We warmly invite EMDR colleagues in East Anglia, further afield and worldwide to our networking day on Saturday the 18th of April 2026. We are pleased to announce that Carlyn Boyce will be leading a workshop on EMDR and Racial Trauma.
Abstract of the Workshop Carlyn’s workshop introduces EMDR therapists to the clinical foundations of racial trauma, with a focus on how harm, power, racialisation, and embodied experience shape psychological distress. The session explores how racial trauma is created, held, and reโexperienced, and offers a structured framework for integrating this knowledge into EMDR case formulation and therapeutic practice.
The workshop does not aim to catalogue every possible form of racism. Instead, it centres the evidenceโbased understanding that racial trauma is rooted in structural power, historical context, and the disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people. It also explores key concepts that commonly shape lived experiences of racial harm, including colourism, codeโswitching, and microaggressions, and how these experiences may manifest within EMDR therapy.
Drawing on both psychological theory and Carlyn’s lived experience as a Black woman, the workshop offers a grounded and reflective approach to understanding how racial trauma presents in clinical settings. Through clinical models, facilitated discussion, and supported exploration, participants will build confidence in recognising racial trauma responses, supporting identityโrelated distress, and working safely and compassionately within their scope of practice.
Carlyn Boyce is an EMDR therapist and a qualified CBT therapist with over 17 years of clinical experience across both the NHS and the private sector. Her background spans primary care, secondary care, inpatient services, and complex mental health, and she currently works as the Clinical Lead in an Assessment and Therapy Service for health and social care staff.
During her NHS career, she has contributed to work on racial trauma and psychologically informed antiโracist practice, and in 2025 she received a Highly Commended HSJ Patient Safety Award in recognition of this contribution.
Separately from her NHS role, she runs a small private practice where she offers therapy and delivers specialist training, including this workshop on racial trauma in EMDR practice. Her private practice work is independent and distinct from her NHS responsibilities.
Alongside this, she also teaches on a Clinical Psychology Doctorate programme, supporting future psychologists to develop reflective, antiโracist, and CBTโinformed therapeutic practice.
Our regional networking day on Faith and Spirituality in EMDR, held online on Friday 21 November, brought together one of the most diverse and deeply engaged groups we have hosted in recent years.
From the moment colleagues began joining the Zoom room, the atmosphere was warm, curious and grounded. Therapists from across the UK โ and from further afield โ expressed gratitude simply to be in a space where the spiritual lives of our clients, and our own frameworks of meaning, could be spoken about openly.
The programme featured contributions from nine speakers, each offering a different lens on how spirituality and faith meet trauma and EMDR:
โข Selvira Draganoviฤ โ Bosnian perspective on religiosity, war, community and identity โข Rabbi Dr David Roth โ Jewish theology, meaning, responsibility and intergenerational experience โข Dr Ashraf Muwafaq Flaiyah โ Islamic psychology and EMDR in Iraqi and Middle Eastern contexts โข Shohreh Akarzadeh โ Bahรกโรญ writings on the soul, nobility, and the spiritual dimension of healing โข Beverley Hutton โ Christian imagery of comfort, cleansing and compassionate holding โข Kamla Dadral & Naina Gupta โ Hindu philosophical and clinical perspectives โข Jutta & Katharine Brayne โ Nature-based spirituality and contemplative silence in therapeutic work โข Shelley Pompana โ First Nations teachings on ceremony, land, ancestors and spiritual presence
What unfolded across the day was not a debate or a technical workshop but a human exploration โ sensitive, thoughtful and often quietly affecting.
Selvira Draganoviฤ: Spirituality that supports, and spirituality that wounds
Selvira opened from Sarajevo by locating spirituality within the Bosnian post-war experience. She highlighted the difference between healthy forms of spirituality โ those that stabilise, comfort, and help clients feel held โ and unhealthy forms that induce guilt, shame or withdrawal from help. Many participants commented on how familiar these statements sounded, and how rarely they are named explicitly in supervision or training.
Her reminder that spirituality can be both resourcing and harmful set a balanced tone for the rest of the day.
