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Cannabis-Based EMDR Announcements and Updates

ByAdam O’Brien PhD

EMDR and Cannabis: Advanced Topics and Refresher Course

Ready to bring Cannabis-Informed EMDR into your healing practice?

Want to learn how to use EMDR with Cannabis to help promote emotional regulation, mental wellness, reduce stress, support healing and recovery, and create a meditation practice that helps bring peace to the unconscious mind?

EMDR and Dissociative Cannabis offers a wonderful opportunity to blend ancient practices with modern science. With the legalization of cannabis products in many states and CBD being federally legal, WHI is offering our dissociation-informed and recovery-inspired training program (Path of the Wounded Healer) (O’Brien, 2023c), our research Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM) (O’Brien, 2023a), and our recovery-oriented approach (Meeting Area Screening and Assessment (MASA)(O’Brien, 2023c) to those wanting to learn more about Psychedelics Care (O’Brien, 2025a) in the field of mental health and wellness.

In this 5-Day Intensive Retreat experiential training and re-educational programming is for those looking to incorporate EMDR and Cannabis, as mindful dissociative practices, into your professional (and personal) life or client care. This training is for EMDR Healers looking to learn how to use EMDR with adaptive dissociation, cannabis products, and our research-based approaches. We utilize our recovery and healing knowledge and lived experience with dissociative and psychedelic states of healing to promote the most natural way of healing from injury.

This is a condensed version of our PWH-1 and PWH-2. 10-hours of group consultations are required for successful completion. ADM offers our case conceptualization of addiction as dissociation and our emerging PWH offers new EMDR advances (within the framework of the AIP Model) like Resetting Emotions, Addressing Toxic Shame, Intention Resourcing, EMDR Journeying, Breathwork, and Psychedelic Integration and EMDR. Participants will learn MASA, which was developed alongside our research and supports paraprofessionals and clinicians (and clients!) to identify with their dissociative and addictive profile, obtain unconscious informed consent, check unconscious biases, and lower treatment resistance. MASA, which includes Two Containers, Photo Album, and Bulk Blink offers our dissociative-informed and recovery inspired approach. WHI specializes in the topics of trauma, dissociation, addiction, chronic illness, existential stress and trauma, intergenerational trauma, moral injury, betrayal traumas, developmental trauma, navigating normative to pathological states of dissociation, and healing universal addictions.

WHI specializes in trauma and addiction recovery, posttraumatic growth, psychedelic care and integration, dissociative healing, and Neurofeedback with qEEG. As a part of our educational process, Dr. Adam shares his expertise in Brainspotting (Approved Consultant/Special or Advanced Topics Trainer), EMDR (Approved Consultant/Trainer), and Psychedelic Care (Drug Re-Educational in Addiction Memory)(DREAM) (O’Brien, 2025c).  Dr. Adam is the co-creator of ADM, developer of ADM and PWH, MASA, Applied Recovery, Moral-Ethics, and Mindful Dissociation.

*This training is not EMDRIA Approved. To hear why, please see our blogs.

WHEN: TBD

COST: *Donation-Based* *Must attend Live. $500 postproduction

Must have 10 participants to run scheduled training.

Detailed Training Outline

(for more training details see our Training Page)

EMDR and Cannabis Re-Education and Training

Day 1: Foundational EMDR Therapy (MASA, PWH, and EMDR Overview)

  • Origins of Healing and History of EMDR
    • Defining EMDR and Trauma as Dissociation
  • Fundamentals of Trauma and Perspectives on Dissociation, and Addiction
    • Dissociation-Informed and Recovery-Informed Care
    • Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM)
    • Path of the Wounded Healer (Intensive Format)
    • MASA Overview
    • Introducing Cannabis with the 3 prongs of EMDR.
  • Fundamentals of Healing and The Adaptive Information Processing Model
    • Addiction as Dissociation Model (ADM)
    • Neuro-regulation Standards and Best Practices
  • Demonstration: MASA with EMDR Therapy
  • The Adaptive Information Process (AIP) Overview (Retreat format) 5-7pm
    • Discussion: ADM and AIP Model, Methodology, & Mechanisms
    • Cannabis Basics (MASA with EMDR Therapy)

Day 2: MASA: Memory Reconsolidation and EMDR Therapy

  • Fundamentals of Dissociative Healing: Path of the Wounded Healer
    • MASA Phases 1-2: History Taking and Preparation Skills
      • Calm Place
      • Meeting Area
      • Container
      • Photo Album
      • Two Containers
      • Bulk Blink
      • Healing Light with Body Scan and Cannabis
      • Shame Shape and Color
  • Supervised Practicum
    • MASA within Dissociation-Informed Model of Care
  • MASA Unconscious Informed Consent
    • Principles of Conditioning
    • Cannabis-Infused Care 
  • Trauma Resolution and Healing Course of Care (Retreat format) 5-7pm
    • Standards of Healing Care
    • Case Conceptualization and Case Formulation
    • Protocols and Memory Sequencing
    • “Go with That.” Philosophy
  • Review

Day 3: Healing and Wellness Planning

  • Dissociative and Cannabis Fundamentals
    • Psycho-education, Emotional Regulation, Abreactions, & Interventions
  • Supervised Practicum: Shame Shape and Color with Body Scan
  • Supervised Practicum: Healing and Care Planning
    • Principles of Conditioning
    • Mindful Dissociation
    • Bulk Blink
    • MASA
    • Follow-ups and Aftercare
  • Review (Retreat format) 5-7pm PTG Gym and Spa
    • Self-Care Practicum (Self-BSP) and Cannabis use

Day 4: Special Populations and Situations

  • Advanced Work with Protocols
    • Universal Healing
    • Moral-Ethics
  • Specific Populations
    • Developmental Trauma, Normative Dissociation, Universal Addictions, & more
  • Abreactions & Dissociation
    • Best Practices and Meeting Area
  • Psych Medications and Psychedelics
    • Industry and Corporate Considerations
  • Supervised Practicum: (Retreat format) 5-7pm
    • Addiction as Dissociation Case Conceptualization Visualization

Day 5: Closure and Review

  • Supervised Practicum: Future Orientation
  • Implications for EMDR Therapy, AIP, and 3 Prongs Review
  • Case Conceptualization Moral-Ethics and The Healing Art of BSP
    • Going from Clinician to Healer
    • Consultation/Certification Review
  • Supervised Practicum: Everything else, termination, and closure.

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