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Robin Shapiro

About my Consulting Practice

I’ve doing therapy since1980. Since 1993, I’ve had the pleasure and excitement of doing EMDR. Both EMDR and I have grown immensely in our ability to respond to different clients in an effective manner. I’ve been to many regional and international conferences, presenting at a few. I’ve been consulting about EMDR since 2000. At this moment, I have 6 monthly consultation groups going, and several individual consultees.

Each group contains 3 or 4 people. Each consultee receives 30 minutes of consultation. A three-person group lasts for an hour and a half. About half of my consultees are working towards EMDRIA certification. For them, they may count "their" half hour as individual consultation, and others’ time as group consultation time. If they come to 20 groups, they end up with 10 hours of individual consultation time and 20 to 25 hours of group. I’m currently working with 3 consultants-in-training. Each person pays ½ of my hourly fee. At present, each consultee pays $63 for a 1 ½ to 2-hour group. Participants make a six-month commitment to the group. When a participants misses a group, they pay for it and the other group members use their time.

Individual Consultation

Individual consultation, in-person, for locals, and by phone, for out-of-towners costs $130 for sixty minutes. There’s a twenty-minute minimum for phone calls. Most people schedule regular appointments. On occasion, I do emergency consultations for ongoing or former consultees.

Content

The majority of most groups consist of case consultation with an EMDR focus. Sometimes, people may ask general questions about EMDR for different diagnoses, or issues. For example, "How do you use EMDR with OCD?" or "Tell us about that Level of Urge to Avoid protocol." At that point, I’ll lecture about requested protocols or diagnoses. If appropriate, I’ll do a demonstration of a protocol. Sometimes, the whole group will practice an unfamiliar protocol. Occasionally a consultee is not clear about the standard protocol. I will refer them to the training materials then coach them through a session or two in the group until I’m sure that they’ve nailed it. When countertransference issues arise, I often use the standard protocol, with a float-back, on the consultees. EMDR has worked every time to alleviate the distress of the consultant, and to bring clarity to her work.

Case Consultation

In my groups, there is a strong emphasis on the preparation phase of EMDR. Consultees are requested to report the history, current circumstances, suspected diagnosis, level of connection to the therapist, and affect tolerance level of each client. If any of the above information is unclear, we figure it out before going on to the discussion of EMDR protocols. As one of my consultants-in-training said, "Some people use the standard protocol as a hammer, before they know if they have a nail to hit." At times, the only standard-protocol related discussion is, "Your client is so not ready for trauma-processing." We then discuss appropriate preparations for the standard protocol. Topics include resource development, John Omaha’s Affect Tolerance Skills Training, ego-state work, attunement, and general teaching about a specific diagnosis. Consultees are often referred to a book or conference tape about their client’s issue. (Favorite sources include Manfield’s Split Self/Split Object , Kiessling and Twombly’s chapters in EMDR Solutions: Pathways to Healing. Aron’s The Highly Sensitive Person, Schnarch’s Passionate Marriage, Marcia Whisman’s presentations about OCD, and any number of EMDR-specific books.)

As people discuss using the standard protocol, sometimes the suggestion of shorter sets, or a slightly modified protocol or interweave, can work wonders. More often, I find myself referring to the other Shapiro’s standard protocol. "It seems that you left out about half the protocol. What were you thinking?" With baby EMDR therapists, and some more experienced ones, they are often directed back to the source. "It works! It’s brilliant and inclusive! Do it!" I discuss modifications to the protocol for specific clients or diagnoses.

Levels of Expertise

Most of my consultees have completed a Level II training. Some have been doing EMDR nearly as long as I have and some are new to EMDR. In my experience, therapists who understand attunement, containment, personality structures, and more than one model of therapy appear to have an easy time with EMDR. To help people become good EMDR therapists I sometimes help them become good therapists. I teach attunement skills, diagnostics, self-regulating skills (for the therapists as well as for their clients), and general clinical discernment.

I try to have people with similar levels of expertise in the same group. Some of the groups are mixed, and still work. In one group, are three experienced therapists with several DID clients each. The fourth member is a fairly new therapist, who is working with her first borderline client.

Longevity

Consultees say that groups feel safe, containing, and deeply informative. Some people participate until they have their EMDRIA-certification. About two thirds of participants stay in groups for three years or longer.

Consultation of Consultation

I’ve graduated five EMDRIA-certified consultants. We worked on case conceptualization, ways to explain EMDR concepts and protocols, trouble-shooting group issues, and giving answers to thorny therapy problems. Consultees may or may not use my group structure, but are assisted to think through how and why they want to structure and run their consultations.

Disclosure and Rules Statement

Here’s what I hand out to my consultees:

CONSULTATION INFORMATION

GROUPS

• Because participants receive ½ hour individual consultation in each group, they receive ½ individual EMDRIA-consultation credit for their time, and ½ hour group consultation credit for each other person in the group. (EMDRIA requirements are 20 hours of consultation, at least 10 hours of individual and the rest in either individual or group.)
• Group fee is $62.50. Consultees pay for their group time, whether or not they are present. In fairness, the groups will run for the entire paid time.
• Consultees make a 6-month commitment to attend the group.
• Any client material you hear in the group must stay in the group. Please be careful not to identify clients. When talking about clients in the group, avoid names, places of work, or other distinguishing characteristics.
• Remember that you know your client better than your consultant does. You must rely on your own clinical judgment in a session before changing the direction of therapy. Relationship and containment are key components to healing. Don’t sacrifice them to a new technique. Consultation is suggestion, not a directive.

Individual

• In-person or phone consultation is available by appointment.
• Consultation fee is $125 an hour or $2.08 a minute. There is a 20-minute minimum for phone consultation. Cancellation must be 24-hours in advance, with a $50 minimum payment for uncancelled phone consultation, and full-fee for scheduled in-person sessions.

• Please be careful not to identify clients. Avoid names, places of work, or other distinguishing characteristics.

• Remember that you know your client better than your consultant does. You must rely on your own clinical judgment in a session before changing the direction of therapy. Relationship and containment are key components to healing. Don’t sacrifice them to a new technique. Consultation is suggestion, not a directive.
  
  
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