Summary by Carsten Dernedde
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.
Marlene’s EMDR model for disaster mental health was featured in the Group EMDR book. Her work with suicide loss survivors was highlighted at the EMDRIA 2024 conference, and she was featured in the August 2024 issue of Go With That magazine.
After a wild tech ride behind the scenes to shepherd all of the 134 Participants into the same Zoom room (thank you Mark Brayne, and apologies to all who were there for the delayed start!), Marlene found the right words to get the meeting off to a calm start in the spirit of cooperation: Gratitude to the ancestors, gratitude for the tools we have, chief among them EMDR, to help people heal and connect after trauma, in particular – the theme of the day – where trauma affects many people in a community after critical incidents, mass casualty events, and suicides.
Marlene emphasised the importance of listening and responding to what people need in the aftermath of a mass event, and of getting the authorities involved in planning responses to listen to us, the EMDR community, about the amazing but not widely known tools we have, that can help people not only to stabilise after disaster, but also to eventually to achieve post-traumatic growth.
A group exercise in break-out rooms invited us to assess our own physical, intellectual and spiritual well-being, and throughout the day, Marlene stressed the importance of looking after the needs of practitioners, including consultation (supervision in UK parlance).
Drawing on her experience with the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Marlene emphasized that long before EMDR tools, or indeed EMDR Psychotherapy as the most intricate instrument, can be brought to bear, there is a need to get basic safety, awareness of their own resourcefulness and hope established for affected individuals and communities.
The group discussed responses to mass shootings and other disasters, sharing insights from participants’ experiences, such as hostage work, stabilisation, and support after mass casualties.
Marlene introduced the Macy model, a structured approach for coping groups, and discussed the progress of her “1st Aid of the Soul” project with Ukrainian professionals, noting improvements in PTSD symptoms and compassion satisfaction.
The afternoon session also covered the aftermath of suicide. After an individual event, suicides can be followed by suicide clusters and Marlene highlighted is a need for skills in what’s termed ‘postprevention’.
Marlene returned to the theme of getting the response right for the team so that practitioners do not burn out or de-skill.
Many aspects and themes of her presentation sparked lively discussion in the meeting chat and in the main Zoom meeting. The seed of a NHS staff support SIG may have been sown in the meeting chat; we will see!
Participants, some of whom had distinguished themselves in organising responses to the trauma of war and disaster in different parts of the world, shared generously of their own expertise and useful source material.
Marlene’s inclusive presentation style, what we hope is our own EMDREA steering group’s welcoming attitude, and the engaged contributions from the participants on the day generated the feeling that we are all fortunate to be engaged in a true community of people who really have something to contribute.