EMDR UK President’s update – Autumn 2023

Dear Colleagues,

Here’s some more news to help keep you in the loop with developments in our community.

Meet the EMDRUK Board

Do you know who is on the Board? What they do? Do they do what you think they should do? Have you got questions you would like to ask them?

We want you to understand how the Association works and for us to understand what you want from us. As part of our multifaceted efforts to improve communication with members we are trialling the first of our Meet the Board sessions that will take place on Wednesday 11th October 2023 at 6.30pm – 7.30pm. Come and talk to us! We are also hoping this will encourage members to consider putting themselves forward as trustees, as we really would like new peoples and fresh perspectives.  A call for nominations for new trustees will go out in November. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89133003825 Meeting ID: 891 3300 3825

EMDR Consultant NHS Job Opportunity

There is an exciting opportunity to be involved as an EMDR Consultant in the Health Education England project to train 168 new EMDR therapist over the next 4.5 years, which has been secured by Solent NHS Trust. The post would involve supervising some of the new trainees for a period of 2 years to accreditation. Supervision happens fortnightly in groups of 3 for 1.5 hours each. All supervision to be provided online. The post could also involve some clinical EMDR work. We encourage applications for the full 0.6 WTE or for parts of that.  For more details or to apply: https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/candidate/jobadvert/C0021-23-0693

NICE PTSD 2018

The EMDR UK Association recognises that a major threat to the practice of EMDR therapy in the UK is the seemingly inconsistent guidance from NICE (NG116, 2018) regarding the use of EMDR with children and adults to prevent and treat PTSD. Whilst NG116 supports the use of EMDR for PTSD, it has used the absence of a sufficient evidence base to justify downgrading the standing of EMDR in their guidance. To address this, EMDR UK has asked the University of Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (ScHARR) to evaluate the EMDR evidence base since 2018 and to produce three systematic reviews evaluating EMDR as a treatment for PTSD, in its prevention and the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. This is an important eight-month project, and there will be a presentation of results at the Conference in York in March.

EMDRUK General Manager Post

We are going through the last stages of planning before advertising for the above post.  The is part of our ongoing process of being less reliant on the work of the volunteer members of the Board and, in turn, being able to better support our members along with expanding our services.  We will forward full details of the role when the advert is published and would be grateful if you would spread the word.

 EMDR Therapy Quarterly (ETQ)

Remember to catch up with a fantastic summer edition full of great content.  The next edition will go live on 18^th October.  It would be nice to hear from regional groups and SIGS with some updates on their activity.  If you have information, please email Beverly Coghlan at editor@emdrassociation.org.uk

EMDR UK Annual Conference 2024

The conference committee is delighted to announce that the next EMDR UK national conference & AGM will be held on the 15th & 16th March 2024 in the beautiful historic city of York, with registration opening in November. It will be a hybrid conference to enable greater choice and flexibility for attendees. To date we have commissioned Peter Liebermann to deliver a Research keynote and Deborah Korn & Femke Bannink Mbazzi to present specialist workshops.  We are also planning to incrementally reinstate a second conference stream and are keen to include research presentations and posters from members – look out for the ‘Call for Papers’ in the forthcoming edition of ETQ. 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

EMDR UK Forum

Most of you will hopefully be aware that the Association is now providing a series of Forums to help communication, sharing of resource and best practice between members.  There are also specific spaces for newly trained therapists, those working towards practitioner accreditation, those who are accredited, and finally a ‘Consultants Corner’.  If you haven’t already logged in to the Forums, you can do that using the link below with your association registered email address, which might also involve resetting a password.

EMDR Forums (emdrassociation.org.uk)

There is more information and walk-through videos on:

https://emdrassociation.org.uk/become-an-accredited-therapist/members-forum/

Any questions can be directed to hub@emdrassociation.org.uk

Cost of living crisis

With rising prices and inflation, we want to support members as best we can.  We have decided to price all national CPD online webinars to no more than £10 per hour of CPD or less.  We are also in a process of launching membership options for those on a low income but the IT logistics of this is proving difficult, so watch this space. 

Free first year’s membership

Many EMDR clinicians now qualify for first year’s free membership of EMDR UK including NHS staff, public or charitable sector workers and trainees. Please help us reach the 6000-member mark soon. For more details: EMDR UK Membership 

EMDR UK Research Database

If you haven’t had chance already then please check out our new EMDR research 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 info@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

 NHS England – New Developments

All members/therapists are encouraged to read this letter from Dr Adrian Whittington, NHS England National Clinical Lead for Psychological Therapies on the issue of Managing risk and safety planning within mental health services.  This document also includes a link to the NICE guidance in this area, which all clinicians should be familiar with, particularly section 1.7 on ‘Assessment and care by healthcare professionals and social care practitioners.’  READ LETTER

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/  

New contact details for those who cannot email

I am pleased to share that the association will be piloting an accessible answerphone line purely for members who are not able to email the association. The answer phone will be monitored Monday to Friday and not weekends and holiday periods. Please be mindful that enquires will be responded to as soon as possible but may take a few days. If you are able to email, please do so on admin@emdrassocation.org.uk who will respond to your query as soon as possible.

Bogus Emails

Occasionally members are getting emails that appear to be from me asking them to get in touch or buy gift cards on my behalf! If you get an email that appears to be from me, please do check the full address (usually by right clicking the name). If it isn’t m.wesson@emdrassociation.org.uk then it’s fake and should be ignored. 

That’s it for now! Stay involved and keep looking after yourselves and each other.

Matthew Wesson

President

EMDR UK

Advancing the treatment of trauma – Realising the potential of people through EMDR therapy