EMDR UK President’s update – Spring 2023
17 February, 2023
Dear Colleagues,
Here’s some more EMDR UK news to help keep you in the loop with projects in our community. I hope to see you at our March annual conference.
EMDR UK Annual Conference 2023
Registration for the EMDR UK annual conference is still open. 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 . Please help us publicise the conference via your social media platforms, especially LinkedIn linkedin/emdr-uk by using the hashtag: #emdrukconf. On a related matter to this event, if you are interested in joining our Conference Committee please drop a line to the conference chair, Marian Tobin, at conference@emdrassociation.org.uk
EMDRUK Research Database for Members launched
In the pre-Christmas rush you may have missed the Association email informing all members about the launch of this database. Information about it can be found here EMDR Publications Database – EMDR Association UK – Overcoming trauma with expert help in the members section of the Association website (email admin@emdrassociation.org.uk if you need the password). The database is free to all members and is a truly valuable resource for research and for informing clinical practice. If you missed the free webinar this month about the project, there are a series of videos explaining how to access it and how to use it. If you are unable to find the original invitation email, you can send a request for access directly to:emdrdatabase@sheffield.ac.uk. Any other questions about this or any EMDR research matters contact Beverly Coghlan, our dedicated Research Officer: researchofficer@emdrassociation.org.uk
Launch of new EMDRUK Forums very soon
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 very soon. We know many members use Jiscmail, but this is not a EMDRUK resource. The response from testers of the forum 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 soon.
NHS England (NHSE) and EMDR Therapy – New Developments
To support the expansion of mental health delivery in response to the NHS Long Term Plan, NHSE aims to ensure a suitable level of availability of NHS EMDR therapists across adult IAPT, adult community and specialist perinatal mental health services in England.
As a result, a new national NHS EMDR therapy curriculum, aligned with the EMDR competence framework, was developed by HEE with a clinically led-multidisciplinary working group including input from EMDRUK and other clinical experts. The curriculum ensures EMDR therapists will be trained to the highest standards and complete a period of practice under specialist supervision to deliver as recommended by NICE and achieve full accreditation in the approach. The new NHS England-funded EMDR Therapy training programme starts in May 2023. Health Education England (HEE) recently produced a set of FAQs relating to this project.
Alongside this, NHSE has produced draft clinical governance guidance (2023/02/HEE-NHSE-EMDR-C.Gov-Guide.docx If you have any questions on any of these developments, contact your service lead or email mentalhealth@hee.nhs.uk
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Survey 2023: 13 March- 17 April
As an association we are committed to creating inclusive conferences and events where we all benefit from a variety of perspectives. We will continue to open up a discussion on how conferences and events evolve to ensure they are innovative, inclusive, rich and diverse spaces, which welcome all therapists regardless of difference including, but not limited to, the level of training, approach to EMDR therapy, age, race, ethnicity, culture, disability, gender, gender identity and gender expression, sex, sexuality, neurodiversity, pregnancy, maternity, paternity and religious practices. Diversity is one thing we all have in common and, by embracing equality and diversity, we can create a collective, nurturing, and compassionate environment which enables the association, its members, and its events to develop. We are all accountable for equality, diversity and inclusion and must work together to identify and act on situations where people might suffer disadvantage.
Your thoughts and feedback are very welcome and appreciated. A link to the survey will be emailed to all members on 13 March and remain live until 17 April 2023. Following the survey, we also hope to hold some focus groups to obtain some further feedback. Should you wish to be involved in a focus group or give any further feedback relating to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion or require support completing the survey please contact Heena Chudasama, the chairperson, of the EDI committee via email: HChudasama@emdrassociation.org.uk
EMDR UK Code of Conduct and Intellectual Property Policy
We have updated our Code of Conduct and the IP & Trademarks Policy. Please do visit the website to see the current versions: emdr-association-policies
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
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 that 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.
Regional Groups (RGs) & Specialist Interest Groups (SIGs)
RGs and SIGs are a great member benefit, where you can learn from colleagues and share best practice. RG/SIG members can also join the Association free for the 1st year. For the full list of RGs/SIGs visit: EMDRUK RGs and SIGs . If you are interested in setting up a new EMDR RG or SIG contact Louise Mackinney: l.mackinney@emdrassociation.org.uk
Free first year’s membership
Many EMDR clinicians now qualify for one year’s free membership of EMDRUK including NHS staff, public or charitable sector workers and trainees. For more details: EMDR UK Membership
Proposal for tributes to Sian Morgan and Ericka Johanson
As reminder that EMDR UK have set up 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. 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. Both will be awarded at the Annual Conference every two years. Nominations should also be sent to admin@emdrassociation.org.uk. 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.
C&A Committee
EMDRUK is driven predominantly by our members volunteering their time and expertise. The C&A Committee is still 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
EMDR news, resources and more on our LinkedIn Page
Our LinkedIn page now has nearly 3000 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 #EMDRUK23
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. I mentioned this in my last update in November but if you missed it then it is still 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