January 2012 Newsletter

Take a look at the new site for an update on what’s happening, and to take the quick and easy route to renewing your membership or becoming a member of HAP UK & Ireland.

• Some words from HAP Europe President Derek Farrell on what’s brewing around the world, from Pakistan to Palestine
• News about HAP UK&I’s very successful project in Bosnia-Hercegovina
• Plans for New Zealand – not exactly a developing country, but dealing with earthquake aftermath
• How EMDR Consulants can help HAP by offering a little time for supervision on Skype
• Recent HAP UK workshops with Pam Virdi
• EMDR Consultants meet in London to chew cud and Think About That
• Michael Tidbury reports on fund-raising in Peru, and Mark Brayne prepares to pedal into the sunrise
• Thanks for a birthday gift
• New trustees come on board
• And thanks in more detail from me, President of HAPUK&I, Sian Morgan

In 2009 we began a project in Bosnia-Hercegovina (BiH) in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of Tuzla. In May this year, 22 participants completed their full EMDR training. We are very grateful to Dr Michael Patterson and Keith Piper for providing the Part 3 EMDR training.

Ongoing supervision is being provided via Skype to many participants. There are already a number of clinicians working towards their Accredited Practitioner status. We are particularly pleased to have Sanja Oakley as a supervisor.Originally from Sarajevo, Sanja is providing supervision to some of our colleagues in Tuzla in their native language. Although she is now based in St Louis, USA, the wonders of Skype allow EMDR colleagues worldwide to cross continents on a regular basis.

In Spring 2012 we are extending our project to Sarajevo. Dr Mevludin Hasanovic, our principal partner in Bosnia, is working with Dr Alma Dzubur-Kulenovic to recruit our next cohort of EMDR trainees. We are hoping that by 2014 we will have established a national EMDR Association in Bosnia-Herzegovina working in collaboration with EMDR Associations in other countries in the Balkans.

Dr Mevludin Hasanovic is a great ambassador for EMDR and has been working hard to promote EMDR in the region by speaking at national conferences and publishing professional papers.

One of our main fundraising activities is through organising EMDR-related workshops, so we would particularly like to thank Pam Virdi for providing two workshops this year in the area of EMDR and Eating Disorders.

Pam is a Specialist Eating Disorder Psychotherapist and EMDR Accredited Consultant. She is a Lecturer in Eating Disorders both at Birmingham and Birmingham City Universities and a knowledgeable and engaging speaker.

Her Eating Disorders workshop in Julyand Body Image and Eating Disorders workshop in December together raised over £2,000.00 for HAP UK. An EMDR and Eating Disorders Special Interest Group has also been launched in tandem with these events.

If you are interested in joining the SIG, please contact Pam.

HAP UK’s Membership Secretary Michael Tidbury writes,….

Some of you may remember that last summer, I undertook a walk across the Andes in Peru, and in parallel invited people to sponsor me.In the event it raised over £800 for HAP.

The idea for sponsorship came from a friend who, when she heard that I was doing the walk, said: “Why not invite sponsorship for a charity?” I must confess that the thought had not occurred to me. I was going to be doing the walk anyway and hoped to complete it but could not be entirely sure that I would. So sponsorship seemed an excellent way of giving me that tiny extra encouragement at the critical times (and there were several).

Now that HAP is a charity, it is even easier to set up sponsorship because there are several web sites which make it simple and quick to set up sponsorship invitations specifically for charities.The sites which I have used are www.justgiving.com and www.charitygiving.co.uk and it is very easy to set up a web presence for your event, and sponsors can make donations easily and quickly with the money being passed directly to the charity without your having to do any administration.

The ‘event’ or ‘challenge’ can reasonably be anything that you plan to do which might be a little out of the ordinary for you – it does not have to be a spectacular life-changing experience. The real test is perhaps: will my family, friends and colleagues be prepared to sponsor me for this? So there is really no limit to your imagination.

So, thank you again to all those who sponsored me, the funds went directly to HAP, now I lay down the challenge to all of you to go forth and find things for which people could sponsor you!

