MET(T)A Protocol as a Complete Treatment System – Peer Reviewed Article Published in Counselor Magazine

I agree with the best minds in mental health that treating Trauma is an imperative piece of treating substance use disorders and related mental health disorders.  Click (HERE) to read our most recent peer reviewed article that outlines the MET(T)A Protocol’s trauma-focused approach to treat addiction and related trauma by combining Buddhist Mindfulness techniques and the 8-phase EMDR protocol for a robust, primary treatment rubric that covers the full continuum of care. I am thrilled to see the MET(T)A Protocol published and shared with the world. We need to improve the way we treat those who are suffering by providing trauma-focused treatment environments, tangible treatment protocols, and mindful lifestyle supports to innovate and strengthen therapeutic interventions.

Click through for a read:
https://www.counselormagazine.com/en/article/emdr-therapy-and-addiction-the-new-frontier

Book Review: Journal of EMDR Practice and Research

The latest issue of the EMDRIA Journal, a peer reviewed publication for EMDR Research and Practice, includes a very positive review of our book EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care. Jamie and I are thrilled that the reviewer seemed to resonate with all the aspects of the book that we were hoping would be meaningful for the reader. The informal feedback we are getting along with reviews like this one has only strengthened me and Jamie in our resolve to have clinicians turn toward the implicit and explicit mindfulness elements of EMDR therapy in order to make the shift from trauma-informed to Trauma-Focused care.

Click here to download a pdf of the book review.

Read EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care and Earn 12 EMDRIA Credits and 12 APA Home Study CEs!

In partnership with TableMesa, Jamie Marich and I are offering an Online Course where all of you who read EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care can read the book and a study guide and take a test for 12 EMDRIA Credits and 12 APA Home Study CEs. This is a great opportunity for EMDR therapists going for certification to get their EMDRIA credits for the whole year taken care of, and APA CEs are nationally recognized across a variety of state licensures.

At $65, these are valuable CEs at a good price. Jamie and I hope that many of you will choose to read the book, take this course, and apply the lessons of the book in your mindful EMDR therapy practice... and for those of you reading this book before becoming trained, we hope it provides that inspiration and guidance to lead you to become an EMDR therapist.

Click through for more information about the online course.

The MET(T)A Method and Protocol in the Keys To Recovery Newspaper

I had the opportunity to write about the work of EMDR and Mindfulness for Keys To Recovery Newspaper, a free newspaper that has a good circulation throughout the recovery community and at conferences. I am enjoying both reporting on what is happening at Refuge Recovery Centers and writing through what I see as happening next. Now that the book EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care is out, I feel more able to give context to the work we are doing to try to redefine therapy and redefine treatment.

Click here to download the article.

EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care - The Journey Begins

• AVAILABLE NOW DIRECT THROUGH SPRINGER PUBLISHING •
• AMAZON • AMAZON KINDLE •

Jamie and I were texting the other night, and we were both feeling grateful and elated. At one point she wrote, "WE WROTE A BOOK!" and I laughed at the child-like excitement we share about the launch of this particular volume. Both of us are so passionate about everything in the title and everything in these pages. The whole process of deciding to write it, outlining it together at my home office in LA, writing diligently before knowing if we had a publisher, signing with Springer, receiving the wonderful endorsements, finishing the book through all its edits... all of it seemed organic and clear. And now here we are, able to share our passion with people.

The writing of EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care coincided with the growth and further implementation of the MET(T)A Method and MET(T)A Protocol at Refuge Recovery Centers. Jamie and I feel like we are on the cusp of a new phase of treatment, a new era of increased ability to treat trauma... in our private practice offices, in our agencies, in our communities.

Dharma practice changed my life almost 30 years ago. Before sitting down to write this post (actually, I wrote morning pages in the tradition of The Artist's Way and some in my daily planner before these words), I sat meditation for 30 minutes. It is still dark outside this morning. In the quiet, I can sense the pulse of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, I can feel the energy building within me in preparation for a day of EMDR therapy and consultation, mindfully delivered in the interest of easing some suffering. This integration of Buddhist practice and EMDR therapy feels just like breathing to me, and my hope is that this level of ease and flow will translate and resonate for those who read our book.

May all beings be free and peaceful...

Return to The Trauma Therapist Podcast

I made a return to The Trauma Therapist Podcast, this time together with my coauthor Jamie Marich to discuss our new book EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care which comes out Tuesday, November 28! This podcast is such an amazing resource for new trauma therapists, and for those who have practiced for awhile. Guy asks all the right questions to help demystify the world of therapy and trauma therapy in particular. Guy was really moved by our effort to change the way treatment is delivered. Doing the podcast in tandem with Jamie this time made it that much more fun and engaging. You can check out previous episodes featuring me and Jamie here... and definitely subscribe if you want support for your practice!

My Journey from Mindfulness to EMDR to a Book About Both

Springer Publications, the publisher of EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care, the new book I coauthored with Jamie Marich, asked me to blog about my personal journey that led me to this place, personally and professionally. I am so happy and honored to have an EMDR book in this catalogue that includes so many important books on EMDR therapy. And I am so grateful that Jamie and I followed through on this book which in many ways is a culmination of all that I have worked toward ever since I sobered up back in 1989...

You can read my guest post on the Springer Blog here.

