EMDR Therapy Quarterly

A happy new year to you all. I hope the seasonal break brought some time for rest and reflection; however you chose to spend it. There are many challenges globally and nationally, with further changes still to come. These changes may impact the most vulnerable and marginalised in society, which includes our clients, peers and ourselves. There is much need to continue our work together.

EDI Committee member recruitment

The beginning of 2025 brings four new members to the EDI Committee following a recruitment drive at the end of last year. We welcome Karen Jane Crowe, Aisha Docrat, Azucena Guzman and Tafadzwa Tapfuma (known as Taffy). The new members bring their experience and passion to support the committee and the Association.

Webinars

The EDI Committee has engaged in a multimedia approach to providing EEDI-related opportunities for its members. We encourage members to engage with the committee by sharing their areas of interest via webinars, podcasts, the Forum and/or ETQ articles. A number of events, podcasts and ETQ articles have been delivered since the last update, such as working with intellectual disability and  unconscious bias. Further webinars include:

• Intersectionality – understanding, reflecting and applications in EMDR psychotherapy
• Victim blame and trauma-informed spaces
• Breath work.

Dr Aileen Alleyne has been invited to this year’s conference to share her work on understanding generational trauma and black identity wounding.

The committee continues to source and deliver a multimedia approach focusing explicitly on working with marginalised and underserved groups, to adapt and develop our EMDR practice. If this is something you could offer and are an EMDR therapist, practitioner, consultant or trainer, please get in touch. If you are a member of the Association, you are also able to deliver a webinar/event in conjunction with your consultant supervisor. This is a great opportunity for consultant supervisors to support their supervisees’ growth and assist in sharing knowledge. There are a number of CPD events that can be accessed here.

Continuing professional development applications and evaluations

Together we have started to integrate EEDI into CPD events and gain feedback from delegates. The CPD application form has been reviewed and updated to encourage and understand how event organisers and presenters consider accessibility and incorporate diversity in their presentations. Additionally, the evaluation form has also been updated to understand how inclusive and accessible delegates find the events. Both the CPD application and CPD evaluation form will continue to be reviewed periodically.

Bursary

The Association has agreed to offer some bursaries to access standard EMDR, C&A EMDR training, books and clinical supervision. This will take some time, so please bear with us.

SLWG: guidance

We are working on developing some tip sheets/guidance on accessibility to events for the Association. These will be shared via the forum when they are ready.

Special interest groups (SIGs) and regional groups (RGs)

Kamla Dadral continues to coordinate the reflective space for ethnically minoritised EMDR UK members to share their narratives and processes and to consider the group’s next steps. Please contact her at kamladadral7@gmail.com to find out more or to join the reflective group.

The updated EEDI policy has been shared with SIG and RG chairs, and they have been asked to share their feedback.

Awareness days

SIGs and RGs have been contacted to share the awareness and heritage days they would like the Association to highlight. Katy Bell will be working with the Association to support and promote the work in this area.

Forum

The EMDR UK Forum is a great place to share ideas, experiences and resources. The Association aims to develop a safe space to explore issues relating to EEDI. The aim is, of course, for EEDI to be overtly integrated throughout the forum. Bea Carrington and Fiona Corbett share resources about the EDI section on the forum.

Accessible answerphone

We have attempted to increase accessibility to the Association, and an answerphone service has been live since May 2023.

Accessible answerphone number: 0151 372 6802

This is an accessible answerphone line for those who cannot email the Association. The answerphone will not be monitored on weekends and during holiday periods. Please be mindful that queries will be responded to as soon as possible but may take a few days.

Please be aware that there is a process of reasonable adjustments and mitigating circumstances that members can access. This may be relating to attending events, applications for accreditation and other support needs relating to engagement with the Association. Please email the Association at the address below to be directed to the right person in relation to your query.

Heena Chudasama, Chairperson of the EDI Committee hchudasama@emdrassociation.org.uk