EMDR Advanced Training
EMDR for the Treatment of Addictions and Compulsions
Trainer: Gerard Ilaria, LCSW-R
Live Virtual Training: November 13th | 10:00 AM Central | Available for synchronous, live learning
On-Demand: Available one week after the live event
In the clinic, beneath every addictive behavior lies a powerful story, often one of trauma, loss, or unresolved pain. Traditional interventions focus on symptoms, but without addressing the trauma fueling addiction, true recovery remains out of reach.
EMDR for the Treatment of Addiction and Compulsions offers a transformative, trauma-informed lens for clinicians working with addiction. This 4 hour course equips you with a neuro-informed roadmap to help clients reprocess trauma, shift addictive patterns, and build lasting change.
Guided by Gerard Ilaria, LCSW-R, this evidence-based course blends neuroscience, EMDR therapy, and attachment theory to help you identify and heal the roots of craving and compulsive behavior.
This course equips clinicians to understand addiction on a neurobiological level -moving beyond moral judgments to the science of brain circuits, trauma, and healing. With practical, step-by-step EMDR applications, you’ll gain the tools to help clients reprocess trauma, reduce shame, and build healthier coping strategies.
Free resource from our team!
Addiction is rarely just about substances. These questions will help you find the source.
Why Traditional Addiction Treatment Falls Short & What to Do Instead
Behind compulsive behaviors are nervous systems doing their best to survive. These clients aren’t unreachable—they’re overwhelmed, dysregulated, and often unseen by traditional models.
EMDR offers a new way.
- Faster breakthroughs. Clients move beyond talk into real resolution in less time. See results in only 1 session!
- Sustainable change. Not just better coping but rewired patterns that last.
- Reduce risk. Using EMDR interventions can reduce the risk of relapse and risky use in less time than traditional interventions.
Therapists trained in EMDR interventions for addictions attest to its impact.
"I see faster client breakthroughs with EMDR than talk therapy alone."
- Caroline D, SUD outpatient therapist
"I use the Buzzkill strategy as a standard technique with my clients. It significantly helps them find relief in the early stages of their recovery. It's a game changer."
- Lucas, IOP therapist
"I do this work to help clients find relief and reduce risk. EMDR is so impactful with this population and I wish I had learned these interventions sooner in my career."
- José, inpatient SUD therapist
What You’ll Learn in This EMDRIA Approved Advanced Training
- Understand how trauma shapes addiction, through brain-based changes in reward, memory, and motivation.
- Unpack Nora Volkow’s three-phase addiction model: Binge, Withdrawal, Preoccupation.
- Use EMDR’s 8-phase protocol to address triggers, cravings, relapse, and root trauma.
- Learn specialized EMDR protocols for addiction (DeTUR, FSAP, Knipe’s techniques).
- Apply practical skills:
- Preparation/resourcing for distress tolerance
- Targeted trauma reprocessing
- Future templates and relapse prevention
- Working with shame and spiritual trauma
- Try the new Buzzkill™ protocol -an EMDR innovation for rapid craving reduction, developed by Gerard Ilaria.
- Support clients in integrating 12-step engagement and building peer/community connection.
Schedule - Central Time
- 10:00 am - 10:10 am: Welcome, objectives, and presenter introduction
- 10:10 am - 11:00 am: Introduction to addiction, trauma, and EMDR fundamentals
- 11:00 am - 11:10 am: Break
- 11:10 am - 12:10 pm: Addiction neurobiology and EMDR Phase 1–2 resourcing foundations
- 12:10 pm - 12:20 pm: Break
- 12:20 pm - 1:20 pm: Resourcing techniques and addiction-specific EMDR protocols
- 1:20 pm - 1:30 pm: Break
- 1:30 pm - 2:15 pm: Future template and Buzzkill™ protocol for behavior change
- 2:15 pm - 2:30 pm: Wrap-up, key takeaways, and Q&A
Learning Objectives
- Describe and apply EMDR resource interventions for substance use and compulsive behaviors.
- Identify and categorize EMDR resourcing strategies based on treatment stage and clinical goals.
- Analyze when to use reprocessing versus resource installation to support addiction recovery.
- Analyze reprocessing techniques for working with cravings and urges.
About Your Trainer, Gerard Ilaria, LCSW-R
Gerard Ilaria, LCSW-R has treated trauma for 35 years, beginning in the HIV/AIDS epidemic, then with combat veterans with PTSD and most recently with cross addicted members of the LGBTQ+ community. He is EMDRIA certified and has taught EMDR at NYC's Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, and presented in 2023 at EMDR Canada, the EMDRIA 2024 virtual conference and taught in May 2025 an EMDR Intensive for PESI in Uluru, Australia.
Gerard trained at Columbia University undergrad and received a Master's in Social Work from Columbia's School of Social Work. He was the director of the AIDS Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital and was the clinical director at Weill Cornell Medicine's Center for Trauma and Addiction, Cornell medical school's EMDR trauma treatment practice. He is currently the President of Bilateral Health, LLC, www.bilateralhealth.com.
