The End of Year Reset for EMDR Therapists
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- 19 minutes ago
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A Grounded Way to Close the Year and Prepare for 2026
The end of the year can bring a mix of emotions for EMDR clinicians. Many therapists feel stretched thin, emotionally full, and ready for a break, while also noticing the pressure to wrap up cases, complete paperwork, and prepare for the year ahead. An intentional End of Year Reset for EMDR Therapists provides the structure, clarity, and grounding needed to move into 2026 with steadiness instead of overwhelm.
This reset is not about pushing harder or achieving more. It is about slowing down long enough to reflect, reorganize, and regulate your nervous system so you can enter the new year aligned with your values, capacity, and clinical goals.
Below is a trauma informed, EMDR aligned approach to help you reflect on the year, honor what you have carried, and create a manageable plan for the next season of your work.
Why EMDR Therapists Need a Year End Reset
Trauma therapists carry emotional weight throughout the year. As the calendar closes, the nervous system often becomes overloaded by:
• Client activation during the holiday season
• End of year documentation and administrative tasks
• Emotional fatigue from holding complex cases
• Disrupted schedules
• Pressure to meet insurance or business deadlines
• Your own family and personal obligations
Without a reset, this emotional load carries into the next year, creating burnout, disorganization, and a sense of being behind before January even begins.
An End of Year Reset for EMDR Therapists helps you clear mental clutter, regulate your body, and make intentional decisions for your caseload and business.
Step 1: Reflect on Your Year With Compassion and Clarity
Reflection is not about self criticism. It is about data gathering, self awareness, and grounding.
Ask yourself:
1. What cases or clinical themes shaped my year: Were there patterns in trauma types, triggers, or pacing?
2. Where did I feel confident and regulated: Notice sessions, interactions, or interventions that felt aligned.
3. Where did I feel stretched or dysregulated: What moments created overwhelm or emotional fatigue?
4. What supported me most professionally: Consultation, resources, training, systems?
5. What did I avoid, delay, or push through: Documentation, boundaries, marketing, or supervision?
6. What do I want more or less of in 2026: Types of clients, session load, time off, workflows?
Compassionate reflection helps you understand your capacity and your growth areas without judgment.
Step 2: Regulate Your Nervous System Before Planning
Planning from a regulated state creates better decisions. Planning from urgency creates overwhelm.
Before you make any business or clinical decisions, try:
• Grounded breathing
• Bilateral tapping
• Temperature shifts (cold water, cool cloth)
• Slow stretching
• A short walk
• Sensory grounding (texture, scent, weight)
When your nervous system settles, your clarity increases.
A regulated reset creates a regulated year.
Step 3: Review Your Caseload With Intention
An End of Year Reset for EMDR Therapists must include a thoughtful caseload review. This prevents burnout and helps you set realistic expectations for January.
Review each client with:
1. Current phase of EMDR
Preparation, desensitization, reprocessing, or closure.
2. Therapy pace
Are they moving too fast, too slow, or just right?
3. Level of activation
Are holiday triggers increasing dysregulation?
4. Clinical fit
Do you have the right skills and bandwidth?
5. Scheduling needs
Should frequency increase, decrease, or stay the same?
This review helps you prioritize support, adjust pacing, and protect your energy.
Step 4: Organize Your Business Workflows
End of year organization prevents January overwhelm.
Consider addressing:
• Documentation backlogs: Complete or schedule time to complete notes.
• Billing and financial tracking: Reconcile sessions, send invoices, update systems.
• Email and communication boundaries: Create templates for closures, reminders, or rescheduling.
• Website and marketing updates: Refresh your availability, specialties, or service descriptions.
• Policies and informed consent forms: Review for clarity, alignment, and legal consistency.
Organization stabilizes your business so your clinical work can stay grounded.
Step 5: Create Your 2026 Caseload Plan
This is not about productivity. It is about sustainability.
Ask yourself:
• How many clients can I hold emotionally each week
• What types of clients energize me
• What clinical skills do I want to deepen
• What trainings or consultation spaces do I need
• How much time off do I want to build in
• What schedule feels realistic for my nervous system
Let your body guide your blueprint.
A regulated caseload is a clinically effective caseload.
Step 6: Release What Is No Longer Serving You
To reset means to let go.
Consider releasing:
• Overcommitment
• Outdated workflows
• Relationships that drain your energy
• Perfectionism• Fear based decision making
• The belief that you must do everything alone
Your future practice needs space. Clearing what no longer fits is an act of care.
Common Mistakes Therapists Make During Year End Planning
Mistake 1: Planning while dysregulated
This creates unrealistic goals and pressure.
Mistake 2: Ignoring their own emotional capacity
Your nervous system matters as much as your clients’ nervous systems.
Mistake 3: Setting goals based on fear
Scarcity based decisions drain long term energy.
Mistake 4: Trying to overhaul everything at once
Sustainable change happens gradually.
Mistake 5: Avoiding reflection because it feels overwhelming
Reflection is information, not judgment.
Introducing Dana Carretta Stein, LMHC
Dana Carretta-Stein, LMHC is an EMDRIA Consultant in Training, EMDR therapist, and founder of The EMDR Coach. Known for her warm, direct, neuroscience informed approach, Dana supports therapists in building confidence, deepening EMDR skills, and creating sustainable practices that honor their well being.
About The EMDR Coach
The EMDR Coach provides consultation, resources, and clinical tools that help EMDR therapists build confidence and clarity. Every resource is rooted in trauma informed care, nervous system awareness, and real world clinical experience.
Explore Tools & Resources:
📚 Check out my blogs at The EMDR Coach, where I break down EMDR concepts, trauma education, and practical healing strategies you can start today.
Product Highlight: EMDR Therapy Progress Journal
The EMDR Therapy Progress Journal helps clients track symptoms, reflect on sessions, and stay connected to their healing between appointments. This is especially useful during end of year transitions when activation increases and schedules shift.
A Safe Space for Therapy Seekers
If you are reading this as someone looking for therapy rather than therapist resources, Peaceful Living Mental Health Counseling (PLMHC) offers compassionate, evidence based support for children, teens, and adults. We specialize in EMDR, trauma recovery, anxiety, and emotional regulation. Sessions are available in person in Scarsdale and virtually across NY, NJ, CT, and FL.
Our approach centers on safety, collaboration, and the belief that healing happens when you feel understood. Nothing is wrong with you. Something happened to you, and with the right support, healing is possible.
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