General

Thoughts, from Mary Jo Radcliffe EMDR client, now 80, former nun who left her convent aged 43. Mary Jo Radcliffe Crisis or opportunity? Locked down alone in a one-bed flat, there is no escape from oneself. Yes, I go to the Common for a sunrise walk, then I write my ‘ virus’ diary, a great source of learning, followed by a Zoom meditation, very deeply virtually connecting. After that there is no more contact with a human being unless I go in the oldies slot for shopping. I am challenged to turn within. The first week of lockdown, I was [...]

Hi - welcome to this Google group for exchanging ideas and questions on how best to use EMDR online - a rapidly growing field, especially now with the Corona virus. The group was set up a few years ago now but didn't really take off. Its time however may now have come, so interested colleagues are welcome to try again to join, with the usual request that all contributions are respectful, kind and tolerant. Note that this group is separate from and independent of the EMDR UK Association, and starts out with just the necessary moderation. Anyone trained in the use of EMDR is welcome. To complement Alexandra Dent's excellent summary note that can be shared with clients, we have a fair bit of background info on our EMDR Focus website. Some basic bullet points for colleagues wanting to get going in short order. Above all, don't be afraid. Online EMDR works brilliantly, so with a bit of courage and time to learn this, do jump in...

At last, some rather good and very-long-awaited news, from the EMDR UK-and-Ireland’s annual Consultants Day in London on November 16 2019. Laurel Parnell, her Modified Protocol, and Attachment-Focused EMDR are now, officially and publicly, accepted as legitimate, mainstream EMDR. No need for a long exposition here. Most of those in our network know the history. Suffice it to say that, when asked at the Consultants Day for thoughts on the position now of Laurel Parnell and Attachment-Focused EMDR and her Modified Protocol, Marian Tobin on behalf of the Association’s Accreditation Committee observed simply that Laurel does have official Association CPD points, (which I might note here that, briefly at the height of our difficulties, was not always the case...), so there's no issue.

As an enthusiast for Attachment-Focused EMDR, and after a spell on the very AF-EMDR-friendly Steering Group of the EMDR Association’s East-Anglia Regional Group, I was asked by EMDR Focus to summarise some EMDR-related findings in Romania, where I’ve just spent several months. For background, I was for a time married to a Romanian, and we have a son whose departure to University last October meant there was time for a sabbatical, and a retracing of my steps back to Romania.

Half-way through a demonstration session at an Attachment-Focused EMDR (AF-EMDR) workshop in London last year, it was becoming clear that my volunteer client and I were getting worryingly stuck. We’d identified where George was being triggered in his present life – a row with his partner – and we’d bridged efficiently to him sitting alone and forlorn on the kitchen floor at the age of four or so, as his mother, her back turned, busied herself at the sink. As she had always done.

t's been a bit of a journey getting here, but with three annual London (and York) events with Laurel Parnell behind us now, and the first successful outings this year of Mark Brayne's Unleash your EMDR: Release the Magic weekend courses, we now have in place a rich supporting array of trainings to get your advanced EMDR practice truly up and running. At the top of this post a cheerful picture of our EMDR Focus Facilitator team, with Laurel at the heart and positioned in front of the Mary Ward House Conference Centre where 45 plucky trainees enjoyed three autumn days being inspired by Laurel's approach to Attachment-Focused EMDR, with daily live demos and a lot of learning. And, the enthusiasm for this training is now particularly reassuring, with as many colleagues on the waiting list as were able to attend, highlighting how Laurel's approach is being increasingly accepted as mainstream EMDR, entirely in accordance with the Standard Protocol as we call it, and turbo-charging work especially with more complex clients.

With a small but select cohort of Attachment-Focused EMDR enthusiasts, a rich and rewarding time was had by all as on the first post-Easter weekend we launched the first of EMDR Focus's new two-day workshops delivering intense and practical skills training in using EMDR with the most complex clients. As far as we know, practical and supervised coaching sessions, in the UK at least, are offered only during Parts 1 to 3 of EMDR basic training. So, drawing generously on the inspiration of Dr Laurel Parnell in the US, our workshop gave experienced EMDR therapists a unique (literally!) opportunity to try out new skills on themselves and each other - for real and with full-length sessions supervised and coached by our new EMDR Focus facilitator support team. The feedback has been most gratifying - and here are a few quotes to illustrate.

Dr Parnell's first two long-weekend Unleash your EMDR trainings in London on working at depth with complex clients were a resounding success, with enthusiastic feedback from the total of 72 participants. Working with rich imaginary figures of protection, nurture and wisdom, with a highly effective bridging technique to identify key past experiences still affecting a client's present life, and with proactive interweaves, trainees quickly found that targets, as they're called in EMDR, can be resolved completely and effectively in a sometimes astonishingly short time. As one participant emailed after the course was over: I attended on the first weekend and from the Monday morning started working differently with my clients. Even in one week the benefits I am seeing are amazing.