What to Expect in Your First EMDR Therapy Session -

Starting therapy can be intimidating, especially when you don’t know what to expect. If you’re preparing for your first EMDR therapy session, you’re not alone in feeling a mix of curiosity and nervousness. This blog will walk you through exactly what happens during your initial appointment—so you can feel grounded, informed, and ready to begin your healing journey.

What Is EMDR Therapy?

EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a structured, evidence-based treatment designed to help people heal from trauma, anxiety, grief, and other emotional challenges. Unlike talk therapy, EMDR therapy uses bilateral stimulation—often through eye movements or tapping—to help reprocess distressing memories and promote healing (Shapiro, 2018).

EMDR therapy is increasingly sought after by professionals, students, caregivers, and others looking for lasting, effective mental health support.

What Happens During Your First EMDR Therapy Session?

Your first EMDR therapy session will not include eye movements or trauma reprocessing right away. Instead, it’s designed to build the foundation for effective therapy.

1. Getting to Know You

The first session focuses on your history, symptoms, and goals. Your therapist will ask about your background, current concerns, and any past experiences that may be influencing your emotional health. Your intake package is reviewed and collaboration begins with you, since you are the expert on your life. We build rapport and ensure you feel comfortable and informed about what treatment will look like.

This intake phase might include questions such as:

What brought you to therapy now?
Have you experienced trauma, anxiety, or grief?
What are your goals for EMDR therapy?

2. Explaining the EMDR Process

Jordan will explain how EMDR therapy works, including what bilateral stimulation is and how trauma and other stressful memories are stored in the brain. Many find this phase empowering because it demystifies the process and helps build trust and also helps normalize what you are going through, seeing that the brain is doing its job, and that we can use the power of the brain to heal through neuroplasticity.

You’ll also learn about the eight-phase EMDR model (Shapiro, 2018), and your therapist will describe how the treatment plan will unfold and if we will be modifying it based on your own reasons for seeking EMDR.

3. Assessing Readiness

Before beginning the actual reprocessing work, your therapist will assess whether you’re ready to proceed. This includes evaluating:

Your ability to tolerate distress
Your current coping skills
Any safety concerns or risk factors

If you need more stabilization, Jordan may spend additional sessions helping you build emotional regulation skills before starting trauma reprocessing. This is highly customizable. We will also assess if you are not a candidate for EMDR currently and talk about how to move towards prepping you for EMDR.

4. Developing Coping Tools

You’ll learn techniques to manage emotional distress between sessions. These may include grounding exercises, visualization (like a “safe place or calm-internal anchor”), or breathing strategies. These tools help ensure you’re prepared for later stages of EMDR therapy. If you are not able to visualize due to aphantasia, we will create other ways of grounding that do not rely on visual recall. EMDR does work with aphantasia, but your EMDR therapist must be skilled to personalize EMDR for aphantasia.

Virtual First Sessions

If you’re meeting your EMDR therapist virtually, the first session follows the same structure. Research has shown that online EMDR therapy, including virtual assessments and preparation, is effective and safe (Lenferink et al., 2020). Many clients appreciate the flexibility of remote sessions. Depending on your technical capacity and the type of technology you are using to take the sessions (phone vs tablet vs large computer or laptop), we will talk about various ways of working together to maximize EMDR for you.

What You Don’t Have to Do in the First Session

You don’t need to “dive into trauma” during the first meeting. In fact, rushing into trauma content too quickly can be counterproductive. Your first EMDR therapy session is about establishing trust, not reliving pain.

Also, you’re always in control in therapy and Jordan will always be obtaining your Informed Consent throughout the process. If anything feels overwhelming or unclear, you can voice that to your therapist. Jordan makes this very clear to all new clients within minutes of meeting them.

Conclusion

Your first EMDR therapy session is a stepping stone toward deep healing. It’s a chance to be heard, to understand how EMDR works, and to begin creating a safe environment for change. Whether you’re working through trauma, anxiety, or grief, (or something else) this session is the beginning of a path toward clarity, peace, and empowerment.

References

Lenferink, L. I., Meyerbröker, K., Boelen, P. A., & van den Bout, J. (2020). Online EMDR Therapy for PTSD During COVID-19: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, 102263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263

Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (3rd ed.). The Guilford Press.

Jordan Nodelman

Jordan Nodelman, MSW, LICSW, LCSW is a Licensed Independent Psychotherapist and Clinical Social Worker in Florida, Vermont (TELE), Virginia and Washington, DC. He is also a Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, by the American Board of Clinical Social Workers. He is an EMDR Certified Psychotherapist and offers EMDRIA Consulting to EMDR clinicians. He provides both in-person & virtual therapy and EMDR in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Statewide in Florida, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Washington DC. He is a Tele-LICSW for the State of Vermont.