Chi’Va Provider Terminology

Chi’Va uses terminology familiar to EMDR-trained and trauma-informed providers while assigning specific meanings to certain platform features.

This reference distinguishes between provider-delivered professional services and the member-directed activities available within Chi’Va. Similar terminology does not mean that a Chi’Va session is equivalent to EMDR therapy delivered by a trained provider.

Chi’Va does not provide EMDR training, certification, clinical supervision, consultation, diagnosis, treatment planning, or authority to practice outside a provider’s existing scope.

Chi’Va

Chi’Va is a structured, self-directed session platform.

It guides members through preparation, assessment prompts, bilateral focus, installation, body awareness, closure, and reevaluation while preserving the member’s control over pacing, disclosure, and whether to continue.

Chi’Va may support a provider-client relationship, but it does not replace the provider, deliver provider-directed psychotherapy, or independently determine clinical appropriateness.

Provider

A provider is a licensed, credentialed, supervised, or otherwise authorized professional who evaluates whether and how Chi’Va may fit within their own services.

The provider’s responsibilities remain governed by their:

• License and scope of practice.
• Professional training and competence.
• Clinical judgment.
• Practice setting.
• Employer or organizational policies.
• Documentation requirements.
• Applicable laws and professional standards.

Chi’Va does not expand those responsibilities or qualifications.

Member

A member is the person using Chi’Va.

Within a provider relationship, the member may also be described as a client or patient according to the provider’s setting. “Member” is the platform term and does not redefine the professional relationship established outside Chi’Va.

Chi’Va Session

A Chi’Va session is one member-directed sequence completed within the platform.

The session may include:

• Preparation.
• Selection of target material.
• Subjective ratings.
• Bilateral focus.
• Installation of a positive cognition.
• Body scan.
• Closure.
• Reevaluation.

A Chi’Va session should not be described as provider-delivered EMDR therapy unless a qualified provider is separately delivering EMDR therapy within the requirements of their own practice.

Eight-Phase Structure

Chi’Va organizes its session process around an eight-phase structure familiar to EMDR providers:

1. History Taking
2. Preparation
3. Assessment
4. Bilateral Focus
5. Installation
6. Body Scan
7. Closure
8. Reevaluation

The platform’s use of this sequence does not transfer the provider’s clinical functions to the member or to the software.

History taking, case conceptualization, treatment planning, diagnosis, readiness assessment, protocol selection, and clinical modification remain provider responsibilities when they are part of the provider’s services.

History Taking

Within professional EMDR practice, history taking includes gathering relevant clinical history, developing a case conceptualization, identifying treatment priorities, and planning care.

Chi’Va may ask a member to identify current session context or target material. This is not a replacement for provider-led history taking or treatment planning.

Preparation

Preparation establishes the resources, expectations, and boundaries needed before focused session work begins.

Within Chi’Va, preparation may include:

• Reviewing the member’s current state.
• Confirming familiarity with the selected bilateral device.
• Establishing or revisiting the Container.
• Reviewing pause and stop options.
• Identifying available support.
• Confirming that closure will be completed before leaving the session.

Provider-directed preparation may be more extensive and should reflect the client’s needs, the provider’s judgment, and the care being delivered.

Assessment

Assessment is the phase in which the member identifies and rates the material selected for the current session.

Chi’Va may prompt for:

• Target material.
• A negative cognition.
• A preferred positive cognition.
• Validity of Cognition.
• Subjective Units of Distress.
• Relevant body sensations.

These entries structure the member’s session. They do not constitute a diagnosis, comprehensive clinical assessment, or independent determination of treatment need.

Target Material

Target material is the memory, event, image, thought, belief, current trigger, anticipated situation, emotion, or body sensation selected for attention during a session.

Chi’Va allows the member to identify their own target material. The platform does not determine whether that target is clinically appropriate or whether another protocol, sequence, or level of support is indicated.

Negative Cognition

A negative cognition is the self-referential belief associated with the selected target material.

Within Chi’Va, the member selects or enters the negative cognition that most closely reflects their current experience.

The platform does not diagnose the belief, interpret its origin, or determine its clinical significance.

Positive Cognition

A positive cognition is the preferred adaptive belief the member would like to associate with the target material.

The positive cognition should be personally meaningful and relevant to the material being addressed.

Validity of Cognition

Validity of Cognition, or VOC, is a 1–7 rating of how true the selected positive cognition feels in the present moment.

A rating of 1 indicates that the cognition feels completely false. A rating of 7 indicates that it feels completely true.

Chi’Va uses VOC as a subjective session measure. It is not an objective assessment or outcome guarantee.

