Learn the full EMDR foundation online, then deepen the experience in Ghana through advanced training, culture, land, ancestry, and relationship. Explore Greater Accra, Asante, Central, and Eastern regions through shared learning and cultural experiences.

Begin with both online Basic Training segments, then continue the learning in Ghana through 8 additional hours of advanced training, additional consultation, and cultural immersion. The Ghana cultural preparation series helps us arrive with context. Scheduled cultural experiences, group transportation, entrance fees, and double-occupancy lodging are included.

For clinicians of the African Diaspora. The new-learner pathway includes complete online Basic Training and required consultation. The audit pathway revisits Basic didactic teaching for already-trained clinicians. The advanced-learning pathway joins Ghana without the Basic audit. 8 additional hours of advanced training and the cultural immersion are included in each Ghana pathway.

Eligibility follows EMDRIA’s Basic Training criteria. Eligibility is checked before enrollment.

Licensed professionals

Eligible clinicians include appropriately licensed medical doctors; psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurses with an MSN or higher; and licensed clinicians with a master’s degree in counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, psychiatry, social work, or a related mental health discipline.

Prelicensed professionals

Mental health clinicians with a master’s degree in counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, psychiatry, social work, or a related mental health discipline may qualify while actively pursuing full licensure through their state or provincial board and working under a licensed supervisor. This may include associate, intern, limited, provisional, temporary, or prelicensed credentials. A credential’s name alone does not establish eligibility; the degree, licensing track, and supervision must meet the criteria.

Graduate students

Students must be in a licensing-track master’s or doctoral program in counseling, marriage and family therapy, psychology, psychiatry, psychiatric nursing, social work, or a related mental health discipline, have completed core coursework, and be in practicum or internship under a fully licensed mental health supervisor. First-year graduate students are not eligible. Provide a graduate transcript, practicum or internship details, and a supervisor letter with license information and number.

A substance-use or chemical-dependency license alone does not establish eligibility.

Read EMDRIA’s complete eligibility requirements. Submit documentation to the Sankofa Healing Studio Training Team.

Already trained: audit or advanced-learning pathway

Complete an EMDRIA-approved Basic Training in its entirety before joining the advanced-learning pathway: instruction, supervised practicum, and all required consultation. Send your final Basic Training Certificate of Completion to the Sankofa Training Team. Part 1 attendance or a teaching-only attendance certificate does not establish completion.

The Basic audit revisits didactic teaching. It excludes Basic supervised practicum, does not complete unfinished Basic Training, and does not provide a new Basic completion certificate. All clinicians remain responsible for working within their license and supervision arrangements.

Preparation before Part 1

Complete the two hours of assigned pre-work in Thinkific before November 13. Read Francine Shapiro’s Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures (third edition) and EMDRIA’s Guidelines for Virtual EMDR Therapy. The Shapiro textbook is purchased separately. Course instructions explain the preparation activities and required learning assessments.

Basic Training

The full Basic pathway comprises twenty hours of instruction, twenty hours of supervised practicum, and ten hours of consultation. All are required for completion; consultation is included in the Basic pathway tuition. Breaks and meals are excluded from learning hours. The didactic audit excludes Basic practicum and does not provide new Basic completion status.

8 additional hours of advanced training

Explore African-centered approaches to EMDR, ancestral connection, and collective healing through 8 additional hours of advanced training.

Advanced learning is included in each Ghana pathway. It brings African-centered cultural grounding, relational and somatic attention, and contextual clinical reasoning into conversation with EMDR.

• Describe cultural and relational foundations while distinguishing them from established EMDR procedures.
• Use client-led inquiry to consider body, ancestry, culture, community, spirit, history, and place without imposing meaning.
• Connect context, power, responsibility, and client priorities with readiness, target selection, and phase-appropriate treatment planning.
• Consider restoration, relationship, and future-oriented work without prescribing reconciliation.

Six hours online, followed by four hours in Ghana before advanced training. See Consultation & completion below.

The audit follows the didactic teaching portions. Basic practicum is reserved for participants enrolled in full Basic Training. Consultation is scheduled separately from the five teaching days.

