2010 EMDRIA Conference Page Live!

January 28, 2010

The 2010 EMDRIA Conference Webpage is now live! By using this mini-site, you can find out all of the most recent information pertaining to the EMDRIA Conference this October in Minneapolis, including Conference schedule, speakers, topics, hotel information, hotel reservations, travel information, and more!

In March you will also be able to register for the Conference online and take advantage of the early-bird rate!

Please visit the webpage frequently to see the latest information as it will be updated as more information becomes available!


Book Your Hotel for the 2010 EMDRIA Conference

January 25, 2010

It’s not too early to book your hotel room for the 2010 EMDRIA Conference! This year’s Conference will be held at the Hilton Minneapolis from October 1-3, with a Pre-Conference Day on September 30.

For reservations, please visit the Hilton’s special page for our Conference, or call 1-888-933-5363 an be sure to specify that you want the special EMDRIA room rate!

We look forward to seeing you in Minneapolis!


Membership Renewal Backlog

January 21, 2010

If you  sent in your membership renewal or joined EMDRIA via mail or fax, please note that it can take 4 to 6 weeks for complete processing of your renewal.  All EMDRIA members have the same expiration date (December 31), so we receive the bulk of renewals all at the same time.  We will NOT inactivate any 2009 EMDRIA member until we are caught up with the backlog of renewals, so please do not worry about a lapse in your membership.  Thank you for your patience.


EMDR HAP Haiti Recovery Project

January 19, 2010

By Bob Gelbach, Executive Director, EMDR HAP

The devastating earthquake in Haiti has galvanized the efforts of humanitarian agencies, governments and millions of people around the world.  Many HAP supporters have asked us how EMDR HAP will respond to this massive challenge.

We want you to know, first, that we will be engaged in the work of recovery, and second, that we will make every effort to move beyond disaster response to capacity building. You can support these efforts by donating to HAP’s Haiti Recovery Project.  Every penny received will go directly to trauma treatment and training.   And we will keep you informed as our project progresses.

Already many HAP volunteers with expertise in disaster response and clinical training have told us they are ready to go where they are needed.  Their time and skill are not lacking, but the means to get them where they are needed and sustain them there depends on funding.  (And of course, rescue efforts need time to do their critical work before most people on the scene can think about trauma therapy.)

To DONATE  online, go to www.emdrhap.org and click “Donations,”

or follow this link. Under “Donation Information,” be sure to choose

“Please use my donation for Haiti Recovery Project.”

The partnership of donors and volunteers has always been at the core of HAP’s response – to floods in Bangladesh; to Katrina on the Gulf Coast; to past earthquakes in Marmara, Turkey, in Gujarat, India, in Mexico, Pakistan and Chengdu, China; to the tsunami that struck Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Mental health professionals know better than most that the psychological aftermath of the earthquake will last for years beyond the immediate physical effects.  The depth of the traumatic stress now experienced in Haiti is not only a response to the destruction and devastation wrought by the quake, but is compounded by the heavy overlay of unresolved trauma history borne by so many of the people in that nation, one of the poorest in the world.

We read in the news and editorial comments of the past week that the world must resolve to help Haitians recover not only from the earthquake, but also from the social, economic and political despair that has gripped their nation for 200 years.  In the EMDR community, we know that such a transformation will not occur without release from the grip of traumatic stress that saps the spirit and mental focus needed for progress.

That is why we aim to do what we can to support immediate recovery, but then go on to build capacity for trauma treatment where it has scarcely existed.  HAP colleagues from Europe have already begun this building process in the past year in Haiti.  Now is the time to help them expand their efforts, to link their work to the multitude of humanitarian agencies struggling to their feet this week in Port au Prince and beyond.   Our aim is to see a self-sustaining community of Haitian EMDR therapists and educators in place as soon as possible.   Please make it your aim as well.  And thank you!


FREE EMDR Sessions for Northampton,MA Arson Victims

January 8, 2010

In the wake of the December 27th arsons in Northampton, MA, the Western Massachusetts EMDR Trauma Recovery Network if offering free EMDR treatment to anyone who was affected.  The fifteen fires, allegedly set by Anthony P. Baye in less than one hour, took two lives and caused millions of dollars of damage to cars and homes.

As a result, victims, witnesses, firefighters, and local residents can receive free EMDR counseling to treat any trauma linked to the blazes from the seventeen regional therapists that participate in the Trauma Recovery Network.

Though it typically takes up to four months for trauma victims to develop PTSD, the Western Massachusetts EMDR Trauma Recover Network volunteers hope to prevent PTSD from ever taking hold in the victims.

For more information on the program, please read the article by James Lowe at Gazette.com.

The Western Massachusetts EMDR Trauma Recovery Network is not a part of EMDRIA or affiliated with EMDRIA. However, EMDRIA is pleased to see EMDR therapists reaching out to help those in their communities who have  been victimized by such a horrific act.