Unleash Your EMDR: Groups take up practice on their own.

With thanks to Judith, Mary, Marie, Lana, Lynne and Heather (and apologies for the cheesy illustration above of another form of triads), it’s good to see sub-groups of our Unleash workshop attendees arranging their own practice triads online on Zoom, and here’s Judith’s (Turner) summary July 2020 of the story so far.

There are six of us in this group, and we have had two meetings with breakout rooms so far; they each lasted for one and a half hours.

In our second meeting we used 15 minutes for a check-in, an hour for triad work and 15 minutes for a final discussion.

The triads each decided how they would work. In our triad during the last meeting, two of us took turns to be the principal therapist with support from the observer/ therapist.

The observer was helpful pointing out when the protocol went astray and we maintained the same client throughout the hour. We all felt this worked well.

It was also great to work with people from a variety of therapeutic backgrounds, and from widely spread geographical areas.

It seemed to provide a relaxed and safe learning environment, with time to discuss different choices and alternatives, which was helpful.

Some of us struggled with the protocol, and keeping the language clean, and we think it was useful to see what we forgot, and possibly why this might have happened.

At present the group plans to meet weekly for the next few weeks, to strengthen our learning and provide mutual support. Triads and dyads may have to be changed, depending on whether all of us can attend each session.

Possible problem areas

Leadership

One person has agreed to lead the group for the next three sessions, and has learnt how to use break out rooms to do so.

Those with ZoomPro accounts will probably take turns organising the groups according to who can attend each meeting.

Practice

We all need and want practice, so taking the different roles (client, therapist or observer) is important.

However, if a person feels reluctant to take on one role, this can be accommodated; the hope being that with more observation of the process they may be encouraged to step forward!

The aim of the group is to practise Attachment-Informed EMDR, intergenerational EMDR, working with dreams and the Transfer of Consciousness.

We will continue to review the aims of the group as we progress.