EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs: 20 Years and Counting

Abstract

EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs (HAP) was created in 1995 by EMDR clinicians who had offered pro bono care and training for therapists in Oklahoma City after a terrorist attack. HAP set its mission to bring evidence-based trauma therapy to communities that were underserved or that had suffered disasters. HAP’s training programs, which are low-cost, are provided by volunteers and target clinicians in public or nonprofit agencies. HAP currently reaches about 2,000 trainees annually. Similar HAP training programs in developing countries reach about 200 clinicians annually and aim to build local communities of practice that are sustainable. HAP has responded to disasters worldwide, with both training and treatment, but increasingly directs most disaster aid to the United States as new sister organizations appear and respond to disasters in other regions of the world. In recent years, HAP has aimed to promote emergence of its Trauma Recovery Network (TRN)—local voluntary teams of clinicians who stress preparedness as a key component of disaster response. Three TRN chapters in 2010 had grown to 20 in 2013 and will soon double, providing new options for service to HAP’s more than 1,500 registered clinician volunteers.