IEMT Standards in Practice – The British Board of Integral Eye Movement Therapy (IEMT)

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

How the published IEMT standards translate into observable practice, informed decisions and clear records.

An explanatory guide to the Association’s existing requirements. The current published policies remain the authoritative source.

Competence is demonstrated in the work

Competent practice combines knowledge of IEMT with the ability to apply it accurately, recognise limits and respond appropriately to the person present. A certificate records an assessment at a particular point. Continuing competence is evident in the practitioner’s decisions, delivery, records and review.

The standards apply across a session: establishing whether the work is appropriate, eliciting the relevant experience, using the procedure within competence, and checking the response. Professional judgement remains necessary at every stage.

Assess the issue and suitability, elicit the relevant pattern, apply the relevant procedure, and review the response. Review informs whether to continue, change the target, stop or refer. — The Association’s four-part process: assess, elicit, apply and review.

Before the procedure

The practitioner establishes what the client wants help with and whether the proposed work falls within their training, wider qualifications and insured scope. A broad presenting label does not establish suitability or identify the experience to be worked with.

Consent includes an understandable explanation of the practitioner’s role, the proposed process, evidence limitations, possible discomfort, fees, confidentiality and the route for concerns. The client must have an opportunity to ask questions and can decline or stop.

Practice question	Evidence in practice
What is the client seeking?	A clear account of the client’s own concern and desired change.
Why is this work appropriate?	A recorded judgement about scope, suitability and any information or advice needed.
What has the client agreed to?	An explanation and consent appropriate to the proposed work, including any later change of plan.

During elicitation and eye movements

Elicitation establishes the client’s experience without supplying the answer. The practitioner distinguishes a feeling, a remembered occasion, an anticipated event and a self-reference. These do not become interchangeable because they occur in the same conversation.

Technical accuracy includes the procedure taught, the focus of attention, movement path and the client’s ability to track comfortably. A change of procedure or material adaptation requires a reason that the practitioner can explain.

The Association’s standards require stopping eye movements if consent is withdrawn, tracking is lost, significant distress occurs, or the person reports pain, visual disturbance, dizziness, nausea or another concerning symptom. The next decision follows assessment of what has happened.

Illustration: a tracking difficulty

If the client loses the movement target, the relevant observation is that tracking has been lost. It does not establish that the client is resisting change. The immediate task is to stop and establish what the person is experiencing.

Review without prescribing the answer

Retesting returns to the experience that was elicited. In the kinaesthetic pattern, the memory is revisited first and the original feeling second. A different emotion is recorded as a different response, rather than automatically being counted as a reduction in the first emotion.

Improvement, no change, mixed change and deterioration are all reportable outcomes. The practitioner’s expectations must not determine which answers are accepted. Uncertainty can be recorded directly.

Record	Keep distinct
Client report	What the person says they experience, using their language where useful.
Practitioner observation	What was directly observed during the work.
Interpretation	The practitioner’s provisional understanding and its basis.
Decision	What happens next and why: review, adaptation, supervision, referral or ending the work.

Continuing professional responsibility

The same standards apply to remote work. The practitioner needs adequate observation of tracking, a suitable setting and arrangements for interruption or loss of connection. Suitability is reviewed throughout the work.

Supervision and continuing development support decisions at the limits of competence. The current standards set out requirements for CPD, insurance, professional standing and responding to concerns. Practitioners should use the current online documents when checking those obligations.

The examples on this page illustrate existing requirements. They do not create additional certification rules or replace the published standards.