Kim Howard  00:05

Welcome to the Let’s Talk EMDR podcast brought to you by the EMDR International Association or EMDRIA. I’m your host Kim Howard. And this episode we are talking with EMDR, certified therapist, consultant and trainer, Kriss Jarecki about EMDR therapy for persons with disabilities. Let’s get started. Today we are speaking with EMDR certified therapist, trainer and consultant Kriss Jarecki to discuss EMDR therapy with persons with disabilities. Thank you, Kriss, for being here today. We are so happy that you said yes.

 

Kriss Jarecki  00:34

Thank you very much, Kim and EMDRIA for giving me the opportunity.

 

Kim Howard  00:38

First, can you tell us about your path to becoming an EMDR therapist?

 

Kriss Jarecki  00:42

I graduated with my MSW in 1987. And for the first 10 years of my career, I worked for an outpatient chemical dependency clinic. And back then the big therapy back then, being an eclectic therapist was the in thing so you do a little Gestalt. You do a little psychoanalysis, little humanistic stuff, and CBT. And also motivational interviewing was super was a super hot topic, if you will. And during that time, a person in Buffalo here named Nancy Smith, who later became the dean of the UB [Univeristy of Buffalo] School of Social Work, she had come to our clinic and presented EMDR. To us, she showed us a 20/20 clip of EMDR and said this is this is really an amazing therapies. It’s a therapy that actually has a procedure to it, like steps. And at that time, EMDR was very much question was not received at that time. So our agency did not permit us to go to training. But later on in my career, close to the end of the 10 years that I spent at the chemical dependency unit, I received a supervisor job then we had cutbacks, I lost my job, because I was low man on the totem pole or low woman on the totem pole, so to speak. And then at the same time, Nancy was sending out information on a listserv about EMDR, she was always giving us something about EMDR, here’s a new research, here’s a new thing to try on. And so because I was off of work, I decided to go for it and take her class. And so did it as a course is offered as a regular course at the University of Buffalo. So I did it with her, I had been off for about seven years, laid off for about seven years stayed home with my kids at the time. So now I’m going to this EMDR class. And one of my biggest worries was that I wanted to get back into the work world doing private practice. And I was very, very scared of that. And Nancy said to me, what image represents the worst thing you think is going to happen. And I said that I’m going to be in this room wearing my coat and in the dark, because I won’t be able to afford the bills, because no one will show up. And it was kind of like a go with that. So taking the course loved it really appreciated the experience, the chance to not only be a therapist, but a client really grateful for her continued nudging to do it and support, then the road really went quick from there for me, I became certified through care for gosh. And then also, a year later, became an approved consultant. And I started my training career in 2010. And here I am today, still trying to bring as much information on trauma and EMDR as I can, including today’s talk on disabilities.

 

Kim Howard  03:28

That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing that, Kriss. And I’m sure you’re not the only person out there who either left the workforce or was starting their career in the workforce and thought, Oh, my God, I hope I can pay the bills and keep the lights on as somebody you know, because you guys are not just if you’re in private practice, you’re not just a therapist, you’re also a business owner, right? You know, and you’ve got all of those things that that are responsible for running your business, your practice to make sure that you can keep lights on patients. And so it’s definitely a leap of faith. When you do stuff like that, you know, you put out your shingle, so to speak, and get out there and you build a website nowadays and help people come. So thanks for sharing that with us.

 

Kriss Jarecki  04:08

Yeah. And back then I since I had been a stay at home mom for seven years, I was feeling rusty too. Yeah. You know, and that was back in the day where you actually send paper letters to positions and schools advertising yourself. So it was a lot different than today for sure.

 

Kim Howard  04:24

Oh, yeah. And it was a lot more costly to back then. Paper printing and mailing. So yeah, absolutely. Well, we’re glad that you did and found success. What’s your favorite part of working with EMDR therapy, Kriss?

