Author: Carsten Dernedde

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Racial Trauma in EMDR Practice: Building Knowledge of Harm, Power, and Clinical Impact – EMDR East Anglia Networking Day with Carlyn Boyce

A woman seated on a red stool, wearing a pink suit with a white top, smiling confidently against a blue background.

Saturday 18 April 2026, 09:00-16:30 BST (UK time)

Ticket sales open now!

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Online on Zoom

£40 EMDR Association Members

£50 Non-Members

Six EMDR Association CPD Points approved

The workshop will be recorded

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 re‑experienced, 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 evidence‑based 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, code‑switching, 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 identity‑related 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 anti‑racist 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, anti‑racist, and CBT‑informed therapeutic practice.

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Music in EMDR with Cassandra Manning, plus Esther Kiehl on EMDR with Neurodiversity, an in-person networking day Sat 26 April 2025

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 — when carefully selected and skilfully applied — can act as a powerful co-therapist throughout all phases of the Standard EMDR Protocol. We heard inspiring client stories, explored the neuroscience behind music’s 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 — 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 — these events are designed to be experienced live, where the magic of shared learning and discovery truly comes to life!  

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 clients—while also modelling how embracing one’s 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 heart—best experienced in person, where the full impact of Esther’s insight and authenticity was felt most powerfully. If you missed it, you’ll definitely want to catch the next one live.

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Ely in-person networking day Saturday April 26, 2025, on Music in EMDR with Cassandra Manning, plus Esther Kiehl on EMDR with Neurodiversity

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.

Now with Six EMDR Association CPD points.

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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 Jongh’s 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.