Ghana immersion

Travel and daily itinerary

December 26 is the departure travel day. Arrival and the start of the Ghana program are December 27. The program concludes with evening departures from Ghana on January 3, 2027.

This planned overview may shift with local coordination and group needs. Paid participants receive the full itinerary.

December 27, 2026–January 3, 2027. Plan to arrive in Ghana early on Sunday morning, December 27, 2026. For travelers departing the United States, this generally means leaving on Saturday afternoon, December 26, with overnight travel and the time difference. Check that your selected flight arrives on December 27 in the early morning. Share your flight itinerary with the team after booking; airport pickup arrangements will be coordinated as participants book their flights.

The journey brings together Greater Accra, Asante, Central, and Eastern regions, 8 additional hours of advanced training, cultural and community experiences, a Ghanaian cooking experience, and time for reflection and connection. Paid participants receive the cultural preparation dates and access details. Preparation teaching will be recorded for those unable to attend live.

Ghana uses GMT throughout the year; Ghana is five hours ahead of EST during these dates. Follow the local time on the joining itinerary for each Ghana activity.

Airport pickup details will be coordinated individually as flight itineraries are received. Group transportation covers scheduled experiences; extra nights and personal travel require separate arrangements.

Included in each Ghana pathway

• 8 additional hours of advanced training.
• The three-part Ghana cultural preparation series, with dates shared privately with paid participants and preparation recordings available if you cannot attend live.
• Ghana cultural immersion and community experiences, including a Ghanaian cooking experience.
• Double-occupancy accommodation.
• Transportation for scheduled group experiences.
• Scheduled cultural excursions and entrance fees.
• Participant learning materials and pathway-specific access in Thinkific.

Pathway-specific training

$3,333 · New to EMDR: complete online Basic Training, including required Basic consultation, plus the Ghana package.

$3,333 · Already trained, with Basic audit: online Basic didactic audit plus the Ghana package. Basic practicum is excluded. Audit participants may join cohort consultations; these do not count toward EMDR certification consultation hours.

$2,828 · Advanced learning and immersion: the Ghana package without the Basic audit.

Separate expenses

Airfare; passport and visa fees; health appointments, vaccines, and medicines; personal spending; meals outside scheduled group experiences; gratuities; travel insurance; and independent or extended travel are separate. Double occupancy does not promise a private room.

Read the travel participation agreement below before purchasing. Paid participants receive the full itinerary and lodging details.

Basic Training pathway

Required consultation schedule · Ghana Basic Training pathway

• Wednesday, November 18, 2026
• Wednesday, December 2, 2026
• Wednesday, December 16, 2026

Time for each of these three sessions:
4–6 pm EST
1–3 pm PST

These three online sessions provide six consultation hours. Complete the remaining four hours in Ghana before the advanced training, in-house on a schedule shared with participants, across separate days with no more than two consultation hours per day. All ten required Basic Training consultation hours are included in the Basic-plus-Ghana package.

All ten required Basic consultation hours are included in the $3,333 Basic-plus-Ghana package. Consultation is scheduled outside the five online teaching days; it is not part of the forty instruction and practicum hours. The three online consultation dates are listed above; joining instructions are provided in Thinkific. Contact admin@sankofahealingstudio.org about your assigned consultant, access, or a conflict.

Bring focused, de-identified questions from your actual clinical work. Attend the full scheduled meetings. A recording, a written question, or clicking a lesson complete does not establish attendance. Additional or makeup consultation carries an additional fee, disclosed before booking.

Complete Basic Training in full before participating in an advanced course for EMDRIA Credit. The team must verify instruction, supervised practicum, all ten consultation hours, and the final Basic completion certificate. Completing five consultation hours alone does not establish advanced-credit eligibility.

Audit pathway

Audit participants may join the cohort’s Basic Training consultation sessions. These sessions do not count toward EMDR certification consultation hours and do not replace unfinished Basic Training consultation.

