Field Watch Desk
Field Watch
News about EMDR organizations, training, funding and conferences, alongside developments in policy and public health.
Browse professional news and dated updates below. Links lead to the reporting or the original source.
Coming up · Live online
EMDRIA Consultant Day: October 30
EMDRIA’s live online event is designed for consultants and consultants in training. Registration closes October 28 at noon Central. The organizer asks that only those able to attend live register.
Official event detailsNewsWatch archive
Updates on policy, public health, veteran care and technology that may affect trauma care.
- Public-health and agency movement
- VA, FDA, military, crisis, and policy signals
- Media claims, AI language, and public narratives clinicians may hear from clients
EMDR field updates
Fast, factual movement from within EMDR itself. We report the change, the practical date or boundary, and the direct source; deeper interpretation belongs in Research Watch or Analysis.
- EMDRIA, HAP, and organization updates
- Conference, training, and scholarship movement
- Evidence-review, research-capacity, and professional-boundary signals
NewsWatch archive
Earlier reporting on public health and technology.
1Veteran smoking risk language is moving in the public-health lane
The FDA and VA smoking-risk thread is a good example of what belongs in NewsWatch: it is not an EMDR evidence claim, but it is current public-health language that may matter to veteran-facing clinicians and to how risk, coping, and treatment conversations show up around trauma care.
Read the article: For Veterans Who Still Smoke, the Risk Information Should Catch Up. The companion audio is here: Podcast: EMDR, the FDA and the VA Tackle Smoking.
2AI and mental health language needs a clear clinical boundary
MQ Mental Health Research published a June 16, 2026 article written jointly with EMDRIA on AI and mental health. For Field Watch, the useful signal is the boundary: AI tools should not be confused with human clinical judgment, crisis care, privacy assurance, emotional attunement, the therapeutic relationship, or licensed psychotherapy.
The article states that AI tools and machines cannot replace a licensed clinician in delivering EMDR therapy or other evidence-based treatment.
EMDR field updates
Current research, professional-development and deadline signals. Checked October 3, 2026.
1EMDR UK opens its 2027 research-poster call
EMDR UK is accepting poster abstracts for its March 12–13, 2027 conference in London. The call welcomes research, service evaluations and clinical case series. Abstracts are limited to 300 words, excluding the title and author details, and are due October 30, 2026. Submissions undergo committee review.
2Small flashforward study reports no confirmatory benefit for social anxiety
A study of eight people with social anxiety tested EMDR targeting feared future events, often called flashforwards. Its preregistered analyses did not confirm reductions in social anxiety or avoidance. Exploratory analyses suggested possible improvement, but the findings need confirmation in larger controlled studies.
This was a replicated single-case experiment with randomized baseline lengths, not a conventional parallel-group trial. It had no active-treatment control and no long-term follow-up.
3Dutch neonatal researchers identify a question for EMDR trials
Amsterdam UMC reports substantial post-traumatic stress symptoms among parents of very premature babies and says researchers want to evaluate EMDR for this group. Parents from 217 families completed questionnaires. The report describes symptom burden; it did not test whether EMDR improved symptoms, and questionnaire screening does not establish a diagnosis.
4Advanced EMDR webinar addresses borderline personality disorder
An EMDRIA-listed live webinar on October 22–23 focuses on conceptualizing borderline personality disorder as complex trauma and adapting EMDR across the eight phases. The program is approved for 14 EMDRIA credits and requires completion of EMDR basic training. EMDRIA lists the event but does not handle registration.
Earlier coverage and closed notices
The August Our Rescue, HAP agency-scholarship and provider Impact Scholarship application windows have closed and are no longer listed as current opportunities. Earlier coverage of Germany’s PTSD guideline, the Italian integration survey, the Central Oregon access grant and the APA-guideline debate remains in the EMDRNews archive.