 

Kriss Jarecki  04:36

One of the things that I love is a scenario where a client is working really hard on a memory. So they’re, they’re trying to digest a memory and you can see all kinds of emotions going on and posturing and things like that. And then all of a sudden, there’s this like, sigh of relief. You know the facial muscles, relax the body slumps, kind of in a more relaxed state. and they say things like, I don’t know what happened. But that doesn’t bother me anymore. You know, especially for folks in the community of those with a disability where there’s an added component of pain, and shame and other things. And so there’s a little bit more skepticism in that my body is filled me how can I believe that a therapy like EMDR won’t feel me to? So it’s wonderful. And they’ll say things like, how did it do that? You know, what happened to me just right, right now, it’s such a such a magical experience. It’s such a joy to see. I would say also, in my basic training course, watching folks go through the journey and transform how they view themselves as therapists as clients and how they experience EMDR. So in the first day of my course, I’ll ask people, so how many of you think EMDR is full of bleep bleep. And they all raise their hand practically, right? And after we’ve had a few practices, and they went, Oh, this does seem to work, then I’ll say, Okay, now how many you still think EMDR is full of Leafly. And we laugh, but it’s wonderful to watch therapists go, oh, my gosh, now I know what this is. And I’m so wanting to bring this to clients. And it’s what’s nice about EMDR is it works, even if a person doesn’t think it will, even if a person doesn’t think they can heal because it doesn’t have, it doesn’t care what you think of it, so to speak, I love that there’s an accessibility to it, you can do it laying in a bed, you can do it sitting on a chair, you can walk, you know, you can do it practically any place which makes it so available and accessible. And I think that the predictability of the procedure. And the ability to measure is not only great, because we have a plan, and a way to you know, evaluate the plan, but also clients know what to expect. And knowing what to expect and knowing what the session is going to look like can really help people feel much safer.

 

Kim Howard  06:52

There’s a very good point. Thank you, Kriss. So let’s talk about why we’re here. Today, we’re going to talk about doing EMDR treatment with persons with disabilities. So what are some of the specific complexities or challenges with EMDR treatment for persons with disabilities?

 

Kriss Jarecki  07:08

Up until COVID, one of the biggest challenges was transportation for clients to get to the therapists office COVID was a horrific event for our world, lots of pain in that experience. But if I could be candid and say there was at least one good thing, which was the explosion of the internet, up until then, it was very difficult for persons with a disability to get to a therapist office, sometimes in the old buildings that were not, they were not required to catch up on code, we’re hard to navigate. And the internet gave us all an opportunity to open a different door, we’re opening the door to the internet. And I can’t tell you what a blessing that has been not only because folks don’t have to find transportation, or navigate a building, but also many clients who are in severe pain, can join a session while they’re still in bed, says I can’t get out of bed. So I need to call you and cancel. So we’re really able to do that. The other thing I would say is that occasionally, I think there are a lot of therapists who don’t think they qualified to work with a person with a disability. Like, I don’t know anything about cerebral palsy, I don’t know anything about having schizophrenia, I don’t know how to help a person who utilizes a wheelchair. And what I really want people to hear is that just like any other client, you’re going to get to know them. If somebody comes in and says I have cerebral palsy, you’re going to be asking about that. Can you talk to me about your relationship with a, you know, wearing braces or being in a wheelchair, you can do your homework, do research, you know, to learn about a person’s particular disability and some of the needs they might have. So it’s really just us as therapists being willing to open our heart to the possibility that yes, we do have the ability to bring healing to our folks.

 

Kim Howard  09:07

Alright, just to put in a plug for EMDRIA or any other organization that therapists might belong to; you can tap into your network of other professionals who do what you do and provide the therapies that you provide. Because a lot of our interaction is online, you have no idea when somebody replies to an online community posts whether that person has a disability or not, unless they disclose it. And so there might be people out there in your network that you have access to that could help you with those kinds of clients, you just have to ask. So don’t forget that you can utilize not only resources that organizations like EMDRIA provide, and things like our EMDRIA library, but you can also utilize your network. Your network is untapped to help you get better at what you’re doing. So don’t forget that too, for any therapists out there. So Thanks for the reminder, Kriss.

