Relational EMDR Therapy Training

Master Trainer Deany Laliotis

EMDR therapy was introduced over 30 years ago by Dr. Francine Shapiro and has since become one of the leading trauma focused therapies in the world. Deany Laliotis studied directly under Dr. Shapiro and eventually served as her Director of Training for many years. Following Dr. Shapiro’s death in 2020, Deany started her own EMDR training program- The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy. Deany teaches Relational EMDR Therapy, an approach to working with complex trauma that she developed over 20 years ago.  While it utilizes standard EMDR reprocessing of disturbing memories, it is much more than that.  Experienced EMDR therapists learned years ago that the methods developed by Dr. Shapiro were effective for high functioning clients. However, in working with clients who had multiple traumas or who were abused and/or neglected as children, the standard approach was not nearly so effective.  

Deany’s relational EMDR therapy training teaches how to use the therapeutic relationship to help clients re-shape their attachment style. Therapist and client address earlier formative memories that significantly impacted the client.  And, just as important, they focus on the here and now of the client’s experience of being with the therapist in the present moment. This experiential component of the therapy is critical in creating new and powerful change experiences for the client which lead to deeper change in the client’s experience of self and of others. 

With the introduction some years ago of attachment theory to the psychotherapy field, clients’ presenting problems began to be seen in a new light. We learned that symptom-focused treatment had limited benefit for these clients.  They typically suffered from an inability to engage in steady and secure intimate relationships. Their problems were not just stress responses to traumatic events but were much more deeply rooted.  We learned that it was the client’s adaptation to traumatic relationship experiences over time that that needed to be addressed.

Find out more about Deany’s EMDR therapy training program or relational EMDR therapy training in general – The Center for Excellence in EMDR Therapy.