Advanced-learning pathway and certification consultation

The advanced-learning pathway is for clinicians who have already completed Basic Training and does not include or replace unfinished Basic consultation. Additional consultation for applying the learning or pursuing certification is available by separate arrangement and for an additional fee. Agree on the consultant, format, fee, and documentation before booking.

Certification consultation is separate from Basic consultation and continuing education. It must meet the current EMDRIA criteria and be appropriately documented after Basic completion; course attendance does not guarantee certification.

Jacqui Johnson (she/her, we/us) is a somatic healing-justice art therapist, educator, trainer, and consultant, and the founder, Executive and Clinical Director of Sankofa Healing Studio in Philadelphia. Her work connects clinical knowledge with body experience, culture, creativity, relationship, and the conditions people are living within.

Her clinical and educational work spans complex trauma, race-based traumatic stress, sexual trauma, grief, perinatal mental health, incarceration and reentry, and structural oppression. She brings particular attention to Black communities and to women, trans, and nonbinary people whose experiences are too often overlooked. Art, play, storytelling, hip-hop, and somatic awareness inform her relational approach, with room for liberation, joy, and the many ways people make meaning.

Jacqui is an EMDRIA Approved Trainer and Consultant, a Board-Certified Art Therapist, and a Certified Perinatal Mental Health professional. She is also a trained birth worker, with a focus on support around pregnancy termination and loss. She provides supervision and consultation, teaches at the university level, and contributes to Art Therapy With Incarcerated Women.

Her teaching is guided by Context Before Conclusion™. She brings warmth, structure, and cultural accountability into the learning, inviting clinicians to ask thoughtful questions, understand the purpose behind a clinical decision, and carry their learning into relationships with care.

Jacqui Johnson, LPC, LPAT, ACS, ATCS℠, PMH-C.
EMDRIA Approved Trainer and Consultant.

Choose your pathway, then your payment method

Pay the pathway total in full or reserve with the $555 nonrefundable deposit, applied toward that pathway’s total. The deposit is not the full cost of participation.

Pathway	Total	After $555 deposit
Basic Training + Ghana	$3,333	$2,778 remaining
Basic audit + Ghana	$3,333	$2,778 remaining
Advanced learning + Ghana	$2,828	$2,273 remaining

The $555 nonrefundable deposit is applied toward your selected package total. For the $3,333 pathways, pay $1,389 on November 13, 2026 and $1,389 on December 1, 2026. For the $2,828 pathway, pay $1,136.50 on each date. If registering after a payment deadline, the amount already due is payable at registration. All remaining package balances are due December 1, 2026. Your confirmation will repeat this schedule.

Pay over time with Affirm

Available financing and terms are displayed at checkout. The available offer and terms are presented by Affirm at checkout. Financing is a separate agreement with the payment provider; it does not change Sankofa’s cancellation policy or guarantee approval. The live provider displays the eligibility link and any installment amounts.

Other checkout methods

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, Diners Club, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay, and Amazon Pay are shown by the current store. Availability depends on the device, location, purchase, and checkout. Shop Pay installment terms are separate from Affirm’s offer.

Ghana deposit and travel arrangements

The $555 Ghana deposit is nonrefundable and is applied to the package total. It is separate from the standard $75 training-cancellation deduction. The Ghana package has its own transfer terms; the virtual-only cohort’s no-transfer-fee policy does not apply.

Send cancellation and transfer requests in writing to admin@sankofahealingstudio.org. The timing is measured from the start of your selected pathway: November 13, 2026 for Basic and audit (fourteen-day cancellation deadline October 30), or December 27, 2026 for advanced-only (deadline December 13). Read the Ghana Travel Agreement before payment.

Cancellations and refunds

• At least 14 days before training begins: registration tuition is refunded less a $75 administrative fee.
• Fewer than 14 days before training begins: no refund.
• Within 72 hours or a no-show: no refund. You may request a transfer under the terms below. A no-show means a registered participant who neither cancels nor attends.

Transfers

A standard $150 transfer fee applies. Transfers are subject to availability and must take place within 12 months of the original registration date. The tuition you already paid carries over to the new training. If the new training costs more, you pay the difference plus the transfer fee. Transfers require written confirmation from the team.