 

Kriss Jarecki  09:55

Awesome.

 

Kim Howard  09:56

What successes have you seen using EMDR therapy for this population?

 

Kriss Jarecki  10:00

Oh, my goodness, many of the clients that I have do have physical pain in their body somewhere, in addition to mental health challenges and such, so most of the clients that have a medical or a mental, or a cognitive challenge or disability are dealing with CO occurring issues. And one of the things that I’ve seen, and it just amazes me is that folks who have pain in a certain area will suddenly say, the pain is not as strong as it used to be, or I can move my limbs a little bit better. And I can give you an example of how trauma can contribute to disability and pain, I had a client who had pretty severe spinal stenosis. And I’m very, I was very convinced that a good portion of how she developed that was because she spent most of her childhood hunched over in a fetal position hiding in a closet, or hiding, right from her abusive guardian. And I think her system, her body, and her brain deformed, they formed a posture of safety around that, right, as we worked through some of the traumas, she was able to sit up a little more, she was able to, you know, have a little bit more range of motion in her upper body. And of course, she still has spinal stenosis, but to see it have a reduction in how much it impacted her was amazing. That would be one thing. And a lot of clients I see who have a disability think things like I’m damaged, I’m helpless. I’m not capable, there’s something wrong with me, right, and watching a client have a shift in that, wait a minute, you know, I’m not damaged. I am a person who uses a wheelchair person who has low vision, I am a person who has depression. So the shift in how they understand themselves, and therefore how they navigate the world is just a joy to to see.

 

Kim Howard  12:02

And, it’s hard, I think when you’re in that kind of position to not make the whole of your being connected to either your disability and or your mental health issue. You know, that’s not the whole of your person. That’s part of who you are. And so I think we as people just generally have a tendency, this, you know, just like you associate who you are with what you do, as a profession, if you have a job outside of the home, you know, we do the same things with our other issues. If we have mental health issues, or physical health issues, or disabilities, we, we tend to say, Oh, this is the whole of who I am. And you’re like, No, that’s just part of you know, and so we have to change our mindset about your approach to that. Yeah. So thanks for the reminder –  that’s good.

 

Kriss Jarecki  12:47

It creates a different relationship with your body and your brain. When that happens, then how a person sees the rest of their life changes, you get to focus on the community go from thinking, you know, I’m damaged to I’m a person who uses a wheelchair. So that makes me a person just like anyone else. It also gives confidence and a bit of self esteem to to take a step into the world a little more.

 

Kim Howard  13:16

All right. All right, exactly. So back in the day, when I used to live in the DC area, I used to take the commuter train from Virginia into DC and then pick up DC Metro to my office, and it was only four stops away. But whenever I would get on the Metro in the morning, it was pretty consistent. There was a gentleman who would get on the train with me. And I’m pretty sure he came down from Maryland on the commuter train. And he had a seeing-eye dog, and he would get off at my stop. And I would watch the way that he navigated the world without his eyes, and thought, holy cow, that’s just amazing. And I’m sure people who have any kind of disability, don’t think it’s amazing to have it if they have to navigate the world. But from an able bodied person’s perspective, when we see people doing like that, like you talked about living their life, you know, this gentleman was working. He was living his life and to see that it’s just kudos to you. One of my clients calls it differently abled, yes. Which because everybody has something, lots of good things, lots of challenges. And you know, we’re all in it together. Yeah, absolutely. So Kriss, are there any myths that you would like to bust about working with EMDR therapy in this population?