Rabbi Dr David Roth: Choice, responsibility and the Jewish frame
David Roth wove together Maslow, Viktor Frankl, Jewish theology and the intergenerational implications of trauma. He drew attention to the tension between surrender and agency, and to the way faith traditions can support clients in moving from powerlessness to meaning-making. Participants responded strongly to his reflections on responsibility, choice and the enduring impact of cultural memory.
Dr Ashraf Muwafaq Flaiyah: The Islamic model of the human being
Ashraf presented from Iraq a clear, clinically useful four-part Islamic model โ body, self, mind and spirit โ and showed how this aligns with EMDRโs Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. Several colleagues commented on the clarity with which he explained both explicit and implicit integration: spiritual safe places, faith-based positive cognitions, and the therapistโs internal stance of compassion, dignity and hope (rahma, karama, fitra).
His presentation offered a practical bridge between EMDR structure and spiritual meaning-making.
Shohreh Akarzadeh: The nobility and nature of the soul
Shohrehโs contribution brought a contemplative stillness to the room. Drawing on Bahรกโuโllรกh and โAbduโl-Bahรก, she read passages concerning the nobility of the human soul, the relationship between the spiritual and physical worlds, and the idea that human behaviour often reflects distortion rather than essence. The chat filled with words like โbeautiful,โ โprofound,โ and โmoving,โ reflecting the emotional resonance of her presentation.
Beverley Hutton: Christian imagery of comfort and holding
Beverleyโs presentation drew on scriptural imagery โ notably Isaiah 66:12โ13 โ to illustrate themes of holding, cleansing and compassionate comfort. Her examples of resource imagery and motherโchild metaphors landed very directly with many colleagues. Several participants wrote that the Christian imagery brought a sense of grounding and reassurance.
Kamla Dadral: Hindu philosophy, trauma and transformation
Preparing her thoughts with input from colleague Naina Gupta (who couldn’t be with us live), Kamla introduced Hindu concepts such as Atman, Karma and Dharma, alongside yogic ideas of balance and consciousness. The two of them explored how trauma healing in Hindu traditions is not only symptom relief but a pathway to transformation and alignment with oneโs deeper self.
Their reflections on bilateral stimulation and its parallels with yogic energy channels offered an unexpected but intuitive connection that many found enriching.
Jutta & Katharine Brayne: Silence, nature and contemplative depth
The penultimate presentation before closing came from Jutta and Katharine Brayne. Focusing on nature, silence, and contemplative inward attention, they reflected on the role of stillness in EMDR โ both as a personal practice and within sessions. Participants described their experience of the silence segment as โhealing,โ โconnecting,โ and โdeep.โ
Their exploration of the parallels between contemplative inward focus and EMDRโs bilateral stimulation resonated strongly, grounding the day in lived human experience rather than abstract ideas.
Shelley Pompana: Ceremony, community, ancestors and the land
Our concluding speaker, Shelley Pompana, joining us from Canada, offered a First Nations (Indigenous) perspective that brought the day to a deeply human close. Speaking from lived experience, she described:
โข the centrality of ceremony in healing โข the relationship between individual, community, land and ancestors โข teachings passed down through generations โข the collective and relational nature of trauma and recovery โข spiritual presence as part of identity, continuity and belonging
โข and how the metaphor of the eagle’s wing, presented movingly with her partner Moses, could be used in place of our more familiar “butterfly hug”.
The chat became notably tender in response โ filled with comments like โbeautiful,โ โprofound,โ โtouching,โ โsoulful,โ โthis touched my soul.โ
It was a fitting and resonant way to end a day centred on respect, presence and the complexity of human meaning.
A day that mattered
Across all contributions, a consistent theme emerged:
clientsโ spiritual and cultural worlds are not peripheral to therapy โ they are often central to meaning, identity and healing.
Participants repeatedly highlighted:
โข renewed confidence in meeting spiritual material sensitively โข relief at hearing commonly held but seldom discussed clinical dilemmas โข appreciation for the diversity of voices โข a sense of warmth, connection and shared humanity
One attendee wrote, โI feel blessed to be part of this community.โ Another said, โThis gives me more confidence to bring spirituality into the work.โ
Save the Date โ In-Person Networking Day
Saturday 18 April 2026 Theme: Race, Difference and Racism in EMDR Practice
Our next EMDR Association East Anglia networking day will take place in person. We will look directly at how race, difference and racism shape our clientsโ inner worlds and trauma histories, and how EMDR therapists can respond with clarity, courage and clinical depth.
