Caroline Burrows Consulting & Training

Caroline Burrows Consulting & Training Providing innovative EMDR training and consultation services to mental health therapists across Australia and abroad.

02/09/2026

I’ve found that parts-based ideas can offer a helpful way to think about moments when EMDR processing becomes stuck.

Instead of immediately trying to get things moving again, I’m often more curious about what the stuck point might be communicating and whether a protective response is showing up.

As you think about your own EMDR work, are there any parts-based strategies you’d like to use more intentionally when processing becomes stuck?

I’m so humbled and thrilled to have been invited as a keynote speaker at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of...
01/09/2026

I’m so humbled and thrilled to have been invited as a keynote speaker at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Psychotherapy 2026 Conference in Melbourne.

My keynote is titled:

“When the protocol meets the person: What EMDR can teach us about trauma and psychotherapy”

I’ll be speaking with psychiatrists and other medical professionals about EMDR therapy, trauma, and something I care deeply about in my work, humanising trauma psychotherapy.

“Human first, therapist second, EMDR therapist third” is a principle that has shaped so much of my teaching and clinical thinking. For me, good EMDR therapy is never simply about following a protocol. It’s about staying connected to the person in front of us, while bringing together evidence-based practice, clinical judgement, flexibility, curiosity, and genuine human connection.

Trauma and relational wounding are experiential, and I believe healing needs to be experiential too. The therapeutic relationship can offer clients an opportunity to experience safety, attunement, trust, and connection in ways that may have been missing or disrupted before.

There are certainly worse places to spend two days talking about EMDR. 🌊 My upcoming EMDR for Attachment Trauma workshop...
31/08/2026

There are certainly worse places to spend two days talking about EMDR. 🌊

My upcoming EMDR for Attachment Trauma workshop will be held at the City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club, right at City Beach.

I'm particularly pleased to finally be bringing this workshop west after hearing from WA therapists who have been asking when I'd make it to Perth.

And if you're travelling from regional WA or interstate, the beachside location isn't a bad excuse to add a little Perth time either side of the workshop.

📅 21–22 September 2026
📍 City Beach, Perth
👥 Face-to-face advanced EMDR training

I don't currently have another Perth delivery of this workshop scheduled.

Click the link in the comments to learn more.

What happens when the very things we offer in therapy can feel threatening? Warmth, empathy, validation, attunement and ...
31/08/2026

What happens when the very things we offer in therapy can feel threatening?

Warmth, empathy, validation, attunement and connection may be deeply longed for, while also activating discomfort or protective responses.

A client may want to trust their therapist, while other parts of them remain wary of what this closeness could mean.

They may worry about becoming dependent, being disappointed, feeling exposed or eventually losing the relationship. They may deflect warmth, minimise their needs or pull away as therapy becomes more connected.

Rather than asking only, “Why are they pulling away?”, we might also become curious about, “What could this closeness be activating?”

Recognising this pattern can help us respond with greater understanding and work at a pace that allows trust and connection to develop gradually.

Kate Formston and I will explore these patterns, and their implications for trauma therapy, in a live webinar on 28 October:

When Feeling Better Feels Unsafe:
Recognising and Working with Positive Affect Intolerance

Wednesday 28 October 2026
6–9pm AEDT
Live online via Zoom
$215 including GST

Ongoing access to the recording, slides and accompanying resources is included.

Find out more: https://loom.ly/U4Pl-00

These sparkly shoes still make me ridiculously happy.They do not come out every day, but when they do, they bring a bit ...
30/08/2026

These sparkly shoes still make me ridiculously happy.

They do not come out every day, but when they do, they bring a bit of fun with them. There is something about glittery shoes that makes an ordinary day feel more playful.

My ADHD brain is often very ready to move on to the next shiny thing, sometimes quite literally. But these have stayed firmly in the favourites category, which is proof that some shiny things keep their sparkle.

What is something you have loved for years that still gives you a little boost?

One of the challenges of working with attachment trauma in EMDR is that the history may not organise itself neatly aroun...
28/08/2026

One of the challenges of working with attachment trauma in EMDR is that the history may not organise itself neatly around one obvious target.

There may be repeated experiences rather than a single event.