 

Kriss Jarecki  14:35

Yes. One of the things that folks tend to think is that if a person has a disability, they must have another disability too. So an example I can give you is when I travel alone, I use assistance throughout the airport. And I can’t tell you how many times well meaning ground support, put their face right into my face and scream how Oh, Mrs. Jarecki, you know, yeah, yeah. Because they, they’re thinking that I must be deaf too, or I must have a cognitive impairment if I’m a person who is legally blind. So that’s one thing I would say, for folks to pay attention to that assumption. Also, a client coming to therapy, who identifies as having a disability, sometimes we assume that that’s why they’re coming to therapy. Oh, you’re a person, you know, who is paralyzed from the waist down has paralysis. So you, of course, you’re coming to therapy, because that’s such a challenging, you know, horrifying thing of experience, or you must be coming to therapy, because you have low vision, and it’s caused you issues, right. So not assuming that a person is coming because of that, right, just because specifically because of having a disability. Another thing that therapists and all of us actually assume is that a person, a client’s disability, doesn’t mean that EMDR will work differently, or not at all, we have an assumption that, well, if you can’t, if you have low vision, then the part of your brain, occipital lobe must not be there, or it must not work well. But we know if your friend scenes adaptive information processing model that our brain is very resilient. And it really utilizes itself regardless. So oftentimes, people with low vision can see through reading braille, so it via tactile, or listening. So that’s another thing I would say to pay attention to. And if a person comes to therapy with an assistant, sometimes people assume that that must mean that person with a disability can’t do much for themselves. And then there’s the thought I have to talk to the assistant. And I would say, first talk to your to the client. And then if there is a need, you can always, you know, refer to the assistant for follow up information. But start with working with a client. There’s also this is a big one, there’s an assumption that if you can’t see a disability, it must not exist, where it must not be as bad as you’re saying. So for me, I don’t look like what a stereotype typical image of a blind person looks like. Right? Right. I used to have a seeing eye dog, um, for lots of years. And then he passed and I haven’t, you know, gotten another gotten a new car, seeing a dog, because things changed in my life where I didn’t need to use that. And I don’t use a cane. And I don’t wear you know, the dark glasses, right? So people look at me and go, really, you look normal. So that that’s another challenge, that that that’s important to, to note and pay attention to. I think also, clients don’t always recognize or own or define that they have a disability, because it’s something you’ve just had somebody a person who has, let’s say, ADHD, or a person suffering from depression, which is the number one disability, or somebody who has just always their whole life used braces, just part of the makeup of who they are. So they’re coming in, and they might not might not say something right away. I’ll give you an example of me, I’m 60 years old, up until age 57. It never occurred to me to include in my introduction, that I’m person who’s legally blind, never occurred to me to tell somebody that I can’t do something or say to people, hey, I need this in order for this activity to be accessible. And because I grew up in a time where the more I did things as a quote, unquote, normal child, and even adult, the more respect I got, the more support I got, you know, if there was something that I needed, I did my best to not need it dead, which caused a lot of a lot of challenging experiences, to say the least, you know, opening the door and saying, Hey, part of my assessment is to ask what cultures and what communities do you belong to and have disability on there. So a person can you know, circle is an option.

 

Kim Howard  19:13

Good advice, Kriss.Thank you. What would you like people outside of the EMDR community to know about EMDR therapy for persons with disabilities?

 

Kriss Jarecki  19:21

If they’re not EMDR community, the first thing I would say is get basic training. join our community, but I think it’s important to note that EMDR is really efficient and effective, right? We see in research that, you know, it works several times faster than other therapy orientations. That’s really helpful for folks who might have a small window of tolerance. You know, if you’re a person who has severe ADHD and attending is really hard, or if you’re a person who has pain or fatigue and your window of work is really small. It’s great because you can do five minutes of EMDR and it can make a difference. So letting people know that That EMDR is definitely is much a consideration as a therapy to bring to folks with a disability as any other therapy is. But with EMDR with that efficiency and effectiveness, it tends to be a little more accessible or user friendly for folks with disabilities. I mentioned before EMDR is environmentally friendly, you can do it anywhere. And I think, you know, that’s a very cool thing about EMDR, even though there’s a protocol, and we enjoy having, you know, specific steps that we take and ways to measure it, there’s also some flexibility within that protocol. As I just said, you can do five minutes instead of 25 minutes of EMDR. You know, if somebody has a tolerance that needs a bit more support, you might do shorter sets for a while until you kind of see how they tolerate and see how they handle the protocol. So we can do many things to make EMDR accessible without changing the basic protocol, which is a great thing. And as I mentioned before, two, I think they said this one, but there is controlled dose, so to speak, we kind of decide how long do we do, you know, passes? You know, is it going to be 30 seconds or a minute? Are we going to pause and take a break after a couple of rounds. So you’d has a lot of flexibility around meeting the client’s need, whether it’s to rest, go to the bathroom, have a drink of water, those kinds of things. And also it doesn’t have homework, which I think everybody likes that.

