A Message from New EMDR UK President Kath Norgate
10 May, 2024
It’s a great honour to be entrusted with this important role in the Association and I’m really looking forward to continuing the wonderful work that has been done by those who held this post before me. I think I must be EMDR UK’s 14th President!
Some of you will already know me as the Association’s former Treasurer of 15 years. I oversaw its transformation to a charitable company limited by guarantee and have been delighted to be involved in so much exciting change and growth.
None more rapid than over the last five years, which has seen EMDR UK double its membership. We’re now too big to continue relying so heavily on the goodwill of our unpaid volunteers on the Board of Trustees who have made a huge investment of their time, passion and expertise in the development of EMDR therapy and the Association.
Yet, we are still too small to afford to hire a large number of paid employees. I’m hoping to lay down the foundations of a system to address this during my time as President, but first of all we’re focusing on the final leg of a massive website overhaul to include the digital accreditation and membership management system.
Working with Dawn Damni, our lead Administrator, the first step was the introduction of a Membership Database in 2020. It’s exciting to be so close to completion and we’re all looking forward to having everything up and running for our valued members.
I’d like to finish by sharing a bit about myself and my journey into EMDR therapy. I qualified as a registered psychiatric nurse in 1986 but it wasn’t until the end of 1989 when I received an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Dramatherapy that I felt my career as a psychotherapist truly began.
I moved to Chester where I pursued an interest in treating psychological trauma. My first post there was working with traumatised adolescents and young adults in an in-patient therapeutic setting. I later trained and qualified as a Play Therapist in order to work in an out-patients’ clinic with a wider age range.
It was one of my supervisees who first made me aware of a new approach to working with traumatised young people – EMDR. She sent me a copy of ACPP’s Occasional Paper No 19 in 2002 and I was sold!
I have devoted the past 20 years not only to developing my skills as an Accredited EMDR therapist, consultant, and facilitator but also in supporting the EMDR Association UK to grow and improve services to members and the public at large.
P.S. For my inaugural speech (see photo) I wore a scarf given to me by EMDR Egypt, remembering the wonderful therapists I met whilst working in the country with Trauma Aid UK.
Photo credit: Phil Taylor