Course Description

Globalization and the omnipresence of social media have increased client exposure to domestic and international crises, from war and political extremism to climate change and pandemics. EMDR is well suited to identify and address the emotional triggers, both past and present, of these events. However, many of these crises bring up existential traumas that clients and clinicians might not be fluent in processing, including questions about morality, mortality, the unknown, and how to come together as interconnected people with a shared humanity. This presentation will help fill the EMDR clinician’s tool chest of interweaves that are specifically aimed at existential-based traumas, drawing from spirituality, religion, philosophy, art, music and literature. The most recent neuroscience about spirituality as a protective factor in crises will be reviewed.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to identify the primary and secondary ways that individuals can be impacted by a global crisis.
2. Participants will be able to explain the neuroscience behind spirituality as a protective factor for trauma.
3. Participants will be able to develop a clinical toolkit specific techniques for addressing the impact of a crisis biologically, psychologically, socially, environmentally, spiritually and systemically.

Presenter(s)

Jillian Tucker, DSW, LCSW

Jillian Tucker, DSW, LCSW, received her doctorate degree in clinical social work from New York University and her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Brown University. Dr. Tucker is a licensed EMDR clinician in private practice, and she works with combat veterans through Headstrong Project. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University and New York University, and she received the Teaching Excellence Award from the students at Columbia University. Dr. Tucker trained at the Ackerman Institute for the Family and previously worked at Weill Cornell Hospital’s outpatient substance misuse center. She is a reviewer for the Clinical Social Work Journal.