Faith, Spirituality and the EMDR Therapist: Reflections from Our November Networking Day

An artistic representation of various religious symbols, including a cross, a Star of David, a crescent moon, a circle with a cross, an Om symbol, and a spiral, overlaying a soft, nature-inspired background with the text 'Faith, Spirituality & EMDR'.

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 — and from further afield — 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:

• Selvira Draganović — Bosnian perspective on religiosity, war, community and identity
• Rabbi Dr David Roth — Jewish theology, meaning, responsibility and intergenerational experience
• Dr Ashraf Muwafaq Flaiyah — Islamic psychology and EMDR in Iraqi and Middle Eastern contexts
• Shohreh Akarzadeh — Bahá’í writings on the soul, nobility, and the spiritual dimension of healing
• Beverley Hutton — Christian imagery of comfort, cleansing and compassionate holding
• Kamla Dadral & Naina Gupta — Hindu philosophical and clinical perspectives
• Jutta & Katharine Brayne — Nature-based spirituality and contemplative silence in therapeutic work
• Shelley Pompana — 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 — sensitive, thoughtful and often quietly affecting.

Selvira Draganović: 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 — those that stabilise, comfort, and help clients feel held — 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 — body, self, mind and spirit — and showed how this aligns with EMDR’s 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 therapist’s 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

Shohreh’s contribution brought a contemplative stillness to the room. Drawing on Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 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 “beautiful,” “profound,” and “moving,” reflecting the emotional resonance of her presentation.

Beverley Hutton: Christian imagery of comfort and holding

Beverley’s presentation drew on scriptural imagery — notably Isaiah 66:12–13 — to illustrate themes of holding, cleansing and compassionate comfort. Her examples of resource imagery and mother–child 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 one’s 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 — both as a personal practice and within sessions. Participants described their experience of the silence segment as “healing,” “connecting,” and “deep.”

Their exploration of the parallels between contemplative inward focus and EMDR’s 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:

• the centrality of ceremony in healing
• the relationship between individual, community, land and ancestors
• teachings passed down through generations
• the collective and relational nature of trauma and recovery
• spiritual presence as part of identity, continuity and belonging

• 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 — filled with comments like “beautiful,” “profound,” “touching,” “soulful,” “this touched my soul.”

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:

clients’ spiritual and cultural worlds are not peripheral to therapy — they are often central to meaning, identity and healing.

Participants repeatedly highlighted:

• renewed confidence in meeting spiritual material sensitively
• relief at hearing commonly held but seldom discussed clinical dilemmas
• appreciation for the diversity of voices
• a sense of warmth, connection and shared humanity

One attendee wrote, “I feel blessed to be part of this community.”
Another said, “This gives me more confidence to bring spirituality into the work.”

Save the Date – 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 clients’ inner worlds and trauma histories, and how EMDR therapists can respond with clarity, courage and clinical depth.

Full details coming soon — please mark the date in your diary.

November 21, 2025November 26, 2025

EMDR, Faith and Spirituality – EMDR East Anglia networking day

Friday 21 November 2025, 0900-1630

Online on Zoom

£30 EMDR Association Members

£40 Non-Members

With Six EMDR Association CPD Points

Book Recording View Here

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 year’s 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 – however defined – 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:

Selvira Draganovic– 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 – 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.

Shohreh Akarzadeh– insights from the Baha’i tradition. Shohreh is a UKCP-accredited integrative psychotherapist with more than three decades of experience. Drawing on the Bahá’í 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 – 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 – 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 & Katharine Brayne – 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, Jutta’s 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 generation’s 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.

Shelley Pompana Spear Chief – 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 – 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.

December 10, 2024May 4, 2025

From Critical Incident to Mass Casualty: an EMDREA networking day with Marlene Kenney, Sat Dec 7 2024

Summary by Carsten Dernedde

As we mark the 10^th 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.

October 11, 2024December 16, 2024

From Critical Incident to Mass Casualty: AIP and disaster mental health

with Marlene Kenney, MA, LICSW

Online, Saturday December 7 2024

With 6 EMDR UK CPD Points

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 Marlene’s 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.
Define AIP approach to suicide loss.
Define suicide postvention.

