EMDR UK President’s update – November 2022
28 November, 2022
Dear Colleagues,
I really hope that you’re having a good autumn and getting excited for the festive season. Here’s some more EMDR UK news to help keep you in the loop within our community.
We had nearly 50 action points from our last board meeting, so below is just the highlights!
EMDR UK Annual Conference 2023
Registration for the EMDR UK annual conference opened on Monday 21st November 2022, early-bird rate ends on the 16th of January 2023. The conference will be held both Online and in Glasgow. Attending in-person offers a great opportunity not only to attend the national event, but also to visit this historically interesting and cultural city. For more details: EMDR UK Conference 2023 . On a related matter, if you are interested in joining our Conference Committee please drop a line to the conference chair, Marian Tobin, at conference@emdrassociation.org.uk
E-accreditation process
We are acutely aware that the process of completing the current accreditation forms is problematic for some. Please know that we are actively working on a fully online accreditation process. As with nearly all IT projects it has hit various ‘bumps in the road’ and is slightly behind track from our original plans, however, it is moving forward and should be delivered in 2023. We’d appreciate your patience and understanding during this transition period.
Launch of new EMDR Forums in early 2023
80 Association members are currently testing the new EMDR Forums until the end of the year. This has flagged up some useability and technical issues which are currently being resolved. The aim is to launch the Forums, which will provide a safe, ethical, and effective way to communicate and share resources, to all Association members in early 2023. The response from testers has been positive, and a lot of effort has gone into ensure that the Forums are easy to use, intuitive, accessible, and robust. The Forums have also started to be populated with useful resources and topics, all of which are easily searchable. In addition, a daily or weekly email summary is provided to reduce email traffic if desired. Please look out for your invitation to join early next year!
NICE experience
We are determined to gain back some lost ground from the NICE 2018 PTSD guidelines. We are bringing together a multi-layered approach with this, as we believe that politics is as important as RCT evidence. As a result, we are after some additional expertise to help our Scientific & Research Committee. Do you or somebody you know have experience of sitting on NICE guidance committees? This can include physical or mental health conditions. Please get in touch with Beverly Coghlan: ResearchOfficer@emdrassociation.org.uk
C&A Committee
EMDRUK is driven predominantly by our members volunteering their time and expertise. Currently the C&A Committee is looking for enthusiastic new members. No experience necessary but we would welcome enthusiastic people to help in our work organising C&A events and raising the profile of C&A related issues throughout the association and Europe. Please contact the chair at r.hurn@emdrassociation.org.uk
Regional Group Support
Special thanks go to the Kent Regional group for their generous contribution of £7000 to EMDRUK, which we have allocated to our dedicated research fund to help support future EMDR therapy research projects. EMDR research donations are always gratefully received.
Bulletin Board (BB)
Our BB is part of our efforts to streamline communication with our members and reduce the number of emails we send out. If you have information you think our members should know about then email admin@emdrassociation.org.uk and we can consider it. You can also read current and past BBs via https://www.emdrassociationevents.org.uk/bulletin-board/ Look out for the weekly emails highlighting the BB and bookmark the page when you can.
New Specialist Interest Groups (SIGs)
SIGs are a great member benefit, where you can learn from colleagues and share best practice. SIG members can also join the Association free for the 1st year. The newest SIG to launch is a Climate Change group run by Martina Leevan at: mleevenpsychologist@gmail.com (On this climate change subject- remember we offset the predicted emissions of board business and our employee’s work. To find out more visit: https://ecologi.com/emdrassociationuk We also use ethical banks for our investments.)
For the full list of other SIGs visit: EMDRUK RGs and SIGs . If you are interested in setting up a new EMDR SIG contact Louise Mackinney: l.mackinney@emdrassociation.org.uk
Support to Ukraine
Back in July I informed you that EMDRUK sent a £10k donation to projects related to Ukraine. Those funds were allocated to the Polish Vitamelius Foundation with the collaboration of EMDR Poland and EMDR Ukraine who organized a training for Ukrainian psychologists who were staying in Poland. 24 Ukrainian psychologists attended the training, who had been forced by the war to leave their country. Most of them, right after Level 1, started helping Polish EMDR therapists in working with Ukrainian refugees.
Free first year’s membership
Following the popularity of our free first year membership for NHS therapists, the Association is extending the offer to all EMDR therapists working in the public sector and charitable organisations where therapy is offered free at the point of delivery. From Combat Stress to Freedom from Torture; the Ministry of Defence; social care and forensic services; there are many charities and public sector organisations offering EMDR therapy to those who need it. For more details: EMDR UK Membership
Proposal for tributes to Sian Morgan and Ericka Johanson
The EMDR UK Association Board wishes to propose tributes to the late Sian Morgan and Ericka Johansen, both much missed by the Association.
For Sian, we would like to ask the membership to make nominations for the best innovation / service development / initiative involving EMDR in the charity sector or in the NHS. Please make nominations to admin@emdrassociation.org.uk. The trophy will be awarded at the Annual Conference every two years. For Ericka, members of RGs and SIGs are asked to nominate their group in terms of its’ service to members and to the furtherance of EMDR. Committee members will not be able to nominate themselves. This should also be sent to admin@emdrassociation.org.uk. This aware will also be made at the Annual Conference every two years. Please email with the group/service you are nominating, making it clear why you are nominating this group/service and whether it is for the Sian or the Ericka Award.
EMDR news, resources and more on our LinkedIn Page
Our LinkedIn page now has almost 2000 followers and is a great way to get all the latest EMDR Association news, plus we also regularly post EMDR resources including real-life stories, research, guidance and news of how EMDR is being covered in the press. Follow us here https://www.linkedin.com/company/emdr-association-uk/
If you’re already a follower, please do consider sharing our page on to help increase our reach and readership. We’ve suggested some copy below that you could simply cut and paste:
Give EMDR Association UK a follow!
The EMDR Association UK page here on LinkedIn is a great resource, with its regular updates featuring real-life testimonials and stories, a range of training videos, podcasts, research and news on how EMDR is being covered by the mainstream media. Well worth 30 seconds of your time to like and follow!
#EMDR #EMDRAssociationUK #EMDRtherapy
https://www.linkedin.com/company/emdr-association-uk/
Frontiers in Psychology
One of the largest and most cited research publications in the world, Frontiers in Psychology, has produced a special edition dedicated entirely to EMDR therapy for the second time in its history. It brings together new scientific evidence, clinical experiences, reviews, and opinion pieces, in sixteen articles with 77 authors contributing to its realisation. It is well worth looking through this publication: Frontiers
That’s it for now! Stay involved and keep looking after yourselves and each other.
Matt Wesson
President
EMDR UK