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Building Capacity and Strengthening our Network

In early June, Trauma Recovery/HAP organized its first virtual meeting of the Trauma Recovery Network Association Coordinators and Approved Consultants. The meeting was well attended with over 30 participants and is the first of many upcoming quarterly meetings established to help build a stronger community of dedicated volunteers. Members were eager to share their experiences on everything from recruiting other volunteer members to managing burn-out.

We called upon two of the Associations, New York City and Twin Cities Metro, to highlight their specific experiences dealing with recent disasters in their communities. New York City members shared their experiences supporting hospital workers managing the stress of caring for what felt like a never-ending flow of patients sick and dying from Covid-19, while members from the Twin Cities Metro TRN discussed their work helping First Responders (Police Officers, Fire Fighters, and EMTs) manage the stress of responding to the riots following the murder of George Floyd.

We look forward to continued collaboration and the sharing of information, lessons learned, best practices and real impact during future meetings of our Trauma Recovery Network Associations.

A Call to Action, Responding to the Upsurge of Violence in the U.S.

On Friday June 18th, Trauma Recovery/HAP hosted a live, virtual training “Using the EMDR Recent Event Protocol with Homicide Survivors.” The training, co-presented by the developer, Donald deGraffenried, LCSW, and colleague April Minjarez, Ph.D., aimed to help EMDR trained clinicians further their skills in dealing with survivors of homicide.

More than just an opportunity for advanced training, this was a call to action for EMDR clinicians, both associated with Trauma Recovery/HAP and outside the organization, to equip themselves with the skills needed to bring healing to a growing number of individuals and communities reeling from the trauma of gun violence, homicide, and mass shootings in the United States.

Trauma Recovery/HAP has provided this workshop to several communities greatly impacted by violent, traumatic events within the last 5 years. Staff and volunteers were in Florida, after the Pulse Night Club mass shooting, and made several trips to Las Vegas after the mass casualty event at Mandalay Bay.

With the majority of trainings still being conducted virtually, we were able to open this training opportunity to a wider audience, not limited by physical location. Over 50 individuals registered for the training representing 23 different states and of which 31 were members of our Trauma Recovery Network.

Training feedback:

“The case examples were very helpful as was the mini practicum.”

“I loved the stone meditation! Thank you.”

“The information in the handouts was very clear and educational.”

“This training definitely needs to occur more often!”

Both of these activities are part of a dedicated effort by Trauma Recovery/HAP to build and strengthen our network of volunteers and meet the continually growing need for trauma response and treatment in our communities, both in the U.S. and internationally. We express our sincere gratitude to the individuals and volunteers involved in the process. For more information on our Trauma Recovery Network, please visit https://www.emdrhap.org/content/trn/what-do-trn-associations-do/.