About the Session
EMDR is a valuable psychotherapeutic technique designed to help individuals heal from trauma. Ethics in professional and personal development are critical components to working with clients and must be examined through a lens of both individual and systemic trauma. Further, EMDR professionals must bring increased attention to matters of cultural competency, anti-racism, and assumptions rooted in white culture. The Code of Ethics for the ACA, NASW, and APA each address the importance of cultural competency. However, in a recent study of predominantly white, female, middle-class EMDR clinicians, researchers found that 54 percent participants surveyed believed EMDR to be universal and required no additional attention to cultural context (DiNardo & Marotta-Walters, 2019). Given the dearth of literature on historical and racialized trauma experienced by marginalized populations, including in therapeutic relationships, it is critical that EMDR clinicians not rely on a one-size-fits-all approach and instead examine practices through anti-racist and anti-oppressive lenses.
Learning Objectives
- Participants will be able to describe the foundations of EMDR ethics, competency in training modifications, issues surrounding adjunctive therapy, and the ethics of the use of new and emerging technological advances.
- Participants will be able to analyze ethical considerations in the context of structural barriers for clients, trainees, supervisees including access to therapy as a client and access to training as a clinician.
- Participants will be able to explain concepts of cultural competency and awareness, intersectionality and trauma informed care, power dynamics, and the ethical implications of systemic trauma as it applies to EMDR therapy, training, consultation, and ourselves.