ONLINE WORKSHOP – COST: €125
DATE: SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2024
TIME: 09:00h to16:00h (Dublin - London time)
6 CPD CREDITS AWARDED BY EMDR ALL-IRELAND ASSOCIATION

Consistent with the EMDR Standard protocol when working with neurodiversity, treatment is informed by the AIP Model, 8 Phases of EMDR, 3 Prong Past – Present – Future. Application can require distinct differences in approach, sequencing and target selection, including ABLS methods with very distinct critical differences as to how we apply and engage through 8 phases. The presenters will primarily focus on working with Autism as a continuum within neuro-diverse presentation however, they will also highlight how the treatment principles apply to adult & younger presentations with relevance to learning disabilities and range of neuro-diverse client presentations.

Neuro-diverse people have many strengths, which can often benefit society despite the challenges that may be experienced by this population trying to navigate a neurotypical social world. Where neuro-diverse people experience trauma, therapists need to be neuro-diverse aware and affirming in order to create a positive, emotional connection with their client, in which the client feels seen, heard and valued.

The Adaptive Information Processing model, which informs and underpins EMDR therapy, is completely consistent and applicable to using EMDR therapy with neurodiverse presentations. Similarly, the EMDR developmental exceptions to the Standard Protocol applied working with younger populations can inform and support working effectively with EMDR adult neuro-diverse presentations.

In EMDR processing, the neuro-diverse client may need additional modifications to the standard EMDR protocol to help make EMDR more accessible, to help them self-regulate in ways which are sensitive to their neurodiversity and to help the experience of unpredictable emotions become tolerable. The client’s neuro-diversity can be utilised (with or without the storytelling method) as a unique opportunity for resourcing. The use of an extended preparation phase may help the client manage trait anxiety and the modification of EMDR to take into account the client’s strengths as well as their challenges (e.g. Making EMDR more novel and breaking it into shorter sections or more active sessions for the client with ADHD presentations) can make all the difference.

Learning Outcomes: 

1. Understanding of origins and prevalence of neurodiversity, in particular Autism (ASD) both in your clinic and in the wider population, including comorbid presentations and how this might impact / inform your EMDR practice. 
2. Recognise the features of neurodiversity in particular ASD features, how they might manifest in your clinic and how they might be harnessed so as to enhance and develop your clients’ experiences of EMDR therapy.
3.  Appreciate the sensory aspects of Autism. How sensory differences can lead to both fight / flight and dissociative responses, with consideration of their impact on your client’s window of tolerance and your EMDR management strategies. 
4. Understand the inter-relationships between interoception, alexithymia and masking and the links between them and depersonalisation / somatic dissociation, with ideas for ways of working to bring previously inaccessible body sensations into EMDR reprocessing and thence your clients’ lived experiences. 
5. Working with avoidance, including avoidance of body sensations / interoceptive phobia in EMDR therapy. 
6. Use alternative sensory aspects of memories in EMDR phases 3 and 4, when visual images are unavailable due to Aphantasia. 
7. Recognise the similarities between aspects of complex PTSD and in particular ASD, how developmental trauma (trauma during the attachment phase of development) can lead to neuro-developmental features such as those found in Autism and ADHD, with consideration of how this can result in diagnostic overshadowing and difficulties in deciding when trauma treatment is complete. 
8. Reframe the unique presentation characteristics and parameters of neurodiversity presentations beyond symptom expression, to refresh your AIP case conceptualisation to inform your EMDR treatment.
9.  Consider the ways Neurodiversity and Autism may impact AIP case conceptualisation, including the impacts of over diagnosis, labelling, moral injury including iatrogenic traumas and those arising from inadequate, inappropriate therapy. 
10. Through understanding of the aims within each of the 8 phases of the standard EMDR protocol and the challenges each individual clients’ differences bring, justify the small adaptations needed to provide a bespoke service to each of your clients whilst maintaining fidelity to the standard protocol. 

Presenters:

Johnny Moran:

Johnny Moran, Clinical Director Open Minds Centre www.openmindscentre.ie , clinic specializing in treatment of Trauma. Johnny is an accredited EMDR Europe Trainer and Consultant, an Accredited EMDR Europe Child & Adolescents Consultant, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, EMDR Institute Training Facilitator. Johnny is accredited Psychotherapist and accredited Supervisor with IAHIP (Irish Association Humanistic Integrative Therapy). He is National Director for Trauma Response Network Ireland www.trnireland.ie and is actively involved in Trauma Research Projects, serving on the Boards of Trauma Aid Europe and EMDR All Ireland National Association.

Clare Smith:

Clare Smith is an EMDR Europe accredited practitioner and consultant in training with an MSc in EMDR therapy. She works in independent practice with an all-age population and has a particular interest in working with those who experience the world differently, including those who are neuro-diverse or have a lived experience of dissociation, especially the complex dissociative disorders. In her former role as an associate specialist child & adolescent psychiatrist, she developed and led a specialist multidisciplinary team which considered the impact of attachment and traumatic / adverse experiences on children and young people who had pre-diagnosed developmental differences such as ADHD or autism, but whose highly complex presentations were indicative of additional unassessed or unmet needs. A former associate lecturer at the University of Worcester, she has lectured for many years on a range of topics including neurodiversity, disability, human development, trauma and mental health.

For more information: www.openmindscentre.ie

Contact Email: info@openmindscentre.ie

Payment Link: https://buy.stripe.com/eVa7tf8rPbf5f0QdQS