The FLASH Technique
Making intense trauma memories more accessible for EMDR Processing

Developed in mid- 2016, this technique is used during the preparation phase of EMDR, and allows clients to reduce the disturbance associated with extremely painful memories without actually feeling the pain. Defenses that are normally obstacles to processing are not activated because the process is not threatening or painful. Clients who dissociate have less need to dissociate and those who are afraid of the intensity of their memories can process without being afraid. Dramatic reductions in disturbance happen often in 5 to ten minutes. And, for clinicians, this technique is easy to learn and use.

A paper describing four cases utilizing flash has been published in the November 2017 issue of the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research.

Upcoming Trainings



Flash Technique Webinar

Presented by Philip Manfield, Ph.D. and Lewis Engel, Ph.D.

April 6th, 2019

9:00am - 4:30 pm PST

We have designed this intensive six-hour webinar to provide the basic skills that will allow attendees to immediately begin using the Flash Technique in their own clinical practices.

The webinar is a multimodal experience including:

  • Videos of Flash Technique sessions
  • Live demonstrations with volunteer attendees
  • Group practicums in which all attendees experience the Flash Technique
  • Troubleshooting instructions
  • Q & A, both written and live
  • Review of research that supports and explains Flash Technique

Upon completion of the webinar, you will have:

  • A wealth of downloadable documents to reference what you have learned.
  • The opportunity to join a lively, supportive Listserv of over 600 Flash practitioners to help you continue to learn and improve your Flash skills.

This format has allowed us to successfully train over 3300 therapists, worldwide over the past year, in the use of the Flash Technique. Here are some of their comments:

"Terrific. Very positive experience!"
"Super exciting and easy to implement."
"Excited to use with my clients."
"You all were fun to watch together. Your friendship is very sweet and your humor with each other made a long day pass quickly."

Advanced Flash Webinar

presented by Philip Manfield, Ph.D. and Lewis Engel, Ph.D.

April 27th, 2019

9:00 - noon PST

This is an opportunity to improve your skills at doing the flash technique. Dr. Lewis Engel and I began teaching flash in October of 2017, and we are excited about how the technique has evolved and improved over that time. If you took one of our first webinars, we hope you have been pleasantly surprised at what you have been able to accomplish with it. But we also understand that you have probably run into some problems using the flash technique. Now that you have had experience working with it, we hope you can share the problems with us, and we hope to be able to offer some satisfying solutions. You will also be happy to know that Flash has become easier to use and results are now generally achieved more rapidly. We look forward to bringing you up to speed on these advances.


Thousands of providers have been trained in the Flash Technique, all over the world!

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