Full details coming soon โ please mark the date in your diary.
We warmly invite EMDR colleagues from across East Anglia and beyond to view the recording of a very special day of reflection, dialogue and learning.
This yearโs regional autumn gathering explored the place of faith, spirituality and religion in our work as EMDR therapists. We heard a rich variety of personal perspectives from colleagues of different traditions, and considered together how our own understandings of spirituality โ however defined โ shape our therapeutic practice.
Rather than a single keynote, the day offered a series of short contributions interwoven with Q&A and small group discussions. Speakers included:
SelviraDraganovicโ a Bosnian perspective. Selvira is Associate Professor at Sarajevo University, teaching courses ranging from mental health and positive psychology to psychopathology and trauma. Her main research interest alternates from risk to protective factors in mental health and psychopathology, tackling attachment, marriage and family, abuse, violence and trauma.
Rabbi Dr David Roth – the view within Orthodox Judaism. David received Rabbinical Ordination in 2005, following 12 years at Talmudical Colleges in England & Jerusalem. He holds a Professional Doctorate in Child and Educational Psychology (registered with the HCPC & chartered with the British Psychological Society). Completed EMDR training in 2012 and became accredited with EMDR Europe this year. (2025).
Ashraf Muwafaq Flaiyah โ President of EMDR Iraq. A Muslim perspective: Ashraf is a clinical psychologist with a UK PhD, currently serving as Head of the Clinical Psychology Department at IJUS Iraq where he leads academic development and supervises clinical training for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Ashraf is an EMDRIA certified therapist and Consultant-in-Training, coordinating the Iraqi group within Trauma Aid UK (TAUK) and promoting professional capacity building and mental health awareness across the country.
ShohrehAkarzadehโ insights from the Bahaโi tradition. Shohreh is a UKCP-accredited integrative psychotherapist with more than three decades of experience. Drawing on the Bahรกโรญ vision of unity and the spiritual evolution of humanity, she offers a reflective view on how EMDR can honour the sacred dimension of healing while remaining deeply human and inclusive.
Beverley Hutton โ a Christian perspective: Beverley Hutton is an EMDR Practitioner with an MA in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. She is Clinical Director of the Christian mental health charity, Still the Hunger, and is based in Somerset where she has been offering intensive residential EMDR retreats for some time now. Whilst not exclusively the case, a large percentage of her work is with people for whom including their Christian faith within their EMDR journey is extremely important to them.
Kamla Dadral โ a Hindu-and-more view from South Asia. Kamla is an integrative psychotherapist and EMDR practitioner drawing on her Sikh and wider Indian heritage. She works with mental health across borders and explores how cultural belonging, compassion and ancestral wisdom can help restore safety and connection in the healing process.
Jutta & KatharineBrayne โ The role of silence and connection to nature. Jutta and Katharine offered an experiential component for more personal exploration. In a day filled with insights from many traditions, they held a space to reflect and digest for as well as learn a little of their approaches.
Having grown up in West Germany and travelled widely with her family, Juttaโs training in advanced transpersonal psychotherapy, CBT, breath- and dreamwork, as well as her own silent retreat experiences, inform her interest in the transformative potential of silence within EMDR sessions. Her work focuses on how such moments can support healing and spiritual growth, helping clients shift their perspective on themselves, their past, and their present life.
Katharine is an EMDR-trained integrative psychotherapist (MBACP, NCPS) with more than 20 years of personal study in healing and spirituality. She brings a younger generationโs perspective on spirituality as experienced through nature, and a deep curiosity about how neuroscience and metaphysics influence healing both generally and within the EMDR process.
ShelleyPompana Spear Chief โ Indigenous perspectives from North America: Shelley is an EMDR Consultant and Hypnotherapist, identifying as an Indigenous Dakota Woman (knowledge keeper/elder) married into the Blood Reserve, known as Kainai in Alberta Canada to and working with First Nations. Her co-authored book Eagle Wings Flapping: Beaver learns to manage big emotions explores the idea of Eagle Wings Flapping as a form of bilateral stimulation. With Sandra Paulsen she also wrote Indigenous Trauma and Dissociation: Healers, Psychotherapy and the Drum.