Well, that didn’t take long.

HAP’s new webmaster Mark Brayne has taken up Michael’s challenge, with a plan already well in train to cycle from his home in Cirencester first to Moscow via St Petersburg – about 3000 miles – and then, after a quick Transsiberian cheat on the train, from Beijing to Hanoi, a further couple of thousand miles.

Mark, who’s an accredited EMDR Consultant and former BBC Foreign Correspondent, will be blogging atwww.psychlotherapist.com, where – as outlined by Michael above – there are buttons where you can sponsor him per mile or per broken spoke or per country….

Mark is no stranger either to the territories he’ll be travelling through or to long-distance biking, having completed a 4000-mile round trip to Budapest in 2008. The picture above captures the moment of his wearied return home.

At 62, he’ll be hoping the knees hold out, and as well as raising funds for HAP, is looking to generate money for theRory Peck Trust, a charity supporting freelance camerafolk and journalists worldwide who cover zones of conflict.

A big “ thank you” to Lynn Keenan for encouraging friends and family to donate to HAP instead of giving birthday gifts!Lynn and Paul Keenan are long-standing supporters of HAP and have participated as facilitators in HAP trainings in Pakistan and Poland.

As you know, HAP UK became a registered Charity one year ago.This was a big step in our development and is helping us to forge ahead and grow with the primary goal of providing EMDR training in areas of the world where populations have suffered trauma.

Joining the Trustees this year are Michael Tidbury as Membership Secretary, Mark Brayne as our webmaster and IT person, and Richard Worthing-Davies (pictured above – Mark and Michael already have their mugshots elsewhere in this newsletter…) who is bringing his previous experience in development to help us with.

Following the earthquake in Christchurch in February 2011, HAP UK & Ireland have responded to a request for assistance in providing New Zealand mental health professionals with EMDR training to help treat those affected in their recovery.

Sandi Richman has generously volunteered her time to provide a Part 1 EMDR training in January 2012. This is being organised by Phil Nottingham, an EMDR Accredited Consultant trained in the UK and now working in Auckland.Phil will be assisting Sandi and provide supervision to trainees. HAP Australia will also help their New Zealand colleagues with supervision via Skype.

On behalf of the wider EMDR HAP Europe, it’s hard to find words that capture my gratitude for your continued help and support in assisting the development of EMDR HAP projects throughout the world.

Through both EMDR National Associations and the umbrella organisation of EMDR HAP Europe, we continue to progress in offering EMDR training to mental health workers around the world.

The recent establishment of EMDR Asia is proving really vital, not only in capturing the expansion of EMDR clinicians in the region, but also in being able to respond much more quickly to the devastating experiences that occur in the region, for example in Japan in early 2011.

EMDR Asia has also recently accredited a number of indigenous EMDR trainers, which is a really exciting, and absolutely essential development if EMDR is to progress on a sound footing.

Currently EMDR research is being driven by Europe, but our Asian colleagues are quickly catching up.
In Pakistan for example we now have over 100 people trained in EMDR and another 35 have just completed their Level 1 – and this in a country with only 300 psychiatrist, 300 psychologists and a population of over 180 million. The newly established

EMDR Association of Pakistan is proving very dynamic in developing EMDR research projects at RCT level immersed within an academic environment.

In our project to develop more EMDR Consultants, specific trainings will be taking place this year in Thailand and Palestine. I’m very grateful for the vital help from EMDR HAP UK & Ireland in helping to support the EMDR Consultant training in Palestine.

Just as we can never have enough EMDR research, we can never have enough good quality EMDR Consultants.

In June 2012, the EMDR Europe Conference will be in Madrid. EMDR HAP Europe is hoping to showcase each individual nation’s involvement in HAP-related projects throughout the world. This will provide an important insight into how EMDR is developing in Asia, Africa, Caribbean and South America.

No matter how big or small your contribution to EMDR HAP projects, your contribution is very, very important. From small donations to the pro bono involvement of your time, it all helps to make a real difference.

Thank you

Derek

Dr Derek Farrell – President EMDR HAP Europe