April 30, 2024May 1, 2024

Ely in-person Networking Day Saturday April 27 2024 – EMDR with Walking, and the Body

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..

February 11, 2024May 1, 2024

First In-Person EMDR East Anglia Networking Day since Covid, Ely, Saturday April 27 2024 Invitation.

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.

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. I’d 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.

February 4, 2024May 1, 2024

Working with EMDR and Dissociative Parts: Optimal Integration of Parts Models

with Mary Clare de Echevarria

Saturday, 3rd February 2024

Summary of the day by Carsten Dernedde

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 years’ 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 Anglia’s 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 – no death by Powerpoint on this occasion…

The introduction – 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 ‘hello and welcome’ 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.

November 27, 2023May 1, 2024

EMDREA Mini-Conference November 25, 2023, hears from Bosnia, about Parts work and more

By Carsten Dernedde

Up to sixty delegates were present in the Zoom conference room and more than 140 in total had signed up to the mini conference and regional networking day.

Claire van den Bosch, EMDR Practioner and IFS Level 3 trained therapist, started the day with her presentation and personal manifesto “EMDR for all our Parts”. She presented her passion with her colleague Bethany Parris, EMDR Europe accredited practitioner and certified IFS therapist

Before getting into the IFS framework she uses to guide her work with complex clients, Claire took the delegates through an IFS-informed unblending meditation.

Accompanied by her own beautifully sketched graphics, Claire talked us through different stages of identifying our in-the-moment available parts and unblending them from the core self.

Creating first a ‘glow’ around the physical body and then breathing into an enlarging space around the body, there was eventually enough space for the parts to remain connected to the core self but move out from the felt body, so that calm regard and focus on the task at hand were possible.

The meditation is useful in the preparation phase or as a clarifying moment in any session.

Claire then gave her introduction to Dick Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems.

September 2, 2023January 31, 2024

EMDR East Anglia Mini-Conference and Networking Day

EMDR and IFS: EMDR for all our Parts (morning)

GTEP in NHS ICU during Covid, and with staff in an Inpatient Setting (afternoon)

EMDR in Bosnia Herzegovina (afternoon)

Presentations and Q&A, followed by Networking Groups to focus on the content of the day.

Saturday 25^th November 2023, 09:30 – 16:30

Online via Zoom
(the event will be recorded and available for 28 days)

Cost: £40 members

£60 non-members

6 CPD points

BOOK NOW

[The East Anglia EMDR Association AGM will be held at 12:30, during the lunchbreak]

Morning

EMDR for All Our Parts with Claire van den Bosch

Claire van den Bosch, EMDR Practioner and IFS Level 3 trained therapist, will present on experiencing our clients and ourselves through the intensely and explicitly relational systems theory lense of Dick Schwarz’s Internal Family Systems. Claire will share reflections on her experience of the power and beauty of incorporating IFS into every Phase of EMDR psychotherapy with complex clients and of the “most important” interweave available – working with our own parts – as therapist – in real time in sessions.

Please email any questions you have for Claire in advance of the day: clairepvdb@gmail.com

Afternoon

GTEP Presentations with John Mulhall & John Davies –

GTEP in ICU during COVID & GTEP with staff in an Inpatient setting

John Mulhall, Cognitive Analytic Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Trainer, & EMDR Consultant. Presenting on the GTEP (Group Traumatic Episode Protocol) project, a single session group based intervention, outlined in the attached paper (view document) was conceived, co-facilitated by John, and his colleagues, at the St Aubyn Centre in Colchester. The Centre is an NHS adolescent inpatient psychiatric setting. John will be presenting and discussing aspects of the project, and its findings.

A further study will be presented by Dr John Davies, Psychologist & EMDR Practitioner, on using GTEP with patients and staff in ICU during COVID-19. John has a particular interest in using this approach with critical care inpatients who have been identified as being at increased risk of developing ICU-related psychological morbidity, including PTSD. He has similarly used RTEP and elements from GTEP to support staff during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

EMDR Bosnia Herzegovina talk with Mevludin Hasanovic, Shemsa Hasan and Selvira Draganovic.