Chaired by Mark Brayne, this day was personal, practical and grounded โ with examples from clinical work as well as opportunities for open sharing, and a clear focus on how, in our therapeutic encounters, spirituality and EMDR can meaningfully be joined.
All colleagues working enthusiastically with EMDR, not just Association members, are warmly welcome.
Feedback form here for those who attended or who have since viewed the recording.
The EMDR East Anglia Association steering group held a successful in-person CPD and networking day at the Beet Club in the beautiful cathedral city of Ely.
In the morning Cassandra Manning took us on an inspiring exploration of the use of music in EMDR.
Cassandra is an integrative arts psychotherapist specialising in creative process in integrative EMDR psychotherapy.
She guided us through her deeply engaging presentation to explore the transformative potential of integrating music and EMDR. Cassandra shared her journey from opera singer to Integrative EMDR Psychotherapist, highlighting how music โ when carefully selected and skilfully applied โ can act as a powerful co-therapist throughout all phases of the Standard EMDR Protocol. We heard inspiring client stories, explored the neuroscience behind musicโs profound emotional impact, and took part in experiential exercises to feel firsthand how music can deepen resourcing and enhance processing. Reflections from participants underscored how different tracks evoked unique, deeply personal responses โ a reminder of the remarkably subjective experience music provokes in each of us. This was a truly rich, interactive session filled with practical insights and heartfelt moments. If you missed it, we warmly invite you to join us next time โ these events are designed to be experienced live, where the magic of shared learning and discovery truly comes to life!ย ย
In the afternoon, Esther Kiel showed us how to supercharge the 8 phases of the standard EMDR protocol with neuro-affirmative enhancements to therapeutic and supervision work.
Esther is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and is neurodivergent herself.
Her lively and deeply personal presentation explored the intersections of EMDR therapy, ADHD, and neurodiversity through the lens of both her clinical expertise and lived experience. Blending theory, practical tools, and grounded self-disclosure, Esther invited attendees into an honest dialogue about therapeutic adaptations for neurodivergent clientsโwhile also modelling how embracing oneโs own differences can be a therapeutic strength. From grounding exercises and sensory tools to thoughtful strategies for feedback and executive functioning challenges, the session offered a rich, experiential deep-dive into neurodiversity-affirming practice. It was a session filled with humour, honesty, and heartโbest experienced in person, where the full impact of Estherโs insight and authenticity was felt most powerfully. If you missed it, youโll definitely want to catch the next one live.
The EMDR East Anglia Association steering group looks forward to welcoming you to learn, mingle, network and connect (or re-connect) with our rich regional EMDR community in what has become EMDREA’s home base at the Beet Club in the beautiful cathedral city of Ely.
In the morning Cassandra Manning will explore with us the use of music in EMDR.
Cassandra is an integrative arts psychotherapist specialising in creative process in integrative EMDR psychotherapy.
Music as an interweave in memory reconsolidation (Mus-EMDR) was inspired by Ad de Jonghโs 2.0 training during lockdown – in which he used the Queen track We Will Rock You to help a client process during Phase 4.
Informed by her training and experience in how music can play into well-being and health, Cassandra will show us how to use music & imagery as EMDR interweaves.
Mus-EMDR uses received music (music which is not made within session, but is already recorded and offered to the client during processing) within the framework of the standard EMDR protocol. It can be used in all phases of EMDR.
In the afternoon, Esther Kiel will be showing us how to supercharge the 8 phases of the standard EMDR protocol with neuro-affirmative enhancements to therapeutic and supervision work.
Esther is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and is neurodivergent herself.
The strengths and limitations that come with ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity, whether encountered in clients, in colleagues or in oneself, require understanding and accommodation. Rejection sensitive dysphoria, for example, may be triggered by the challenging nature of the therapeutic interaction; experiences of rejection are of course very real in neurodiverse lives.
