EMDR training
Practitioner programs
Trauma training
EMDR Advanced Training
EMDR for Shame, Anger, and Depression
Neuroscience-Informed Training for Trauma Therapists
Your client comes in dysregulated. Furious, withdrawn, or somewhere in between. You know something is driving it. But the anger is a moving target, the depression feels stuck, and underneath it all, there is something that looks a lot like shame. These three emotional states are not separate clinical problems. They move together. Each one can trigger the others. And for EMDR-trained clinicians, the gap in training is not EMDR itself. It is understanding the continuum these emotions form and how to navigate it across all eight phases.
That is what this training is built for. Joel Kouame, LCSW, MBA, CAMS, brings a neuroscience framework to the clinical reality of working with anger, shame, and depression in trauma treatment. Using the Adaptive Information Processing model, the triple network model, and an integrative approach to the EMDR phases, he maps how these emotions develop, why they resist processing, and what it actually takes to move clients through them.
This is not a shame training with some EMDR bolted on. It is a full-day, clinician-to-clinician look at one of the most common and most misunderstood emotional clusters in trauma work.
That is what this training is built for. Joel Kouame, LCSW, MBA, CAMS, brings a neuroscience framework to the clinical reality of working with anger, shame, and depression in trauma treatment. Using the Adaptive Information Processing model, the triple network model, and an integrative approach to the EMDR phases, he maps how these emotions develop, why they resist processing, and what it actually takes to move clients through them.
This is not a shame training with some EMDR bolted on. It is a full-day, clinician-to-clinician look at one of the most common and most misunderstood emotional clusters in trauma work.
Practical Skills
Practical Interventions You'll Learn
In this training, you will learn how to:
- Map the anger-shame-depression continuum to guide EMDR treatment planning and target sequencing
- Use the EMDR 8-phase protocol to address shame as a core driver of symptoms, including ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic presentations
- Work with secondary emotions, including anger that masks shame or depression, cycling back into rage
- Apply cognitive interweaves during desensitization when clients become blocked by shame or dissociative parts
- Identify and target internalized negative beliefs and self-critical narratives using EMDR and REBT
- Address dissociated parts connected to overwhelming emotional experiences through Ego State Therapy and IFS-informed approaches
- Navigate preparation phase complexities specific to shame-based trauma, including safety planning, resource installation, and working with neurodivergent clients
- Recognize somatic expressions of anger in the body scan as indicators of clinical progress, not setbacks
- Install adaptive beliefs related to self-worth, safety, and relational trust in Phases 5 and 6
- Use the triple network model and gut-brain axis research to psychoeducate clients and deepen your own clinical conceptualization
What You Get
What's Waiting for You Inside This Training
Map the anger-shame-depression continuum
Use a clear clinical framework to guide treatment planning and target sequencing across all three emotional states. Map the anger-shame-depression continuum
Target shame as a core driver
Apply the 8-phase protocol to shame directly, including both ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic presentations.
Work with the secondary emotions underneath
Recognize when anger is masking shame, when depression is covering rage, and how to target what's actually driving the cycle.
Move clients through blocked processing
Apply cognitive interweaves when shame or dissociative parts stall reprocessing during desensitization.
Address the dissociated parts in the work
Integrate Ego State Therapy and IFS-informed approaches to work with parts holding overwhelming emotional material.
Target internalized negative beliefs
Identify and process self-critical narratives using EMDR alongside REBT-informed cognitive interventions.
Read the body scan with more precision
Recognize somatic expressions of anger as clinical progress, not setbacks, and respond accordingly.
Ground the work in current neuroscience
Use the triple network model and gut-brain axis research to deepen case conceptualization and client psychoeducation.
Meet Your Trainer
About Your Trainer
Joel Kouame
LCSW, MBA, CAMS
Joel Kouame, LCSW, MBA, CAMS, is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, adjunct professor, and the founder of JK Counseling, a New York-based virtual practice serving individuals, couples, and teens. Joel specializes in trauma, PTSD, anger management, and the intersection of emotional dysregulation and clinical identity. His integrative approach draws on EMDR, IFS, REBT, Ego State Therapy, psychodynamic theory, and CBT, and he is known for his ability to translate complex neuroscience frameworks into language clinicians can actually use in session.
He has presented for the New York Mental Health Counselors Association and Palo Alto University, and has been published in EMDRIA's blog and other clinical outlets. He is a regular contributor to mental health conversations that examine social and cultural dimensions of emotional experience through a clinical lens. Joel presented the Clinical Conversation 'Transforming Rage into Resilience: A Discussion About Emotional Healing' with Trauma Therapist Institute in January 2026.
He has presented for the New York Mental Health Counselors Association and Palo Alto University, and has been published in EMDRIA's blog and other clinical outlets. He is a regular contributor to mental health conversations that examine social and cultural dimensions of emotional experience through a clinical lens. Joel presented the Clinical Conversation 'Transforming Rage into Resilience: A Discussion About Emotional Healing' with Trauma Therapist Institute in January 2026.
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Stop Treating Anger, Shame, and Depression as Three Separate Problems
They move together. They trigger each other. And when shame blocks reprocessing or rage masks what's underneath, your client stays stuck. This training gives you the neuroscience framework, the phase-by-phase tools, and the clinical language to navigate one of the most common emotional clusters in trauma work.