First Stop on the Virtual Book Tour - Interview with coauthor Jamie Marich

My colleague and co-author Jamie Marich does a monthly free teleconference where she interviews those who might be helpful to others in the field. Most recently it was Jamie and I talking about our new book EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care. I always look forward to this and other opportunities to tag team with Jamie on the project of transforming suffering for those that we can with mindfulness and EMDR therapy, I address the Buddhist aspects of our work, and we both get an opportunity to practice during the interview... the "elevator music glitch" that happens about halfway through the recording. It was a problem with the interface and we had no control over it. The playback is only 55 minutes. In another glitch they tacked on another hour plus of elevator music!

Muzak aside, it was a great beginning to what will be an ongoing dialogue between me and Jamie... it started with writing the book, and now it expands as we bring it out into the world...

Click  to download the interview.

Our New Book: New Frontiers in EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness

Discover the origin story of "EMDR Therapy & Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care," a new book by Dr. Jamie Marich and Dr. Stephen Dansiger, coming November 17, 2017 with Springer Publishing Company. To learn more about the team behind the work, go to: www.instituteforcreativemindfulness.com

When Jamie Marich and I started talking about writing EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma-Focused Care, we were surprised in advance that something on this subject hadn't already been written. At the same time, I have felt a strong kinship with Jamie based on our common interests that, while not out of the mainstream of clinical work, are still thought of by some as outside the box. So in some ways, I can't think of anyone who could have written this particular book. Both of us have, on our own journeys, found that the integration of these systems is not only natural, but already organically true and simply in need of a book length description and some guidance as to how to use them together.

This little film that Jamie made really captures our relationship and the origins and construction of the book... always in good humor, always with an earnest desire to find new ways to be helpful, always on a path of mindfulness that is not just a couple of handy techniques, but a full bodied system of healing that includes wisdom, ethics and meditation practices. I still remember our first conversations about it, and I remember starting the writing process before we had any interest from a publisher. We just knew we had to write the book. How exciting to see it come to fruition...

EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care - #2

I am so grateful that two of the first readers of EMDR and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care were Trudy Goodman and Jack Kornfield, and that they were happy to endorse our work...

"Thorough and skillful. This unique wedding of EMDR, mindfulness, and trauma care offers rich practical wisdom that is truly helpful for clinicians and counselors."
- Trudy Goodman PhD, and Jack Kornfield PhD

When Jamie and I started writing the book, we were committed to creating not just a list of exercises, or a quick scan of the role of mindfulness in trauma care, but rather what amounted to a combination of a manifesto, a guidebook, a deep inquiry into the mindful elements of EMDR therapy, and a reinvigorating of the standard 8 Phase Protocol of EMDR through a mindful retelling in the community of practitioners. Our feeling continued throughout our writing and remains that this work may help many to find their way into and through EMDR therapy, and that many therapists will be inspired to provide the therapy with this integrated approach.

So far those who have review copies of the book include EMDR therapists, EMDR theoreticians, trauma therapists and theoreticians, doctors, yoga teachers, somatic experiencing practitioners, dharma teachers and mindfulness instructors.  So far, it seems the book is resonating across these communities. If that continues to be the case, Jamie and I cannot help but be grateful for all those experiences and training that helped us to reach this point. As always, the hope is that the truth of suffering is met with the second, third and fourth truth of the identification of the cause, the cure and the prescription. Mindfully applied EMDR therapy and mindfulness based stabilization and preparation seem to hold a key.

Pre-Orders of EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care can be made directly through Springer Publishing or through Amazon.

EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care - #1

At the end of Clinical Dharma: A Path for Healers and Helpers, I write about the journey I have taken recently with Dr. Jamie Marich, where we have walked steadily, quickly and resolutely toward the complete integration of Buddhist psychology, mindfulness and EMDR therapy. That journey is anything but complete, but it now has its own guidebook. EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care is everything Jamie and I wanted it to be... a review of mindfulness including the history and specifics of the Buddha's approach, a succinct description of and a deep commitment to the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP) and the original 8 phase protocol of Francine Shapiro's formulation of EMDR therapy, a manifesto declaring how critical this integration of EMDR and mindfulness is for our times, and a handbook and guidebook for those clinicians seeking to develop their own mindfulness practice and that of their clients in the service of relieving their suffering through mindfully applied EMDR therapy. To say I am excited about this book is a drastic understatement.

It was less than two years ago that I had the brainstorm that I should look into rekindling and deepening my relationship with Jamie, and to seek her counsel and ask for the opportunity to possibly join the faculty of her Institute for Creative Mindfulness as an EMDR Trainer. As luck would have it, she was thinking similar thoughts. This all coincided with my belief that if we trained all our clinicians at Refuge Recovery Centers in EMDR therapy, that we would provide the best possible care, by taking trauma informed one step further and becoming trauma focused. That very quickly grew into the MET(T)A Method, and here we are now. The MET(T)A Method is in full swing at Refuge Recovery Centers, some other centers are looking at what we are doing, we have become the subject of a USC research study, and now our book EMDR Therapy and Mindfulness for Trauma Focused Care brings our thinking and methods out to the general clinical public.

I will continue to reflect upon this book and the journey it creates on my blog here, as well as on podcasts, at live events and any other opportunities I have to connect... May all be beings be at ease...