1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to Association members when they describe, advertise or deliver IEMT. Practitioner, Advanced Practitioner, Trainer and Supervisor status describe IEMT training or Association roles. They do not replace any statutory title, professional registration or licence required in the practitioner’s jurisdiction.

Trainees must not represent themselves as certified. Any practice undertaken during training must be explicitly permitted by the course, appropriately supervised, insured where required, and clearly described to the person taking part.

IEMT is not a statutorily regulated profession in the United Kingdom. The Association’s register is voluntary and is not accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. Read the Voluntary Register statement.

2. The four-part scope test

Before accepting or continuing work, a practitioner must be able to answer yes to all four questions.

3. Activity within IEMT scope

Subject to the four-part test, a practitioner may use the IEMT procedures in which they are trained to work non-diagnostically with a client’s self-reported:

• present emotional responses and distress associated with particular experiences;
• memories that the client chooses to bring to the session;
• identity-related self-experience and recurring descriptions of self;
• personally defined goals for emotional change; and
• patterns discussed as practitioner heuristics, provided these are not presented as diagnoses or proven causes.

A client may use words such as anxiety, trauma, phobia or depression when describing their experience. That language does not authorise an IEMT practitioner to diagnose or advertise treatment of the corresponding condition. Members who are independently qualified to diagnose or treat must act within that separate professional scope and must not attribute its authority to an IEMT certificate.

Outcome monitoring may include the client’s goals and appropriate self-report measures. Measures must not be used to imply diagnosis, clinical validation or guaranteed effectiveness.

4. Activity outside IEMT scope

Unless separately authorised by an applicable professional qualification, practitioners must not:

• diagnose, assess or claim to treat a medical, neurological or psychiatric condition;
• advise a client to start, stop or change medication, medical treatment or mental-health care;
• present IEMT as emergency, crisis, suicide-prevention or safeguarding intervention;
• claim cure, guaranteed results, permanent change or a proven neurological mechanism;
• use a procedure they have not been trained and assessed to deliver;
• use strobe lights, flashing-light devices or other prohibited stimulation as part of IEMT;
• continue eye movements when they cause pain, visual disturbance, marked dizziness, nausea or other concerning symptoms;
• use coercive, humiliating, discriminatory or conversion practices; or
• work outside insurance, local law, employer rules or another professional code.

5. Suitability and risk screening

Before the first session, and whenever circumstances change, the practitioner must consider:

• the client’s goals, expectations and reason for seeking IEMT;
• whether the concern is within the practitioner’s competence and insurance;
• capacity to consent, communication needs and reasonable adjustments;
• eye, visual, neurological or physical factors relevant to directed eye movement;
• current distress, instability, substance use or other factors affecting safe participation;
• existing medical or mental-health care and whether coordination is necessary;
• safeguarding responsibilities and any immediate risk; and
• for remote work, privacy, technology, the client’s location jurisdiction and an appropriate interruption or emergency plan.

Urgent or high-risk situations

IEMT is not a crisis service. Do not begin or continue an IEMT procedure when immediate safety, urgent medical assessment or emergency mental-health support is the priority. Follow the law, safeguarding arrangements and emergency pathways applicable to the client’s location. Record the concern, the information considered and the action taken.

Complexity does not automatically exclude a person from all future IEMT work, but it may require a differently qualified practitioner, coordination with existing care, additional supervision, adaptation, postponement or refusal.

6. Clients receiving medical or psychiatric care

IEMT must not replace, delay or contradict existing care. Where coordination is necessary for safe practice, seek the client’s informed consent to contact the relevant professional. Share only information that is necessary and lawful.

There is no automatic requirement to contact every client’s healthcare team. Equally, a practitioner must not proceed merely because a client declines contact. If essential information or coordination cannot be obtained and the practitioner cannot work safely within scope, the work must be postponed or declined.

Consent may not be the only relevant basis for disclosure where law, safeguarding duties or protection of life applies. Practitioners must follow jurisdiction-specific requirements and document the decision.

7. Informed consent

Consent is an ongoing process, not a single signature. Before IEMT begins, provide a clear explanation of:

• the practitioner’s qualifications, role and limits;
• what the proposed procedure involves and what the client will be asked to do;
• the limited and emerging evidence base, including uncertainty about mechanisms and lasting effects;
• reasonably foreseeable discomfort, including emotional distress, eye strain, headache, dizziness or nausea;
• alternatives, including no IEMT and referral to another service;
• fees, cancellation terms, record keeping, confidentiality and its limits;
• the right to pause, decline any part, withdraw consent or end the session; and
• how to give feedback, complain or report an adverse event.

7A. Clients under 18

A child is anyone under 18. IEMT with a client under 18 is within scope only if the four-part scope test in section 2 is met and the points below are followed.

1. Competence. Be able to show that you are competent to work with this age group. This can come from training, qualifications or experience in working with children and young people, including from your other professional background, and not only from IEMT certification. Hold current safeguarding training suited to the work, and have access to supervision from someone who understands this age group.

2. Insurance. Check that your insurance covers clients under 18 and, where relevant, remote delivery. Obtain the insurer’s confirmation in writing and keep it.

