Phase 1 planning
EMDR target sequence plan: printable past-present-future worksheet
Use a printable EMDR target sequence plan worksheet to organize candidate past experiences, present triggers, and future situations without imposing a fixed clinical order.
By the EMDRSuite Editorial Team
Product claims checked against the current EMDRSuite code and interface.
No independent clinical reviewer is named for this guide.
A sequence plan is a working clinical map
Phase 1 history taking and treatment planning can identify potentially relevant past experiences, present triggers, and anticipated future situations. A sequence plan keeps those candidates legible while the therapist develops and revises the broader formulation.
The plan is not a queue that software should execute. New information, readiness, risk, context, response, and professional judgment can change priorities, add targets, or make an earlier assumption no longer useful.
Separate candidates from assessed targets
A brief planning entry may name a possible event or trigger without containing the full Phase 3 assessment. Keeping those layers separate prevents an early list from looking more complete than it is and avoids duplicating image, cognition, emotion, SUD, VOC, and body fields across unrelated records.
When a candidate becomes the selected target, the therapist can connect it to a dated assessment while preserving the original planning trail. That creates continuity without silently rewriting the case history.
Make revision visible and protect sensitive detail
A useful digital plan shows status, chronology, and links to relevant sessions while allowing the therapist to revise language. It should avoid placing target information in patient URLs, analytics, notification text, calendars, or ordinary support channels.
EMDRSuite is designed to organize the therapist's clinical workflow, not generate a target hierarchy. Decisions about formulation, selection, timing, readiness, and treatment remain with the appropriately trained professional.
Phase 1 planning resource
Printable EMDR target sequence plan worksheet: past, present, and future
Map candidate material without turning the page into a fixed treatment order. Revise it as formulation, readiness, risk, context, consent, and new information change.
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A candidate is not a completed Phase 3 assessment. Use minimum necessary wording and transfer only what belongs in the practice's authorized record.
Planning aid for appropriately trained professionals. It does not identify memories, rank targets, establish readiness, prescribe a sequence, assess risk, or replace case formulation, consent, consultation, supervision, and clinical judgment.
FAQ
EMDR target sequence plan worksheet
What is an EMDR target sequence plan?
It is a working clinical map that can organize potentially relevant past events, present triggers, and future situations within treatment planning.
Does past-present-future mean every case follows one fixed order?
No. It is an organizing frame, not an automatic sequence; the therapist adapts planning to the person, formulation, readiness, and context.
Is a target candidate the same as a completed assessment?
No. A candidate may be listed during planning, while a target assessment records the selected representation, cognitions, emotions, SUD, VOC, and body response.
Can software prioritize targets?
It can organize therapist-entered information but should not decide clinical priority or readiness.
References
EMDR target sequence plan: printable past-present-future worksheet
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