Hey there,

I think it's time to update you on how things are going with building Helicon. If you're just hearing that name, Helicon is the company we've formed to allow us to create an ecosystem that supports EMDR therapists. We're calling it an "EMDR therapist enablement platform". It's meant to empower you to grow your network, your skills, and your income.

Really, it's everything I wish I had on my EMDR therapist journey and everything I've wished I could provide to the other EMDR therapists I've consulted with along the way.

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The Vision

We have ambitious goals, some are actively in development:

• Consultation Matching: Making it easy for therapists to find and connect with each other for consultation (general consulting, consulting on special EMDR protocols, or consultation toward EMDRIA certification).
• Consultation Tracking: To support progress in consultation toward certification, this allows consultants and consultees to track the competency areas demonstrated in consultation. Aligned with EMDRIA standards, streamlining their focus and making their time in consultation more productive. A transparent way to stay on track and growing, it can also help mitigate those awkward conversations!
• Community Forums and Messaging: Forums to host discussion on EMDR topics that matter most, allowing therapists to connect, share, and grow together on their EMDR journey. Direct Messaging to connect with providers or consultants and develop stronger relationships.
• Exclusive, Vetted Directory: We'll be doing the marketing legwork for you, connecting with employers of high-stakes professional groups and offering access to a private directory of EMDR providers who can offer advanced mental health care. We'll have high standards for this and you'll have to apply to join the directory before you can be listed. The intent is to create demand for EMDR therapists and replace your marketing costs paying for generic directory listings, with something exclusive, EMDR specific, and more affordable (and more lucrative).

And we have a few more important goals for future development:

• Learning Platform: Hosting content and training on EMDR topics and special protocols, our goal is to become a one-stop shop for anyone at any stage of the therapist journey. From basic training, through consultation and learning advanced protocols, we want to be a trusted learning and development resource for the EMDR field.
• Helicon Certification: While we're building tools aligned with EMDRIA standards (and I fully intend to maintain my EMDRIA Approved Consultant credentials!), we recognize EMDRIA has to focus on standards for basic training and general competencies. The Helicon Certification will be an advanced certification signaling the highest competency in EMDRIA standards and multiple specialized protocols, demonstrated through completion of advanced trainings and consultation hours. Paired with our directory, having this certification will show clients you are the best of the best, and if we do our job well, should make it easy for you to charge a premium for your services.

At the core, this is a technology company, meant to empower and enable EMDR therapists to grow, and to make EMDR more popular and accessible in the world.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, we are able to take on capital investment to help us build (we're in process of finding mission/ethos-aligned investors), but also have a public benefit purpose built into our bylaws, so our business decisions are not solely beholden to stakeholders (I wonder every day why this kind of business structure isn't a requirement for any company in the mental health space). If we are successful and generating profits, we will direct a portion of profits toward advancing EMDR access and research.

Watch these short videos I recorded to learn more about:

• ​My Key Motivations for Building Helicon​
• ​Explaining our Focus and Approach with Helicon​

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The Current Reality

We are just getting started and have a long way to go, but are excited about the interest and momentum so far. As of September 2025, with very minimal marketing we have almost 60 EMDR providers signed up for our pilot, signaling interest in what we're building. As a temporary place to connect, providers who sign up are invited to join a private Signal channel and share resources or ask questions among the group.

We're also piloting the directory in Washington state. With 16 providers in the directory, we've been engaging with first-responder agencies over the past few months, patiently waiting on the approval process before we can begin to share the directory with their employees, and learning a lot in the process. We're also beginning to reach out to other employer groups like nurses and HR associations to find alignment with other high-stakes industries.

We've grown a team of 2 cofounders and 9 advisors, strategically adding more advisors as we go. Our advisory team includes 5 licensed therapists (4 EMDR consultants and 1 niche directory builder), 3 financial professionals, and 1 business development expert. We're excited to be in talks with a couple of talented community management professionals who have extensive histories supporting therapist communities and hope to have added them to the advisory team by the time this is published.

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Building the Technology

The technology itself is being built with the help of an AI vibe-coding platform. There's been a learning curve, but as a digital native with two years of IT training in my past life and technological pursuits as hobbies throughout my adult life, the progress has been steady and the platform is slowly coming together. That said, I am looking for a programmer to join the team to help audit and maintain the code before it is launched publicly.

We've demoed the platform a couple of times and receive validating feedback each time. There are plenty of bugs to patch, but my goal is to start testing the early features with live users this winter. The invitation will go out to anyone who has signed up for the pilot. If you're interested, be sure to sign up now!

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Stay Connected

I could say more but this is already getting long. If you want to stay in the loop, be sure to sign up (link above) or connect with me on LinkedIn, where I post about this regularly.

Also, I'd love to hear what you think about all this. I appreciate words of encouragement or constructive criticism. Hit reply and let me know what you think! And feel free to forward this on to any EMDR colleagues you know who might be interested.

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Gratefully,

Christopher Brown, LICSW, LCSW

CEO, Helicon

EMDRIA Certified Therapist & Approved Consultant

Thanks for reading Helicon's EMDR Therapist Weekly, where we aim to provide a weekly dose of insights, tools, and opportunities for EMDR therapists; designed to support your growth, sharpen your practice, and connect you with what's next.

If you're not already subscribed, subscribe here. You can also click here to learn about what Helicon is building, or apply to join our pilot if you're an EMDR provider and want to connect with others on the same path.