Our journey with EMDR therapy as individuals and as an EMDR Association

The development of EMDR therapy in Europe has been an important journey to all those that have been involved personally but also as a community. This journey has reached every day many populations and thousands of clients and clinicians. It has been and continues to be always a process full of challenges and discovery at the same time. This is what we experience every time we do an EMDR session or an EMDR training or when we share experiences or research findings in our EMDR community. The significant growth of EMDR therapy has opened many doors and has taken EMDR to be a well established treatment, recognized and incorporated at an institutional level in many countries. It has been the result of big efforts of many people with a great vision over 24 years. This has made us aware that the need for EMDR therapy is huge, but at the same time National Associations and clinicians have taken the responsibility to respond to this need. In the last 8 years this process has been very evident to me, as President of EMDR Europe Association. Since my first encounter with EMDR in 1997, I have witnessed the fascinating and successful journey of this therapy that is still bringing endless wonders to our field and to me personally. I firmly believe that our history and our structure will be the secure base to further growth, innovations and development. Research, advocacy and networking, new applications that we cannot even foresee now and a high position of EMDR therapy in the field of mental health is what the future will hold for EMDR. During the presentation I will retrace the main stages of my experience accompanying the evolution of EMDR Europe Association….. Keeping in mind that a long journey starts with a single step, as EMDR Europe we have chosen to take one step at a time, consistently and all together. This is what needs to keep guiding us for our future, as the journey of EMDR will continue….

Conference

English

Isabel Fernandez

Fernandez, I. (2023, June). Our journey with EMDR therapy as individuals and as an EMDR Association. Keynote presented at the EMDR Europe Conference, Bologna, Italy