EMDR training
Practitioner programs
Trauma training
EMDR Advanced Training
EMDR for Autism and ADHD
Neurodiversity-Affirming Training for Trauma Therapists
Every EMDR therapist works with clients who have neurodivergent traits or diagnoses. Yet many EMDR therapists received little to no training in how to support them effectively.
Not because the training didn't exist. Because they barely did. And in their absence, we improvised. We adapted as we went. We hoped the standard protocol would stretch far enough.
Sometimes it does. And sometimes a client sits across from you, genuinely engaged in the work, and the moment you say "notice that," they look at you completely blank. Or they lose the thread mid-set. Or they have no reliable access to the abstract internal experience the protocol assumes is available to them.
That's a training gap.
Caroline van Diest has spent over a decade closing it. She is a Senior EMDR Europe Accredited Trainer, researcher, and chairperson of the Neurodivergence and EMDR Special Interest Group at the EMDR UK Association. She brings both clinical expertise and personal experience of neurodiversity to her teaching, and her work sits at the intersection of where EMDR and neurodivergent presentations actually meet in practice.
This June, she returns to TTI for an updated, live version of her highly regarded 2024 training: a phase-by-phase EMDR course built specifically for clinicians working with clients who have autism, ADHD, or other neurodivergent presentations. You will leave with a clear clinical framework, a set of practical tools, and the confidence to stop guessing when the standard approach doesn't fit.
Practical Skills
Practical Interventions You'll Learn
In this EMDR neurodivergence training, you will learn how to:
- Identify and conceptualize neurodivergent presentations across autism and ADHD, including how these intersect with trauma and adverse experiences in ways that go beyond standard PTSD frameworks, so your case formulation reflects who your client actually is.
- Build EMDR case formulations using the NDI Formulation Tool, mapping neurodivergent characteristics, adverse experiences, present difficulties, and client strengths into a treatment plan that guides your work across all 8 phases.
- Adapt your Phase 1 history-taking for clients whose trauma timelines, communication styles, and relationship to narrative don't fit standard intake structures, including preverbal and non-language-based approaches for clients who cannot engage through words alone.
- Develop Phase 2 preparation strategies that actually work for clients with limited attention spans, sensory sensitivities, alexithymia, or difficulty with abstract language, including specific modifications to Safe Place, Container, and bilateral stimulation setup.
- Replace abstract EMDR language with plain language alternatives that land for concrete thinkers, covering common phrases across all 8 phases, so you have exact language ready for the room.
- Apply the COFFA Protocol and the Neurodivergent EMDR Toolbox across Phases 3 through 7, adapting desensitization, installation, body scan, and closure for clients who process emotion, cognition, and somatic experience differently than neurotypical clients.
- Work with cognitions and the standard negative and positive cognition framework when clients struggle to identify or articulate beliefs about themselves, using concrete, accessible alternatives that maintain fidelity to the AIP model.
- Calibrate set length, pacing, and check-in frequency in real time based on each client's attention and arousal, so processing stays within the window of tolerance without you needing to guess.
- Stay genuinely adaptive across all 8 phases without losing your clinical footing in the model, because no two neurodivergent clients present the same way, and a one-size protocol will not serve them.
What You Get
What's Waiting for You Inside This Training
What changes when EMDR actually fits the neurodivergent client in front of you:
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Conceptualize neurodivergent presentations
Recognize how autism and ADHD intersect with trauma in ways that go beyond standard PTSD frameworks, so your case formulation reflects who your client actually is.
Build treatment plans with the NDI Formulation Tool
Map neurodivergent characteristics, adverse experiences, present difficulties, and client strengths into a plan that guides all 8 phases of the work.
Adapt Phase 1 history-taking
Work skillfully with clients whose trauma timelines, communication styles, and relationship to narrative don't fit standard intake structures, including non-language-based approaches.
Build Phase 2 preparation that lands
Modify Safe Place, Container, and bilateral stimulation setup for clients with limited attention spans, sensory sensitivities, alexithymia, or difficulty with abstract language.
Replace abstract EMDR language
Bring exact, plain-language alternatives into the room for concrete thinkers, with ready-to-use phrasing across all 8 phases. Bring exact, plain-language alternatives into the room for concrete thinkers, with ready-to-use phrasing across all 8 phases.
Apply the COFFA Protocol and Neurodivergent EMDR Toolbox
Use structured clinical frameworks across Phases 3 through 7, adapting desensitization, installation, body scan, and closure for clients who process differently.
Work with cognitions when clients can't articulate beliefs
Use concrete, accessible alternatives to the standard negative and positive cognition framework while maintaining fidelity to the AIP model.
Calibrate set length and pacing in real time
Adjust check-in frequency and processing intensity based on each client's attention and arousal, so the work stays within their window of tolerance.
Meet Your Trainer
About Your Trainer
Caroline van Diest
Caroline van Diest is a Senior EMDR Europe Accredited Trainer at Mindsync EMDR Training and Trauma Therapist Institute. She has spent over a decade training therapists in neurodivergence-informed EMDR across the UK and internationally, and is the chairperson of the Neurodivergence and EMDR Special Interest Group at the EMDR UK Association.
Caroline has published research on the use of EMDR with autistic clients, co-authored a chapter in Psychological Therapies for Adults with Autism (Spain et al., 2022), and presented at EMDR UK Conferences. Her training style has been described as highly effective, safe, informative, and energizing - grounded in clinical rigor and delivered with warmth and humor.
She brings both professional expertise and personal experience of neurodiversity to her teaching, offering herself as an exploratory colleague who is genuinely curious about what works for each unique client.
Free Resource
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Take The Next Step
Ready to Begin?
Stop Improvising When the Standard Protocol Doesn't Fit
Most EMDR therapists were never trained for the clients sitting in front of them. This course closes that gap. You'll leave with a clinical framework, phase-by-phase adaptations, plain-language alternatives, and the structured tools to do EMDR with autistic and ADHD clients with real confidence.