EMDR UK Extraordinary Stories: working with Yazidi survivors of genocide in Iraq
05 December, 2024

In the second episode of EMDR UK’s new podcast series, ‘Extraordinary Stories’ we meet EMDR therapist Yesim Arikut-Treece, who worked with the Yazidi survivors of genocide in the Kurdish region of Iraq.
“I’ve always wanted to work in a crisis and emergency situation,” says Yesim, “I seized the opportunity [to work for the Free Yazidi Foundation] with both hands…In January 2018 due to some political unrest in Kurdistan the airports were closed so I got in a taxi from Turkey to Kurdistan…and my adventure started.”
Yesim arrived at the women and children’s centre in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. The region was in complete disarray, with no houses, schools, or services remaining after the destruction caused by ISIS and Daesh. There were thousands of survivors, all traumatised, but very few therapists were working in the camp. Scaling up services to increase capacity was essential.
“One of the first things we did was to start EMDR therapy in big groups.” Later, she continues, “we trained 15 to 20 Yazidi girls and women that had already been part of our stabilization groups, with trauma stabilization techniques. They called themselves Harikara…it means ‘helper’ in Kurmanji. They would visit tent by tent…and identify people who need further help under our supervision.”
Yesim and her team adapted the EMDR G-TEP and IGTP protocols, “EMDR is such a versatile tool, it’s such an amazing therapy approach that it is adaptable to anywhere that [therapists] are working.”
Being trained to work effectively with an interpreter was essential, “So, you look at the client directly, or the group, both of you, and she becomes you…It’s so important in a therapeutic setting because we use a lot of gestures, and tone of voice to convey what we want to convey to the clients.”
The work presented many challenges, especially during the pandemic, “One interesting thing is in these camps everyone has a mobile phone. We were making podcasts or videos trying to reach as many people as possible.”
A total of 30 Yazidi women and girls were trained in the Trauma Stress Relief package designed for laypeople working on the front line. It’s a legacy which continues to this day and of which Yesim is rightly proud, “they are still working in Kurdistan region of Iraq in those camps.” The Harikara: helping others who like them have suffered trauma, to begin the process of healing.