EMDR Extraordinary Stories: Delivering EMDR in a Combat Zone

26 July, 2024

In the first episode of EMDR UK’s new podcast series, Extraordinary Stories, Shelley Bradley Scholey, accredited EMDR Consultant and training facilitator, shares her 14-year military service experience, including her posting to Afghanistan and how EMDR therapy is adapted for use on the front line.

“I never understood the reality of conflict until I was in a war zone. The military can deploy a mental health team to pretty much any location and, typically, that might be two or three nurses and a visiting psychiatrist,” explains Shelley.

“As therapists we can get caught up in trying to create the perfect conditions. I was lucky, in some locations, if I had a packet of tissues and a pen. It’s in a setting like this when the real flexibility of EMDR comes into its own. In some ways, I think therapy in a war zone is therapy at its best,” she adds.

Shelley also wants to encourage other therapists to recognise their own vulnerability and acknowledge the experiences of their clients can have an affect on them:

“I would love fellow therapists to acknowledge their own humanity. What we do is challenging and there’s nothing wrong with stepping back and saying, ‘you know, this has all impacted me’. We need to stop thinking that, just because we’re therapists, it means we have all the answers.”

You can hear the full interview with Shelley here: 
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2384503