If Sankofa cancels or reschedules

You may choose a full tuition refund or transfer to the rescheduled offering. Sankofa may reschedule because of insufficient enrollment or unforeseen circumstances. Separately purchased travel and accommodation expenses are not reimbursed.

Ghana exception: the nonrefundable deposit is excluded from participant-requested refunds. Post-deposit payments may be considered for transfer toward an equivalent virtual training by written agreement. The written Ghana travel agreement sets out balance-payment and supplier cancellation terms before payment. The standard classroom refund policy does not promise reimbursement of nonrecoverable trip costs. Request and read that agreement before reserving.

We learn in relationship. We ask everyone to respect each other’s identity, lived experience, names, pronouns, and boundaries. Discrimination and efforts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity have no place in this training.

Sankofa Healing Studio provides equal access and reasonable accommodations for participants with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Accommodations include educational and learning support as well as disability access. If a different way of receiving information or participating would support your learning, contact admin@sankofahealingstudio.org. We can discuss written instructions, accessible materials, captioning, adjustments to assessment format or timing, sensory or movement needs, technology access, and venue access.

Tell us what would help and which part of the training needs attention. We will work with you to identify reasonable adjustments and confirm the arrangements in writing. You can raise a need before registration or as it becomes clear during training. We will consider the learning requirements and the support needed to participate in instruction, practicum, and consultation.

You may request support during registration. Please contact the team as early as possible when advance arrangements are needed. If a need arises unexpectedly or during training, contact faculty or the training team so we can discuss available support. We will consider requests individually; where further information is needed to identify an appropriate accommodation, the team will explain what is needed and how to provide it privately.

For a concern during training, you may ask faculty for immediate support, including concerns about practice partners, participation, or staff interactions. You may also submit a formal grievance directly without first discussing it with the person involved. Email admin@sankofahealingstudio.org with the training name, concern, and requested response. Omit identifying client information.

We acknowledge concerns within five business days and provide a written response within fifteen business days, or a progress update if more time is needed. If the concern involves the training lead, request an independent facilitator without direct involvement. You may request reconsideration and supply additional information. Raising a concern will not be used to penalize participation.

Sankofa Healing Studio · EMDRIA Credit Provider #21009.

Approval pending. The Ghana package includes eight additional instructional hours of advanced training, with eight planned EMDRIA Credits subject to approval. Provider status alone does not establish approval of this offering.

Basic Training and didactic audit hours are not advanced EMDRIA Credits. Cultural activities, travel, meals, breaks, and consultation are separate from advanced instructional credit. Full Basic completion must be verified before a participant can earn advanced EMDRIA Credit.

Complete the full live attendance and evaluation requirements for the advanced training. Partial attendance does not earn the full credit. Once approval is granted, the applicable approval information accompanies the offering and certificate.

Qualifying EMDRIA Credits earned after full Basic completion may support certification or renewal. They do not replace separately required certification consultation or confer certification. Read the current EMDRIA certification criteria. Participants are responsible for checking any separate requirements of their own licensing or credentialing board. No additional board approval is represented here.

Sankofa Healing Studio maintains responsibility for this program and its content in accordance with EMDRIA requirements.

Learning in relationship

Respect names, pronouns, identity, lived experience and boundaries. Questions, reflective dialogue and thoughtful disagreement belong in the learning. Discrimination and sexual-orientation or gender-identity change efforts have no place in this training.

Activities may include writing, discussion, somatic attention, creative reflection, observation or teaching-case application. You do not have to disclose personal trauma or adopt a cultural or spiritual interpretation. Ask faculty about a participation adjustment that preserves the learning objective.

Confidentiality and materials

Use fictional or appropriately de-identified teaching cases for case discussion. Basic supervised practicum includes therapist, client, and observer roles using appropriately selected personal material with faculty support; a fictional case does not replace that experiential learning. You choose what to disclose and may raise a concern privately with faculty. Do not include client names, dates of birth, addresses or other identifiers in discussion, uploads, chat or correspondence. Do not record, photograph or screenshot teaching, demonstrations, experiential activities or consultation. Automated transcription and AI note-taking are prohibited. Do not share course files, participant stories, login credentials or meeting links, or upload protected training materials to AI tools without written permission.

