Skip to main content
If you run EMDR, Rivet includes four worksheets that match the structure of Shapiro’s 8-phase protocol. They live alongside the EMDR Workspace (the bilateral-stimulation surface) and capture the clinical content you’d otherwise write longhand into a session note. These pages are about the templates — the structured forms. The bilateral stimulation itself — visual, auditory, speed controls, the dual-task prompts — is documented in the EMDR section.
The EMDR templates and the EMDR Workspace are separate surfaces by design. You open a worksheet when you want to capture clinical content (the calm place description, the container’s properties, the body scan, the future rehearsal). You open the Workspace when you want to run BLS. Most processing sessions use both — the worksheet captures what was installed, the Workspace runs the installation.

​
The four templates

Calm place

Phase 2 resource installation. Identify a calm or safe place, build sensory detail, attach a cue word, install with BLS, test self-cuing. The foundational Phase 2 prep tool.

Container

Phase 2 resource installation. Design a strong, sealable, openable container for distressing material between sessions. Closure tool at the end of every processing session.

Body scan

Phase 6 body-focused scan. Performed after VOC reaches 7 and SUDS reaches 0. Catches residual disturbance the cognitive work left behind.

Future template

Phase 8 future-rehearsal installation. The third prong of past → present → future. Installs adaptive behavior for an anticipated situation.

​
How the templates map to Shapiro’s 8 phases

Phases 4 and 5 don’t have a dedicated worksheet because the clinical work is the BLS itself — you run the sets in the Workspace and capture VOC and SUDS as you go. The Body scan and Future template worksheets pick up at the points where the structured clinical content is back in scope.

​
When the calm place and container do double duty

Both Phase 2 resources are used outside Phase 2. The calm place is the go-to closure tool when a processing session runs out of time before the target is desensitized. The container is the standard closure step at the end of every processing session — it gives the client a place to put whatever surfaced and didn’t finish. You don’t need a separate template instance for the closure use. Open the worksheet that was used to install the resource originally, review the cue word and the install record, and run the closure conversation from there. The Workspace handles the BLS.

​
How to find the EMDR templates

The four EMDR templates appear in the templates picker under EMDR. In a video session, open them from the top-right corner (Clinical templates ▾); outside a session, from the client’s record. To send the calm place worksheet to a client ahead of a session — so they can fill in the sensory detail before you sit down together — use the Send form option from the client’s contact. Container and body scan are practitioner-administered; the future template is collaborative.

​
Citations

The four templates are modeled on:
  • Shapiro, F. (1995, 2001, 2018). Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures. Guilford Press.
  • Daniels, N. — calm/safe place protocol attribution (Shapiro 1995, Phase 2).
  • Wildwind, L. (1998). Container protocol attribution.
  • Murray, K. (2011). “Container.” Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 5(1): 29–32.
Rivet uses its own field labels — the clinical method is published and in widespread use, the specific Shapiro scripts are not reproduced. The templates are designed for EMDR-trained clinicians; Rivet doesn’t provide EMDR training.

The EMDR Workspace

The bilateral-stimulation surface. Visual + auditory BLS, speed cap, safety controls.

The 8-phase protocol

What each phase does and how Rivet’s surfaces align with it.