The Evolution of EMDR: A Fireside Chat with Roy Kiessling and Paula Marucci

In this fireside chat, Paula Marucci (EMDR Chicago) sits down with Roy Kiessling (founder of EMDR Consulting) to trace how EMDR has evolved from Francine Shapiro's original single-incident, first-worst-most-recent protocol in the early 1990s into the flexible, neurologically-informed approach clinicians use with complex clients today.

Roy shares firsthand history from his time as an EMDR Institute facilitator and trainer starting in 1995, his work on international trainings with UNICEF in Bangladesh, moderating the early EMDR Institute discussion list, and developing the Belief-Focused Target Sequence Plan and Processing Continuum that are now central to EMDR Consulting's basic training.

Topics covered include:

- The shift from single-incident PTSD treatment to case formulation for complex and developmental trauma

- The Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model and how neural networks (frozen vs. isolated) shape treatment planning

- Belief-focused vs. target-specific approaches, and Jim Knipe's blocking belief worksheet

- The Processing Continuum: standard EMDR, EMDR contained (EMDr), and EMD, and how to titrate stimulation for dysregulated or dissociative clients

- CID (a free self-use desensitization tool), Scribbling It Out, and Rescript & Rehearse

- Window of tolerance through a polyvagal lens, memory reconsolidation, and the Flash Technique

- Working with parts, cultural responsiveness, and integrating EMDR alongside other modalities

Presented by EMDR Chicago and EMDR Consulting.