Course Description

Everyone journeys through life with the same parts to their brain and ability to adaptively process information. With this in mind we will hike a 90 minute scenic route (view slides and client videos) exploring the world of persons with disabilities. The journey will start with developing a shared understanding of trauma and the many parallels between trauma and disability, At our next stop we will discuss the importance of asking about a client’s membership to cultures/communities (Phase 1). Our hike will continue to Phase 2 where we’ll explore ways to help clients find and utilize strengths, resources and positive experiences they have resulting from being in the community of those with a disability. As we near the end of our journey, we’ll explore many ways we have to provide clients accessibility to EMDR phases 3-8 in order to promote healing and build resiliency for clients with a disability.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to write at least 3 traumatic experiences that people with a disability are more susceptible to.
2. Participants will be able to identify 3 examples of ableism.
3. Participants will be able to apply RDI utilizing a positive experience a person has had as a result of being a member of the community of those with a disability and list at least 3 ideas for making EMDR more accessible to clients with a disability

Presenter(s)

Kriss Jarecki, LCSW-R

Kriss Jarecki, LCSW-R, has been an LCSWR since 1987. She’s a consultant and trainer for Progressive Counting and EMDR. Kriss currently serves on the EMDRIA Board of Directors and served on the EMDRIA Standards and Training Committee for four years. She served as a co-regional coordinator for 10 years and 7 years as a field instructor for the University of Buffalo. She has published articles in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, Traumatology and Counseling and Psychotherapy Research. Kriss is certified in Brainspotting and provides several trauma related trainings such as Integrating Neuroscientific Interventions and Journey of the LGBTQ+ Community.