Following Esther’s presentation in the afternoon, there will be ample time for networking with old friends and new allies.
As we mark the 10th anniversary of our founding in 2014, the East Anglian Regional EMDR Group stretched its geographical borders on Saturday December 7 2024, welcoming a truly worldwide EMDR community to explore, with Marlene Kenney from the US, AIP and disaster mental health: from critical incident to mass casualty.
We are proud to have had attendees from the UK, of course, but also from Lebanon, Spain, Iraq, Bosnia and a number of other countries.
Marlene an EMDRIA- approved consultant and EMDR trainer based in Arlington, Massachusetts, teaching the Group Traumatic Experiences Protocol and R (as in Recent) TEP.
As a member of the EMDR Council of Scholars from 2019-2021, Marlene worked with a global clinical practice group mapping a future for EMDR in the post-Francine-Shapiro era. She is also the Director of Disaster Mental Health for First Aid of the Soul, a mental health organization supporting those affected by the Ukraine conflict.
Marlene trains professionals in psychological first aid and trauma recovery. Her career spans numerous disaster response efforts, including providing mental health support after Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, the Boston Marathon bombing, and several mass shooting events in the U.S.
The East Anglia regional EMDR group was thrilled to welcome Marlene Kenney from the US for a day’s online exploration of best practice in EMDR-informed response to critical incidents.
We’ll be posting here shortly a full account of how the day unfolded, and in the meantime he’s a reminder of the background.
Marlene is an EMDRIA-certified consultant and Group Traumatic Episode/Recent Traumatic Episode Accredited trainer.
She has managed teams in response to the Boston Marathon Bombing, mass shootings, deaths by suicide and other critical incidents in the US.
She is the director of disaster mental health for First Aid of the Soul, a Ukraine-focused mental health organization and has worked with communities in the Philippines.
Participants were introduced to the core pillars of AIP informed disaster mental health, Psychological First Aid, EMDR Early Intervention theory and practice, and the underlying frameworks of responding to any incident. The workshop used examples from Marleneโs expertise in responding to suicide loss as a community based critical incident.
Workshop goals and objectives
Participants were invited to learn how to:
Describe the eight core action steps of Psychological First Aid.
List three EMDR Early Intervention techniques.
Describe how to assess which type of Group EMDR to use.
Define Early Intervention EMDR.
Describe three approach variables to consider when responding to a critical incident.
Increase understanding of the principles of Group Traumatic Episode.
Explain the rationale for working with an episode as practiced with group EMDR.
By Carsten Dernedde. Michelle Griffiths-Reeve and Joe Kearney
Mike Rivers, Chair, welcomed us to the first in-person CPD and Networking Event in Ely since 2019 in the Ely Beet Club, a venue of many past such adventures.
With Carsten Dernedde lined up for the end of the morning and Joe Kearney ready for the afternoon, both looking into EMDR and the Body, Jo-without-an-E Gresham-Ord kicked off the day with her talk of EMDR and walking which has been a big part of her EMDR journey. A few in the audience had dabbled with it but blocking beliefs come easily to mind.
A chance encounter with an Australian psychologist was the first time Jo encountered an enthusiast for walking EMDR, and with Covid forcing us all to make choices about social distancing, Jo gave herself a push and chose walking – experimentally at first, and not yet in the best physical location. Her feeling was that it would particularly suit highly complex patients.
Jo uses the standard EMDR protocol with tweaks. She took us through the eight-phase protocol and the adaptations she has found most useful, with history-taking including a risk assessment and consent form and resourcing/phase two preparation beginning indoors and carrying on outside..
Fed up with only meeting virtually? Wondering what we all still look like below Zoom’s Face-and-Shoulders view? Longing to give each other that long-awaited bilateral hug? Curious about innovations in EMDR that might include the most ancient forms of bilateral stimulation before Shapiro invented ships-in-the-night eye movements?
The EMDR UK Association’s Regional Group in East Anglia was delighted on Saturday April 27 to host our first in-person meeting (break out the champagne…) since the pandemic, at our well-known and well-loved Ely (Sugar) Beet Social Club in the heart of Fenland.
Jo Gresham-Ord, sharing her thoughts on Walking and EMDR, all in good time.
