What is Attachment-Informed EMDR? A brief introduction for clients.
By Mark Brayne If you’ve come to this page on our website, you very probably already have some interest, and maybe some personal experience, of EMDR therapy, and are perhaps curious how this way of working differs from mainstream EMDR or indeed from other forms of talking therapy. It’s important to set out up front that what we call attachment-informed, or AI- EDMR builds on what’s known in our therapist jargon as EMDR’s Standard Protocol, laid out by EMDR’s founder Francine Shapiro way back at the end of the 1980s. That’s an eight-phase approach to [...]
Case conceptualisation and Target Identification
Fascinating musings from our colleague Alan Tidmarsh on Case Conceptualisation and Target Identification – prompted by Mark Brayne Focus webinar Feb 15 2021. Case conceptualisation is the point where the information from meeting the client and taking history distil themselves into working hypotheses about the existence of ‘landmarks’ in the client’s autobiographical memory – experiences that serve as “reference points for the organization of other personal experiences and thus become important components of the life story and personal identity” (Berntsen, Willert, & Rubin, * 2003, 689). The working hypothesis needs to be held lightly but is a necessary discipline.Your reference [...]
Lucinda GL reports on giving evidence in court
Being in Court for a Client I was recently in court for a client, as her therapist and a witness, whose parent she charged with multiple accounts of sexual abuse and other items similar (gross neglect etc). These all happened to her when she was a child. When I first realised I was going to have to be called as a witness, probably two years ago, I will admit I panicked. “What me??” I thought to myself, and immediately all of my negative belief systems reared their ugly heads 🤯. Of course they did, I was in flight and fright [...]
Annabel McGoldrick on EMDR with Addictions
Sharing my mistakes Lessons learned using EMDR tools for addiction recovery By Annabel McGoldrick, PhD My first therapy job, after beginning basic EMDR training in 2007, was in an addiction treatment centre in Australia called South Pacific Private, which used a trauma-based approach to support clients in their recovery. I found EMDR a great extension to my tool kit and a really good fit for my private work. I began experimenting at an early stage with some of the well-known protocols including DeTUR, the urge reduction protocol (Popky, 2005); Jim Knipe’s tools for treating addictive disorders with Adaption Information Processing [...]
Locked Down. Locked In.
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 [...]
Summary of key points just gone out to new Online EMDR Google Group in the UK
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...
Parnell at last officially legit in the UK…
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.
EMDR in Romania – A Personal Story
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.
Intergenerational Trauma: Healing the Past to Heal the Present
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.
Parnell in London Sept 2018
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.
Unleashing the Magic of EMDR – London, CCPE, April 7/8 2018
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.
About Us
EMDR Focus is a private, UK-based company led by Mark and Jutta Brayne, bringing advanced EMDR training, supervision, support and passion to empower colleagues around the world to Release the Magic, as we put it, of this…
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