Technology and support

For virtual participation, keep your camera on during live Basic Training outside breaks and use reliable internet, working audio/video, and a private setting. Do not participate while driving or from a public location. Test your Thinkific and meeting access in advance. Notify faculty promptly about a connection failure, access barrier or privacy concern. Connection loss and a lesson-complete tick do not establish attendance.

Read and acknowledge the participant agreement in Thinkific's Start Here section. Training records are used for administration, attendance, evaluation and certificate verification; the training-records privacy notice explains access and retention. Contact admin@sankofahealingstudio.org for support or a privacy concern.

Attendance and completion are verified separately for each component of the selected pathway. Basic Training requires 20 instructional hours, 20 supervised practicum hours, all 10 consultation hours, required assessments and evaluation. A didactic audit does not provide a new Basic Training completion certificate. Advanced training certificates require their own eligibility, attendance and evaluation checks.

Thinkific training materials are available for 12 months from the first training day. Teaching materials may release in sequence; purchased-course access does not itself establish attendance or completion. Live Basic Training, practicum, consultation, and advanced training recordings are not shared. Cultural preparation teaching will be recorded for registered participants unable to attend live; recordings do not replace required live attendance. Contact admin@sankofahealingstudio.org promptly about missed learning, access problems or completion records.

Complete the full Basic Training within twelve months of the initial start date. For this cohort, that is November 13, 2027. Contact the training team about extenuating circumstances and an individual completion plan. Assigned preparation, the required EMDRIA Learner Assessment, and evaluations are part of the completion process. Basic Training completion documents that you are EMDR-trained; EMDRIA certification is a separate process.

For an audit certificate, complete the selected didactic attendance and evaluation requirements. For the advanced training, satisfy the advanced training’s eligibility, full attendance, and evaluation requirements. A package purchase is not a completion certificate.

Read the payment, travel, cancellation, and participation terms before paying.

Read the full Ghana Travel Agreement

Documents and health preparation

After registration, connect with the Sankofa team for assistance with the visa application process. Visa approval and processing are determined by the relevant authorities.

Arrange a valid passport and the visa required for your nationality through Ghana’s official visa information portal. Check the documentation and processing times before buying nonrefundable flights.

Ghana requires yellow-fever vaccination for arriving travelers aged nine months and older. Carry the required International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (yellow card). Discuss vaccine suitability, documentation, malaria prevention, routine vaccines, hepatitis A and B, typhoid, and any itinerary-specific needs with a travel-health clinician. Arrange this well in advance; obtain individualized advice if a vaccine is contraindicated.

Read CDC’s current Ghana travel guidance and health notices before travel. Use mosquito protection and follow your clinician’s medication instructions.

Arrival and day-to-day preparation

Plan for an early-morning arrival in Ghana on Sunday, December 27, 2026. This generally means an afternoon departure from the United States on Saturday, December 26; check the arrival date and time on your flight itinerary. The Ghana program begins December 27; evening departures from Ghana are on Sunday, January 3, 2027. Send flight and emergency-contact information privately through the designated admissions process. Pickup arrangements will be coordinated as participants book and share their flights.

Pack comfortable clothing, walking shoes, sun and insect protection, prescribed medicines in their original labeled containers, needed charging adapters, and copies of travel documents. Consider travel, medical, and evacuation coverage that fits your itinerary. Tell the team about access or mobility needs so activity and transport arrangements can be discussed before payment.

1. Choose the pathway that matches your completed EMDR training and professional background.
2. Submit the requested eligibility documents or final Basic completion certificate to the training team.
3. Read the participant agreement, Ghana travel agreement, rooming and transfer information, cancellation policy, and payment schedule before payment.
4. Complete the matching registration and keep your receipt and confirmation.
5. Use Thinkific’s Start Here section for preparation, materials, meeting access, and completion tracking. Shopify handles payment; Thinkific houses the learning.

For registration, access, payment, or travel questions, contact admin@sankofahealingstudio.org.