Kristin has been serving the Nixa, Missouri and surrounding communities through All Things New Counseling since 2009

About EMDR Qualifications

EMDRIA

Choosing a therapist certified by an EMDRIA (EMDR International Association) approved program is an excellent way to ensure that they meet the standards and quality of the EMDR therapy you are seeking. EMDRIA “promotes, fosters, and preserves the highest standard of excellence and integrity in EMDR.” (EMDRIA.org) EMDRIA holds its certified providers to the highest standard of quality, and EMDRIA certification is recognized far above any alternative program by major healthcare networks in the VA and the mental / behavioral health community.

“Trained” vs “Certified”

The terms “EMDR trained” and “EMDR certified” can also be an important consideration regarding the level of training and experience an EMDR therapist has. A clinician who has completed basic training can call themselves “EMDR trained” and can ethically practice EMDR under their clinical license. However, a “certified EMDR” clinician has gone beyond basic level training and “has opted to meet standards of excellence in EMDR therapy, measured by consultation, clinical practice, and continuing education.” (EMDRIA.org)

The more I learn, the more I discover there is still to learn!

Kristin opted to pursue EMDR certification through an EMDRIA approved program because she wanted to submit herself to the highest standards and rigor of training and and accountability for her clients. Kristin did not feel that basic /level one training was adequate for the variety and complexity of circumstances that can present in therapy. Clients frequently enter therapy because they feel anxious or are having trouble coping or managing day to day life, but they don’t always recognize that their struggles may be rooted in a complex history of trauma. Complex trauma is very common in today’s world. Kristin found that Basic/level one training minimally prepared her to potentially be able to work well with clients who had a single incident trauma (an isolated event), but did not prepare her to work effectively with complex histories inclusive of attachment traumas. Because clients rarely enter counseling with awareness that complex trauma underlies their presenting issues, a clinician without further training may not be able to adequately assess or treat these clients or worse, may even be much more likely to cause them harm. With a passion to serve her clients well, Kristin is continually engaging deep-dive studies and continuing education studies into a variety of subtopics such as why and how EMDR works, the causes and effects of trauma, attachment wounds, interpersonal neurobiology, and the mind-body connection in the experience of trauma as well as healing.

Some other interesting things about me…

I am married for 29 years to a computer geek and Oregon Ducks football fan. We have raised two amazing children together. I’m an introvert and a homebody, and I can entertain myself for hours and days (and probably weeks and months). My husband says I don’t know how to be bored (it’s true). I love to work in my woods, building trails, burning leaves, and hauling rocks uphill (nature’s CrossFit) while bingeing podcasts or audio books—usually stuff related to my counseling work or the reconstruction of my once deconstructed Christian faith.

I became a counselor by accident, which is a fun story especially because of how crazy passionate I am about my counseling work.

I love the mountains and winter and snow, and I miss living in the Pacific Northwest- I’ve lived in the the rugged, wild mountains of the upper panhandle of Idaho (almost to Canada!) and I’ve lived near the Oregon coast. When I travel, I always go west and north. I just hate driving through Kansas to get to there.