If you have been searching for an EMDR therapist Edmonton has to offer, you have probably found a long list of names and very little that tells you how to choose between them. That is a hard way to pick someone you are going to talk to about the hardest thing that ever happened to you.
I am Carly Colasimone, a Registered Psychologist in Alberta. I use EMDR in my work, so I have an obvious interest in you booking with me. I am going to write this the way I would say it to you over coffee anyway. If you read this and book with somebody else, that is a fine outcome.
This is not a post about what EMDR is or how the sets work. That lives on my EMDR therapy page. This one is about choosing the person.
Start with the registration, not the letters
In Alberta, psychologist is a protected title. Anyone using it has to be registered with the College of Alberta Psychologists. You will also see counsellor, coach, trauma practitioner and EMDR practitioner used to describe this kind of work. Different titles carry different registrations, different training routes and different complaint processes.
So find out what the person actually is before anything else. Registered Psychologist. Registered Provisional Psychologist. Canadian Certified Counsellor. Registered Social Worker. None of them is a trick. You simply deserve to know which one you are hiring.
How to check the register yourself
You do not have to take anyone's word for this, mine included. The College of Alberta Psychologists keeps a public register. You type in a name and it tells you whether that person holds current registration and whether any conditions sit on their practice.
It takes about a minute. My registration number is 8423, if you want to try it on me first.
Two caveats. A well trained therapist may sit under a different regulator entirely, so an empty result on one register proves nothing by itself. And registration tells you someone is qualified and accountable. It does not tell you they are right for you. That is the next question.
What to ask about EMDR training
Training routes for EMDR vary, and so do the words therapists use to describe them. That is hard to rank from a website, and you do not have to try. Ask instead.
Ask where the training was done and what it involved. Ask how often the therapist uses EMDR now, not only where they trained. Ask whether there is ongoing consultation sitting behind the work.
Here is the part that is easy to miss. Training is a floor, not a ranking. You are entitled to a plain answer to all three of those questions, and you are entitled to ask again if the first answer does not land.
Questions worth asking on a first call
A short free call before you book anything is a reasonable thing to ask for. Mine is free and 15 minutes. It is not an assessment and it is not a session. It is a fit conversation, and you are the one doing the interviewing.
Here is what I would ask if I were the one calling.
What is your experience with what I am bringing you? Be specific about your situation and listen for whether the answer comes back specific.
How do you decide whether EMDR is even the right approach for me? In my practice, history, current stability, outside support and grounding work all come before any processing begins.
What does a session look like, start to finish? You are allowed to know what you are walking into.
What happens if I get overwhelmed partway through? Ask this one out loud. The answer tells you how a therapist thinks about pacing and control. In my room you can stop at any point, and I go over how to stop before anything begins.
What do you charge, and how does the money work? Mine is $220 for a 50 minute session and $330 for an 80 minute session. I keep a sliding scale, and you can ask for it without explaining yourself. I do not offer direct billing. I cannot tell you what your plan will pay back, because I have not read your policy. Ask your insurer directly.
Where are you, and can you see me by video? Practical, but it settles a lot. My office is at 9811 34 Ave. NW in Edmonton, inside Chiropractic Plus & Wellness, with parking on site. I also work by video anywhere in Alberta, so Calgary or a town down the highway makes no difference at my end. I see adults only.
Fit matters more than technique
Here is the thing it took me a while to say out loud. The method matters less than the relationship it happens inside.
You are going to be asked to move toward memories you have spent years steering around. That takes trust, and trust is not something you can read off a credential list. It is what you notice in your own body during the first few minutes of a first call. You already know how to read that. The hard part is acting on it.
Notice whether you feel talked at or talked with. Notice whether you find yourself softening the truth to keep the therapist comfortable. If you tend to manage everyone else's feelings before your own, that habit will walk into the therapy room and sit down beside you. It is worth naming out loud early. I wrote more about that pattern in my article on people pleasing, and it sits at the centre of my Speak Up Skills work. There is more on assertiveness and boundaries in my resources library.
You are allowed to say the fit is not right without building a case for it. You do not owe a therapist a relationship.
What you are entitled to ask for
None of this is a test you are running on a person. It is a short list of things you can reasonably expect for yourself, from me or from anyone you call.
You are entitled to a clear answer about money and cancellations. Ask before you book, and ask again if any of it is still fuzzy.
You are entitled to ask why this approach, and why now, and to understand the answer. Not the textbook version. The one that makes sense to you.
You are entitled to ask what else is on the table. EMDR is a tool. So is CBT. Neither is a personality, and neither suits every person. I work with CBT, client centred therapy and EMDR, and which one leads depends on you.
You are entitled to hear that nobody can promise you an outcome. Nobody can tell you how many sessions this will take or what will be true at the end of them.
You are entitled to feel met rather than handled. Trust that. You do not need to justify it, including to yourself.
You are entitled to ask hard questions and to notice how you feel afterwards. What you feel in the quiet after the call is worth as much as anything written on a website.
You are entitled to a practical match. Hours, city, price, age range. If the practical facts do not line up, that is a real mismatch and not a failure on your part.
You are entitled to change your mind after one session, and to say so plainly.
And one thing that is specific to me. I work with adults, and my focus is assertiveness, boundaries and people pleasing. If you are looking for someone for a child, for a court ordered assessment, for eating disorder or addiction treatment, or for anything outside what I offer, I am not the right fit, and I would rather tell you that in minute three of a phone call than in month three of therapy. You can see the approaches I use on my approaches page.
If right now is hard, do not wait for the search
If things are difficult while you are still shortlisting therapists, please do not let the search be your plan.
- Distress Line: 780-482-4357
- 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline, any time
- 911 if you or someone else is in immediate danger
There is more on my crisis support page. Booking a first appointment is not a safety plan, and neither is anybody's voicemail.
How to actually run your search
Make a shortlist of three names. Check each one on the register. Ask each of them for a consultation, not only the first one who picks up. Then choose the person you felt easiest talking to, rather than the one with the longest list of credentials.
If you want that call with me, the consultation is free and 15 minutes. Call 780-952-0091, email colasimonecounselling@gmail.com, or send a note through my contact page. If you want the detail on the therapy itself before you speak to anybody, my EMDR therapy page walks through what a session involves, and my about page tells you who you would be sitting with.
And if you do all of this and pick somebody else, good. The point was never that it be me. The point is that you choose on purpose, with your eyes open, instead of booking whoever came up first.