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Heena Chudasama
Chair of the EDI Committee, Trustee & Volunteer
I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist with a strong interest in equality, diversity and inclusion, community psychology, and sustainable and collective wellbeing support in the community. I was honoured to be recognised for the work I do with the ‘Walden Model’ and was awarded the annual Counselling Psychology Prize from the BPS for ‘Servicer user care and involvement 2019’. I have a history in critical incident work and am now part of the British Red Cross Psychosocial Reserve. My clinical practice has always been trauma focused. I have worked with adults, children and young people in various organisations, including the NHS, social care, education, independent practice, charitable and corporate sectors. I currently work in independent practice, education, safeguarding, in the community and with charities. I join the newly formed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee following the first virtual EMDR UK conference. A year later I joined the EMDR UK Association board.
Why did you choose to train (or retrain) in EMDR therapy?
For many years, my clinical supervisor had been encouraging me to train in EMDR. I wasn’t sold on it, however, as the evidence base continued to grow, I chose to train in this model of psychotherapy and see what it was all about. It has been a game changer in my practice and to that end, I wish I had trained in it sooner! EMDR dovetails beautifully with other therapeutic orientations and I am therefore able to tailor my practice to my clients' needs. EMDR has an ever-growing evidence base and I value and engage in evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence, which when combined is present in abundance and continues to grow.
What is your favourite place on the planet?
With this question I am drawn to grounding myself whilst sitting in the Atlas Mountains. Ultimately, being around ‘my people… my family…my friends’ is my favourite place.