Blowing Covid cobwebs to oblivion, Jo Gresham-Ord took us through EMDR with Walking, and while Joe Kearney and Carsten Dernedde enthused us about EMDR and the Body, somatic experiencing in EMDR, and, especially also, all that very topical polyvagal stuff.
As long-standing members of our Regional Steering Group and organisers of many a past networking day, Joe and Carsten needed perhaps less introduction, though we added a few further down.
Fuller report of the day coming shortly, so at this point, just saying thanks to the team and all our guests for making this day such fun and so professionally rewarding.
Regional Chair Michael Rivers saying thanks to Carsten for his wonderful presentation
And for Jo without an E, she’s an EMDR Europe-Accredited Consultant with over 20 years of experience working in the NHS, University of East Anglia and in private practice. Since the Covid crisis her practice has broadened out to include the use of Walking and EMDR as a modality for treatment, and she’s an Ely local.
Joe Kearney Inspiring…
Jo (the one without an -e) writes:
Have you ever wondered why Francine Shapiro, who discovered EMDR when she was walking in the park, focused so much on the eye movements and not the walking part? I have.
Maybe it was due to the cultural norms of doing therapy in the room at that time or simply that the eye movements were a more noticeable part of what she experienced.
Therapists have been working outdoors for a long time. This is not new. However, with the advent of the Covid virus meaning that meeting in rooms was more challenging, one thing is for sure, more people seem to be taking the therapy outside.
Consequentially, I have increased my use of EMDR using Mindful Walking as BLS and will be sharing how to adapt the standard protocol by giving some examples of how and when it has worked most effectively. Iโd like to encourage any therapists who feel apprehensive about doing this to embrace the opportunity to use nature as part of their therapeutic tool kit.
For the rest of the day, once Jo has taken us all for at least a metaphorical walk, Carsten and Joe outline their ideas thus:
Why is EMDR Bodywork? Before lunch, and taking in the neurobiology of trauma and social engagement, we’ll explore why thinking is feeling, why the past is present, how resonance sends adaptive information processing in the right direction, and the deer metaphor explanation of why EMDR works.
Plus as a bonus feature why the earth is flat after all. Not really joking but rather an invitation to consider EMDR from the body’s point of view.
After the lunch break, we will do some practical exercises to illustrate some of these points.
Joe Kearney will present on Somatic Experiencing and EMDR, and we will explore how EMDR can be enriched by giving the body room in the Eight Phase protocol. There will be opportunity for small group experimentation and reflection.
And as we conclude here, potential future presenters at regional networking days please take note: it can be very enjoyable and stimulating preparing a presentation in a group, even if you don’t take the stage.
Our day with Mary Clare gave a clear outline of how to integrate every way of working with ego states and dissociative parts into the practice of EMDR, and included some essential steps that are often missed out.
Mary Clare de Echevarria is a UKCP registered Psychotherapist, Recognised Supervisor and Recognised Training Supervisor, and EMDR Europe Accredited Consultant.
She is also a qualified teacher, with over 30 yearsโ experience of teaching and training, and with a style that’s been described as clear, accessible and engaging.
A very rewarding 200 participants had signed up for EMDR East Angliaโs latest training day, 145 of whom were in the Zoom room on the day.
Trained by Deborah Korn, Dolores Mosquera and Laurel Parnell among others, Mary Clare has been training trauma and parts work for many years, and had prepared a formidable handout for the day. In the event, and reflecting how she works, a day unfolded of sparkle, interaction, discussion and innovation โ no death by Powerpoint on this occasionโฆ
The introduction โ an exercise in body awareness
Mary Clare started with an exercise, inviting us to feel into the body, welcome any difficult sensation or emotion, and to continue to take note of those inward experiences throughout the day. She asked us to say โhello and welcomeโ to them, just as we ask our clients to do. Our feelings, noted Mary Clare, wish us no harm: they have something to tell us.
The Basics of Dissociation
To understand the origin and purpose of dissociative parts, updated polyvagal theory helps with the understanding of trauma responses. The Still Face experiment, of which Mary Clare showed a video clip, helps with understanding the biological mechanisms in early-life attachment of rupture and absent repair.
