*Note* This scheduling program was not designed by folks who do a lot with APA Style and unfortunately it defaults to listing authors in alphabetical order. We cannot fix this for this online schedule, but the author orders are posted in the order submitted in the printed program available via pdf here.
This workshop is for researchers, clinicians (not necessarily trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and activists interested in how disaster response, based in EMDR Therapy, can increase community resilience by healing trauma and providing treatment to underserved populations. The Boston Area TRN (Trauma Recovery Network), a local chapter in the EMDR therapy community’s Humanitarian Assistance Programs, consists of licensed clinicians who provide pro-bono EMDR to people affected by community disasters. TRNs were born out of the EMDR community’s response to the Oklahoma City bombing, and have responded to world-wide events such as natural disasters (tornados, hurricanes, fires, earthquakes and tsunamis), and violent acts (9/11, the Newtown shooting, the Boston Marathon Bombing, ongoing conflicts in Israel and Palestine, the Syrian refugees in Turkey, and others). We will review basic concepts within disaster mental health, community psychology, and EMDR therapy, and issues with conducting research in disaster mental health (Norris et al, 2006; Pfefferbaum, et al, 2012; Weine et al 2002; Call et al, 2012). We will discuss the use of EMDR as an effective intervention for disasters, and options for Early EMDR Intervention (EEI) (Shapiro and Laub, 2008; Laidlaw-Chasse and Miller, 2013). We will explore several of the issues involved in building and launching a TRN (Gelbach, 2008; Colelli et al, 2013). Using specific experiences of the Boston Area TRN’s response to the Boston Marathon bombing and chronic community violence, we will examine strategies for providing services to traditionally underserved communities, and how concepts can be redefined in non-traditional ways in the service of community change. Throughout the presentation will be attention to principles of feminism – what we as feminists know about the costs of trauma in the personal/private and public spheres – illustrated by case examples that show how disaster response interventions can improve lives from a feminist perspective.
