EMDR Groups are structured group spaces in which participants can engage in personal healing without telling their stories out loud.  EMDR Groups provide a contained way to help renew a sense of safety, presence, and ease.  Our EMDR Groups use what is called EMDR G-TEP (Group Traumatic Events Protocol)—a trauma-informed, research based, powerful approach to increase ability to respond more adaptively to stress.  In EMDR groups, there is no need to share your story out loud.  All of our EMDR Groups are offered virtually in the comfort of your home or whatever private space you choose that feels good to you. 

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Group EMDR (G-TEP or Group Traumatic Episode Protocol) was developed by Elan Shapiro and Brurit Laub around 2013.  G-TEP was developed as a group model for EMDR R-TEP (Recent Traumatic Episodes Protocol), developed to mitigate distress that could result from recent adverse experiences or trauma.  While G-TEP incorporates the traditional 8 phases of EMDR, in G-TEP sessions clients do not disclose any details about their experiences of adversity or trauma.  Non-disclosure of traumatic or stressful memories reduces exposure to secondary trauma that participants may encounter in usual group trauma therapy settings.  G-TEP is carried out, in this case, virtually over a secure HIPAA compliant video platform.  G-TEP uses traditional components of EMDR therapy, including bilateral stimulation (tapping in this case) to help the brain and body process stress and trauma.  G-TEP engages clients in processing using EMDR without talking about distress out loud, and instead directly messaging the group facilitator updates about their distress level (on a simple 0-10 scale) between sets of processing.  Group members have the option of disclosing details of their adverse experiences or trauma in an initial individual session with the group facilitator, although it is not required to participate. 

If you are unfamiliar with EMDR, and are interested in learning more, EMDRIA is a great place to start to learn about the traditional individual EMDR experience that Group EMDR is adapted from.