The Meeting Place — Where Healing Conversations Begin
The Meeting Place: A Safe Internal Space for Parts Work and EMDR
If you’ve started exploring parts work, whether on its own or in combination with EMDR, you may have heard mention of the “meeting place”.
This isn’t a metaphor.
It’s an intentionally created, internal space where different parts of the self can gather, communicate, and begin the work of healing—together.
When we are integrating parts work with EMDR, the meeting place is a vital resourcing tool. It provides a grounded contained space for trauma processing, especially for clients who experience internal conflict, dissociation, or emotional overwhelm.
What Is the Meeting Place?
The meeting place is an imaginary space that your therapist will guide you through establishing. It serves as a consistent internal location for parts to show up and interact.
It can take any form that feels safe and resonant—some clients visualize a forest clearing, a cozy living room, a therapist’s office, or meeting room. Others may create fantastical spaces like a spaceship, a castle, or an island.
There’s no wrong version—as long as it feels safe, accessible, and inviting.
Why It Matters in Trauma Therapy
For people who carry complex trauma, there often isn’t a strong sense of internal cohesion. Instead, there may be competing parts, fragmented experiences, and a lack of internal communication. Before trauma can be processed with EMDR, these systems need support and structure.
The meeting place serves three key functions:
- Safety – It provides a consistent internal setting you can return to at any time.
- Organization – It gives the therapist and client a shared internal language for mapping the parts.
- Empowerment – You begin to see yourself as capable of relating to and leading your inner system.
Using the Meeting Place in EMDR
A quick reminder: EMDR is eight phases. “Reprocessing” is phase four. This is the part of EMDR that involves bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, etc) while holding a specific memory to reduce present day distress. While this is the phase of EMDR that most people think of when referring to EMDR, it is only one part of the overall process.
Here’s how the meeting place works within an EMDR framework:
Before reprocessing
Phase 1-3 of EMDR – It’s used to orient the client to their internal system, identify parts that may be involved in the target memory, and assess readiness for processing.
During reprocessing
Phase 4 of EMDR – Parts may gather in the meeting place to observe, support, or step back from the processing work. The meeting place allows the client to move between activation and resourcing fluidly.
After reprocessing
Phase 5-8 of EMDR – It serves as a space for integration—parts can debrief, ask questions, and renegotiate their roles within the system.
This tool is especially helpful if you tend to become overwhelmed, freeze, or “lose yourself” in the activation of trauma. Instead of pushing through those moments, your therapist can bring you back to the meeting place—back to your adult Self in relationship with the system.
What It Looks Like in Practice
A 42-year-old woman describes her meeting place as a circular room with open windows, filled with soft light and chairs for each part. Her “protector” sits near the door, always watching. Her “inner child” often hides under a blanket. When it’s time to process a memory, she checks in with each part to see how they’re doing and whether they feel ready.
Over time, her protector part has moved closer to the center. Her inner child now chooses a seat. These subtle shifts reflect deep internal changes—and allow EMDR processing to happen with more ease, clarity, and compassion.
*This example is fictional, and accurately describes common experiences clients may have during parts work. Every person’s specific experience is unique and occurs at their own pace.*
The Bottom Line
The meeting place isn’t just a visualization exercise—it’s a therapeutic anchor point. For midlife adults carrying complex trauma, it’s a practical and powerful tool that allows EMDR and parts work to flow together safely.
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Next in the Series: Calming the Storm Within: Parts Work and Emotional Regulation in EMDR