3. Checks. The Association recommends a current enhanced DBS certificate (or the local equivalent outside England and Wales) where your role is eligible for one, and a basic certificate otherwise. Clients and parents may reasonably ask to see it.

4. Children under 16. There is no fixed age at which a child becomes able to consent. A child under 16 may consent for themselves if they can understand what IEMT involves, its possible effects and the alternatives, weigh them and give reasons for their choice. Judge this for each child and for this decision, before the first session, and record the questions you asked and your conclusion. The younger the child, the more carefully this must be judged. If you are in any doubt, treat the child as not able to consent.

• (a) If the child cannot consent for themselves, written consent from a person with parental responsibility is required before IEMT begins, and the child’s own agreement must also be sought. One person with parental responsibility is enough, but if another is known to object, do not proceed until it is resolved.
• (b) If a child who can consent for themselves attends without a parent, encourage and support them to involve a parent or trusted adult, but do not make this a condition. Never continue IEMT against the child’s wishes.
• (c) If a person with parental responsibility objects to treatment that a child has consented to, take advice from your supervisor and your insurer, and record your decision, before going ahead.

5. Young people aged 16 and 17. A young person aged 16 or 17 is presumed able to consent for themselves. If you doubt their capacity, follow section 4 of the Standards of Competence and the law that applies where you work. Encourage them to involve a trusted adult, and respect their decision about who is told, subject to safeguarding.

6. Adult presence. Where practicable, a parent, guardian or other responsible adult should be present or nearby. For a child under 16 with no adult present, record why. For remote sessions with a child, make sure a responsible adult is in the same building.

7. Confidentiality. Before starting, explain the limits of confidentiality in plain language to the child and, where relevant, to the parent. Agree with a child who can consent for themselves what will be shared, and record it. Do not share a young person’s information with their parents without their agreement unless the Safeguarding Policy or the law requires it.

8. Records. Record who gave consent, how competence was assessed, any insurer confirmation, and the reasons for any adult not being present. Section 9 notes that different retention rules may apply to children, so take advice on how long to keep these records.

9. Stop and refer. Stop and take advice if the child is distressed, a safeguarding concern arises, adults disagree, or the work moves outside your competence. Follow the Safeguarding Policy at all times.

In Scotland, Northern Ireland and outside the UK the rules on children’s consent differ. Check the law and your insurer’s conditions where you and the client are located.

8. Distress, deterioration and adverse events

Practitioners must actively invite feedback and must not interpret non-response or deterioration as client resistance, unwillingness or proof of a “pattern”. If distress increases, pause the procedure, assess immediate needs within competence, and arrange appropriate support or referral.

Record adverse events and significant deterioration factually. Follow the Association’s reporting requirements and cooperate with any review. Complaints, feedback and adverse-event reporting.

9. Confidentiality, data and records

• Collect only information needed for a clear, lawful purpose and provide an appropriate privacy notice.
• Keep records accurate, proportionate, secure and accessible only to authorised people.
• Explain confidentiality limits, including safeguarding, legal obligations and serious immediate risk.
• Use a documented retention schedule. The Association’s normal expectation is a minimum of five years after final contact, with retention up to seven years where justified by insurance, legal or professional requirements. Different rules may apply to children, vulnerable adults or particular jurisdictions.
• Do not promise deletion where a lawful retention obligation or defensible professional need remains.

UK data protection law does not prescribe one universal retention period. Practitioners must be able to justify their schedule. See the Information Commissioner’s Office guidance on storage limitation.

10. Competence, supervision and fitness to practise

• Maintain IEMT skills through practice, feedback, CPD and refresher training where needed.
• Use regular supervision appropriate to experience, workload, risk and complexity.
• Seek additional supervision promptly for ethical uncertainty, deterioration, boundary concerns or work near the edge of competence.
• Reduce, adapt or stop practice when health, impairment, workload, conflict or personal circumstances could affect safe judgment.
• Maintain appropriate professional indemnity and any required public liability, cyber or remote-practice cover.

11. Advertising and representation

Descriptions of IEMT must be accurate, verifiable and consistent with the current evidence. Members must not:

• borrow evidence, guideline status or professional authority from EMDR or another intervention;
• use testimonials or case reports as proof of effectiveness;
• imply statutory regulation or Professional Standards Authority accreditation;
• describe an IEMT certificate as a licence to practise psychotherapy, medicine or psychology; or
• make claims that cannot be supported by the service actually offered.

See the IEMT and EMDR comparison and the Research and Articles hub.

12. Safeguarding, complaints and compliance

Members must follow the Association’s safeguarding, complaints, disciplinary, conversion-therapy, data-protection and professional-conduct requirements, as well as all applicable local duties. Where another regulator or employer sets a higher or more specific standard, that standard also applies.

A concern about competence, conduct, advertising, records or client safety may result in investigation, interim restrictions, required remediation, suspension or removal in accordance with the Association’s procedures. Safeguarding information and complaints routes are available publicly.

Related standards

• Standards of Competence
• Voluntary Register statement
• Complaints, feedback and adverse-event reporting
• Safeguarding

This policy sets minimum Association standards. It is not legal advice and does not replace jurisdiction-specific law, insurer requirements, employer duties or another professional code.