Some material may be implicit or pre-verbal.

And sometimes the most significant developmental experience is an absence - not receiving comfort, protection, attunement or care when it was needed.

This can require us to think carefully about how we formulate the case and identify useful targets while remaining grounded in the EMDR model.

It's one of the reasons advanced EMDR work involves more than simply knowing the steps of the standard protocol. It also asks us to think clinically about the person sitting in front of us.

I'll be exploring this in much greater depth during EMDR for Attachment Trauma in Perth this September. Click the link in the comments to find out more.

“What do you notice now?” is probably one of the most frequently used questions in EMDR therapy.It is intentionally open...
28/08/2026

“What do you notice now?” is probably one of the most frequently used questions in EMDR therapy.

It is intentionally open, which can support spontaneous processing. For some clients, though, the question is so open that they do not know where to begin.

They may wonder whether they should report a thought, an emotion, a body sensation, a new memory or a change in distress. The cognitive effort involved in interpreting the question can interrupt their connection with the target.

A little more structure may help:

“Is the memory more distressing, less distressing or about the same?”
“Do you notice any thoughts, feelings or body sensations right now?”
“What feels most noticeable since the last set?”
“Are you still connected to the memory?”

For clients who become distracted or move quickly into tangential material, returning to the target memory more regularly during Phase 4 can also provide a useful anchor.

Specific prompts do not need to direct the client towards a particular response. They can simply make the task clearer.

This is one of the places where fidelity and flexibility sit alongside each other. We can preserve the purpose of the prompt while adjusting the wording to suit the person in front of us.

Which Phase 4 prompt do you find yourself adapting most often?

Add your preferred prompt in the comments so other therapists can expand their options.

Small adaptations can reduce confusion and help clients engage more fully in the EMDR process. Stay curious about what s...
26/08/2026

Small adaptations can reduce confusion and help clients engage more fully in the EMDR process. Stay curious about what supports engagement, and keep checking in because preferences can change over time.

Sometimes it's the smallest adjustments that make the biggest difference: asking a different question, using a visual SUD or VoC scale, slowing the pace of bilateral stimulation, or using sensory supports.

What is positive affect intolerance? We tend to think of joy, hope, pride, self-compassion, safety and connection as pos...
25/08/2026

What is positive affect intolerance?

We tend to think of joy, hope, pride, self-compassion, safety and connection as positive experiences.

But these experiences do not necessarily feel positive or safe to everyone.

🍃 Safety can feel unfamiliar.
🍃 Care can feel exposing.
🍃 Hope can feel risky.
🍃 Connection can bring vulnerability.

For some clients, positive emotional experiences have become associated with criticism, rejection, disappointment, punishment or loss. Feeling good may create an expectation that something bad will follow. Being visible may bring shame. Receiving care may activate mistrust or fear of dependence.

This is sometimes described as positive affect intolerance.

It can help us understand why a client might deflect a compliment, minimise an achievement, become uncomfortable with self-compassion or pull away just as therapy begins to feel safer.

Kate Formston and I will be exploring this in greater depth in:

When Feeling Better Feels Unsafe:
Recognising and Working with Positive Affect Intolerance

Wednesday 28 October 2026
6–9pm AEDT
Live online via Zoom
$215 including GST

Ongoing access to the recording, slides and accompanying resources is included.

Learn more and register: https://loom.ly/U4Pl-00

If you've been considering joining me in Perth for EMDR for Attachment Trauma, the early-bird registration period is abo...
23/08/2026

If you've been considering joining me in Perth for EMDR for Attachment Trauma, the early-bird registration period is about to close.

This two-day face-to-face workshop explores some of the complexities that can arise when using EMDR with attachment wounds and developmental trauma, including:

🍃 attachment-focused case formulation and target selection
🍃 parts and attachment-based defences
🍃 developmental and attachment-focused resourcing
🍃 adaptations to the standard EMDR protocol
🍃 attachment-based interweaves for blocked processing

📍 City Beach, Perth
📅 21–22 September 2026
🎟 Early bird: $650 incl. GST
Standard fee: $690 incl. GST

You can find the full workshop details and registration information via the link. https://loom.ly/I6aw8eg

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Melbourne, VIC

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+61434212696

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