The Training Begins: EMDR Part 1

I have now been in Addis for six days, organizing the location, the food and the manual production. I have met with the advanced students twice for consultation and done the best I can with trying to sort out the many emails I am getting daily to either say a participant will unexpectedly not be able to attend, or, that someone has just heard about the classes and wants to register. Determining the readiness of a participant I have never met from a few lines in an email is one of the hardest parts of the preparation.

Joset Munro arrived from the US on Friday. Reyhana Seedat flew in from South Africa Saturday night. And Sunday morning, very early, the three of us leave our hotel to begin teaching 29 Ethiopian psychologists, social workers and counselors the fundamentals of EMDR.

I would like to say a few words about Reyhana, who is one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever met. In addition to seeing clients at her very successful private practice, Reyhana flies to some part of Africa, the Middle East or even Asia at least once a month to teach EMDR, Play Therapy, Sand Tray work, hypnosis, or Relationship building. The day after she left Addis, she was off again to Turkey. We are so fortunate that Reyhana has made such a large commitment to our work in Ethiopia.

Each training day begins at 8:30 AM and often runs until 5:30 or 6:00 PM, depending on how long the practicum in the afternoon takes to complete. We provide lunch for the group, as well as two coffee/tea breaks. These breaks are an important time to network and to form the connections which, hopefully, will keep the students connected until their next training, at least a year away. This is one of our greatest challenges.