy world about EMDR and pregnancy. And for many EMDR clinicians, this messaging has instilled an aversion to doing EMDR with our pregnant clients. 

We're taught to fear the "dangers" of doing EMDR in the first and third trimesters, the threat EMDR has on high-risk pregnancies, and that we should, at all costs, avoid any reprocessing in Phase 4 with our pregnant clients.

And while this messaging has a good intention, it loses sight of one of the biggest questions associated with EMDR and pregnancy: what's the risk if we don't do EMDR with our pregnant clients? 

I sat down with perinatal mental health advocate and expert Dr. Mara Tesler Stein to learn more about EMDR and pregnancy to unpack the past, present, and future behind this misunderstood question.

Listen as we talk about the fears we have as clinicians, our responsibilities to our clients, and the research that actually answers the often asked question "Can you do EMDR with a pregnant client?" 

Want to keep learning with us?

Are you ready to grow your clinical reasoning skills in a way that separates you from the traditional thinking of the past? Apply for The Consultation Program today to build your clinical confidence in a comprehensive eight month journey. 

There’s nothing like it.

Learn more about today’s spotlight guest: 

Dr. Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D., PMH-C

www.touchstoneinstitute.org

Training + Education:

Foundational training (Aug/Nov, 2022)

The Advanced Practice of EMDR for Perinatal & Infant Mental Health (June, 2022)

The Advanced Practice of EMDR for Perinatal & Infant Mental Health (on-demand)

Empty Cradle, Broken Heart: A Practitioner's Guide to Working with Bereaved Families (With Dr. Mara Tesler Stein and Dr. Debbie Davis), May, 2022 

Mara Tesler Stein, Psy.D., PMH-C is a clinical psychologist practicing in Chicago and Jerusalem. She is the founder and director of The Touchstone Institute for Psychotherapy and Training where she offers both EMDR Foundational trainings for perinatal specialists & advanced EMDR workshops which take a deeper dive into the intersections and applications of EMDR and perinatal mental health.

Dr. Stein is a staunch advocate for trauma-focused care and is trained and certified in a range of integrative trauma therapies. A certified EMDR therapist, EMDRIA Approved Consultant and Trainer for the Institute for Creative Mindfulness, Dr. Stein is also certified in Emotion-Focused Family and Couple Therapy, is a Gottman Certified Therapist, and continues to pursue training in Clinical Hypnosis, Yoga-Informed treatment, Advanced applications of EMDR, Brainspotting, and Ego-State therapies.

She is the co-author (with Deborah Davis, Ph.D.) of Parenting Your Premature Baby and Child: The Emotional Journey (Fulcrum, 2004) and Intensive Parenting: Surviving the Journey Through the NICU (Fulcrum, 2013).

Her trauma work is grounded in her personal perinatal journey, which began 25 years ago taking her through infertility, twin pregnancy, prolonged hospital bedrest, the NICU, and years of raising NICU graduates.

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

Who do you think you are? You’re too big for your britches. Wait your turn; you’re too young. You may have grown up hearing similar messages that were meant to help you, but a lot of those messages are just the result of generational trauma. Instead, these messages did more harm than good.

Even as adults, people often want to put their fears onto us, and give us a plan that works for them but not for us. We can no longer hold on to beliefs that do not serve us. We cannot be effective therapists or teachers having listened to these voices and choosing to continue to listen to these voices.

As adults, we have choices. We can make intentional decisions about the voices that we let into our heads and into our hearts. Of course, sometimes we listen to the wrong people, but it’s important that we take responsibility and make a choice on who we are going to listen to and who we aren’t.

If you have any desire for other people to listen to you, you have to be very intentional about who you are listening to and who is guiding you. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and who allow you to let your unique light shine.

If you're ready to get more from your practice, join us in The Consultation Program: https://www.zerodisturbance.com/consultation-2022

Resources:

Who Do We Think We Are by John Legend

Out Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

I was recently speaking with a consultee about her experience with veterans and I asked if she would be willing to share her unique perspective. Her response was, “what am I going to say that hasn’t already been said?”  

This got me thinking. Why don’t people create content? It’s not because they don’t have ideas or because they’re not smart. I realized it’s not just about the content, but it’s about how it is delivered. 

Each of us is a combination of all of the people and voices that we have taken in. This creates a unique perspective within us that no one else has. Each of us has different content to share based on our own unique perspectives, and each of us will deliver that content in a unique way.

Similarly, content is received in very different ways by different people. Even if what you are sharing has already been said, no one can say it in exactly the unique way that you can, which means that it has never been received in the same way either.

If you're ready to get more from your practice, join us in The Consultation Program: https://www.zerodisturbance.com/consultation-2022

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

When I came up as a therapist, I was taught to offer sliding scale or pro bono spots as a way to be generous. Maybe you were taught this, too. 

And while that's not wrong, there is so much more we can do in addition to or instead of giving away discounted time in 1:1 services. Our ability to make a difference can be expansive if we are intentional and think outside the box. 

I sat down with Andreana Mabry, an EMDR CIT, to talk about the emotional journey of working in community mental health to transitioning into private practice; her journey is something that can speak to all of us.

As therapists, we're called to serve. And in the transition to private practice, it can feel like we're leaving people behind. But I want you to know that when we're freed from the restrictions of agency work and insurance boundaries, we actually create space to serve our clients, our community and ourselves.

Listen as Andreana explores her path to intentional generosity as a private practice business owner to get a sense of the kind of options you have to be intentionally generous.

If you'd like to learn more about our guest, Andreana Mabry, check out: https://showupcounseling.com/ and  cmhsurvival.showuptraining.com/

If you're ready to get more from your practice, join us in The Consultation Program: https://www.zerodisturbance.com/consultation-2022

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

Like many therapists, I thought that therapy was the answer for everything. Have a mindset block? Go to therapy. Have childhood trauma? Do EMDR.

It wasn't until I joined my first business coaching group that I saw what was missing for me. In today's episode, we discuss why we aren't meant to experiment, innovate, and disrupt the status quo alone.

Are you ready to join a community of innovators as you design your practice to serve you first? You belong in The Consultation Program: https://www.zerodisturbance.com/consultation-2022

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way. 

Whether you're a therapist, a supervisor, or a consultant, you are a teacher in every space. We cannot separate teaching from anything you do in the healing space. 

In today's episode, we get curious about the three kinds of teachers: the content dump truck; the teacher who knows it and has done it well; and the teacher who knows it, has done it, and can share it relationally, emotionally, and transformatively. 

As we review the pros and cons of each, we land in an agreement with ourselves about what kind of teacher we will commit to being.  

Interested in becoming a transformative teacher and content creator? Check out The Passive Income Kit: https://www.zerodisturbance.com/the-passive-income-kit

---

Zero Disturbance offers comprehensive resources for therapists on EMDR-informed clinical reasoning, intensive design, passive income systems, & teaching excellence. 

With a Masters in Education from Vanderbilt, Kambria has been creating trainings and teaching adult learners for 20 years. As Director of Education and Quality Improvement at Stanford Medical School, her job was to decomplicate and consolidate complex systems and topics, thereby giving medical trainees successful learning experiences. Now, as a busy mom of fraternal twins, dedicated business owner of Zero Disturbance, and EMDRIA Approved Consultant, Kambria knows what it means to do things efficiently, effectively, and in a learner-centered way.