Mevludin Hasanovic, President of EMDR Bosnia Herzegovina, will talk of his work in developing EMDR in Bosnia Herzegovina as a Consultant Psychiatrist & later EMDR Consultant post war (1992-1995). Supported by Trauma Aid UK.

Followed by Shemsa Hasan, EMDR Consultant, talking of her experiences in the Child War Museum in Sarajevo and the Memorial Centre, Portocari.

Finally, Selvira Draganovic, EMDR Consultant in Bosnia Herzegovina, will then talk on ‘The Elephant in the room’; Incorporating spirituality & religion in psychotherapy.

May 10, 2023January 31, 2024

EMDR with Every Client with Gus Murray,

President EMDR All-Ireland

A summary of the day by Deborah Hamilton-Grey

EMDR East Anglia Regional Group online event – 29^th April 2023

This was a dynamic deep dive into EMDR With Every Client with Gus Murray EMDR Europe Trainer and Consultant, President of EMDR All-Ireland Association, Integrative Psychotherapist and Trainer.

Answering questions such as: Can we make EMDR Therapy work with every client? and How do we make it work?

Gus offers us wisdom and insight into three distinguishable levels of EMDR Practice – helping the clinician to better understand some of the complexity around the uses of EMDR in different frameworks, e.g.:

Level 1: Using EMDR techniques – when a clinician uses EMDR techniques as a standalone intervention or as an adjunct to their existing approach.

Level 2: Using the EMDR Standard Protocol to treat dysfunctionally stored episodic memories, arising primarily from shock (Big T) trauma.

Level 3: EMDR Therapy with complex clinical presentations, e.g.: EMDR as a comprehensive model of psychotherapy.

Throughout, Gus used recorded case examples and demonstrations from his clinical caseload.

Paying attention to which level the clinician offers to their client, better enables the therapist to understand the difference between offering EMDR Techniques and EMDR Therapy.

“EMDR is not talk therapy with bilateral stimulation.” (Gus Murray 2020, 2023)

Gus expanded on Level 3 EMDR Therapy, particularly paying attention to what he describes as the competencies needed to work with the complexity of level 3 clients. “Expanded competencies are needed for clinicians to successfully work with complex clinical presentations.” (Gus Murray 2023)

Level 3 competency in this presentation focused on revisiting the EMDR Therapy AIP Model – paying attention to the key function of EMDR therapy as resolving dysfunctionally stored memories through the vehicle of the neurobiology of EMDR therapy, understanding survival adaptations and facilitating somatic processes.

Gus explained key factors in enabling the work of EMDR Therapy. “creating a balance of activation between the present and the past. Dual attention is a primary mediator with emphases placed on the importance of case conceptualisation and treatment planning and the application of an expanded use of the 8 phase protocol.” April 2023.

Other key concepts that Gus suggest that clinicians pay attention to in being able to offer EMDR therapy for all are:

Resourcing e.g.: the positive desired future in addition to resourcing figures and other typical resourcing.

Offer container Exercises – as a way of managing difficult /overwhelming material until readiness to tolerate and a way of making positive resources available to the client accessible when dealing such material.

Identifying readiness to process – crucial in the early stages of the assessment phase.

Identifying targets from core beliefs, including early maladaptive schemas.

Identifying targets from anticipated future experience – helps with moving forward.

Future template versus flash forward protocol

Pendulation and Titration – useful to note how much or how little to offer in the process.

EMDR pendulation Interweaves – to help with being in touch with trauma and helping clients move through it.

Gus ended his presentation with his most important observation that the therapeutic relationship in EMDR therapy is key. EMDR is a Relational Psychotherapy which pays attention to: the working alliance, transference/countertransference and the reparative/developmentally needed relationship. All of that is framed within the person to person (I thou) relationship and the wider context of the transpersonal. (Clarkson P. 1990. A Multiplicity of Psychotherapeutic Relationships, British Journal of Psychotherapy, Vol.7 (2).)

Deborah Hamilton-Grey, EMDR Accredited Practitioner, EMDR Steering Group.