Subjective Units of Distress

Subjective Units of Distress, or SUDS, is a 0–10 self-rating of the disturbance associated with the selected material.

A rating of 0 represents no current disturbance. A rating of 10 represents the highest disturbance the member can presently identify.

Chi’Va may collect SUDS ratings at multiple points to help the member notice change across a session. SUDS is subjective and should be interpreted within the context of the individual, the session, and any provider-directed care.

Bilateral Focus

Bilateral focus is Chi’Va’s platform term for structured left-right visual or tactile pacing used while the member attends to session material.

Available formats may include:

• Guided eye movement.
• Alternating knee tapping.
• Butterfly-hug tapping.
• Other supported left-right pacing tools.

The term bilateral focus distinguishes the platform feature from a claim that the software is independently delivering EMDR therapy.

Bilateral Stimulation

Bilateral stimulation is a professional term used within EMDR therapy for alternating visual, tactile, or auditory stimulation.

Providers may recognize similarities between bilateral stimulation and Chi’Va’s bilateral-focus tools. The presence of alternating stimulation alone does not make an activity EMDR therapy or replace the provider’s training, case conceptualization, protocol decisions, observation, and clinical judgment.

Supportive Tapping

Supportive tapping is Chi’Va’s term for alternating tactile pacing used during preparation, focused work, pausing, or closure.

Depending on the selected tool, the member may alternate tapping across the knees or use a butterfly-hug position.

Supportive tapping is a platform activity. It should not be represented as a stand-alone treatment claim.

Body Scan

The body scan invites the member to notice current physical sensations associated with the target material and positive cognition.

Within Chi’Va, the body scan is observational. The member notices what is present and determines whether additional attention, closure, or provider support is needed.

The platform does not interpret body sensations or make clinical conclusions from them.

Container

The Container is a preparation and closure resource used to set aside material that will not be continued in the current session.

The member creates an internal representation of a secure holding place and may use it to contain thoughts, images, memories, emotions, or sensations until they intentionally return to them.

Within Chi’Va, Container use is a required boundary when unresolved material remains at closure or when the member leaves focused work before completion.

The Container is not presented as erasure, avoidance, or proof that the material has been resolved.

Pause

Pause is a member-controlled interruption of the current session activity.

During a pause, the member may:

• Stop bilateral focus.
• Orient to the present environment.
• Use breath pacing.
• Use supportive tapping.
• Revisit the Container.
• Continue at a slower pace.
• Move to closure.
• End the session.

Pausing does not require provider authorization.

Closure

Closure is the process of ending the session intentionally and returning attention to the present.

Within Chi’Va, closure may include:

• Stopping focused bilateral activity.
• Reviewing the current SUDS level.
• Containing unresolved material.
• Using brief supportive tapping or breath pacing.
• Reorienting to the immediate environment.
• Recording the member’s current state.
• Identifying whether additional support is needed.

Closure does not require SUDS to reach zero. Its purpose is to establish a deliberate stopping point and reduce the likelihood that the member exits the session without completing the closing sequence.

Reevaluation

Reevaluation is the member’s later review of the target material, current disturbance, positive cognition, body response, and need for further work.

Within a provider relationship, reevaluation may also inform a future professional discussion. The member is not required to disclose private session details in order to report that something changed, remained active, or requires provider attention.

Provider Check-In

A provider check-in is contact between the provider and client under the communication and service model established by the provider.

A check-in may include:

• Reviewing general progress.
• Discussing difficulty with preparation or closure.
• Determining whether independent use remains appropriate.
• Adjusting appointment frequency.
• Identifying material that requires provider-directed care.
• Deciding whether Chi’Va use should pause.

Chi’Va does not determine the content, timing, or professional obligations of that check-in.

Client-Requested Check-In

A client-requested check-in allows the client to contact the provider when a nonurgent question, change, or need for additional support arises.

The provider should define:

• Whether email may be used.
• What information should or should not be sent by email.
• Expected response times.
• Whether email receives a substantive response or is used to request an appointment.
• What the client should do when support is urgent.

Client-requested contact is not continuous monitoring.

Weekly Monitoring

Weekly monitoring is a provider-selected follow-up structure for clients whose needs, care plan, transition period, or current circumstances call for more regular review.

Weekly monitoring is not required for every client using Chi’Va. The provider determines the appropriate cadence and may increase or decrease contact as needs change.

Professional Boundary

The professional boundary is the clear division between:

• Services delivered by the provider.
• Activities directed by the member.
• Functions performed by Chi’Va.

Maintaining this distinction protects informed expectations, supports appropriate documentation, and prevents the platform from being represented as a replacement for provider competence or professional care.

For a fuller discussion, see Provider Scope and Boundaries.