 

Kim Howard  21:31

No one likes homework, even the teachers who have to assign it. All right, Kriss, how do you practice cultural humility as an EMDR therapist?

 

Kriss Jarecki  21:45

I was trying to think of what kind of term this would be. Because I think cultural humility is first and foremost about how I experienced myself with myself, so to speak, how do I experience me? And how do we experience me in the world. So I would say in the past three years, cultural humility for myself, as well as focusing in the community of those with a disability has been an amazing journey. And what I mean by that is, number one, being able to say, I’m a person who is legally blind. I’m a person who’s a member of the community of folks that disability, getting to know more about my my diagnosis, meeting new people who educated me who, you know, whose gave support, finding out what my community offers for folks. So right now I belong to a group. It’s got a cute name, it’s called the blind leading the blind.

 

Kim Howard  22:39

At least they have a sense of humor.

 

Kriss Jarecki  22:46

It’s an online group, you know, and we have lots of laughs. So, you know, there’s been just fun times and joking, we found out that I think there’s this eye doctors who work with low vision, go to school, they must learn a couple of the same jokes. And here’s what I want to what my afloat vision person said, The only thing you can’t do is drive and be a surgeon. Okay? I’m like, Okay, fair enough. Yeah. But then, and then one of my other colleagues, while we were having our meeting said, you know, my low vision specialist used to always say, the only thing you can’t do is drive and be a search. So we all decided that they must go to they must take some classes and learn the same jokes.

 

Kim Howard  23:32

They must, they must, that’s your bedside manner course.

 

Kriss Jarecki  23:35

So and I am getting better at requesting or asking for things to be accessible. I’m figuring out, I’m actually still learning what things I need to make things accessible. And you know, being able to step into that and saying, Hey, here’s something that would assist me to be the best. I don’t know, therapist or consultant, or trainer or friend, or or mother that I can be. So I think it’s an ongoing process of self exploration. And I think opening the door to others who might want to jump, you know, join you on the journey is important. I guess I would say that it’s more than just like entering a relationship with a client, right with the intention of, I want to know what your beliefs are. I want to know what your customers are. I want to know what your values are letting clients know that they are a part of a team. Right, and that there’s a spot for them, you know, on the racetrack, so to speak. I really think doing trainings is important. Like, hopefully people listen to the podcast and take away a few things. So I’m hoping people will consider going to trainings, look at your local organizations or community outreach centers, and you know, whether it’s monetary support or volunteer support, you know, do research right. I think having handouts that are available for community resources isn’t a good idea. And I just I don’t automatically just give a client that, you know, here, you’re going to need this kind of thing I say, you know, I have some handouts that that list many of the community resources that we have, let me know if you’d like one. So even presenting our information to a client is important how we say that I ask my clients how they practice internal humility, and what do they understand about, you know, what that means for themselves in the community that they live in another humility thing, if I’m defining this right, for folks who have a disability, is that there needs to be flexibility, like, sometimes the session won’t be as long as you had anticipated, or sometimes they’ll need to be less, less EMDR work than you might have anticipated. And knowing that that’s okay. You’re not gipping your client, um, I had a consulte mentioned this. And it’s an interesting point, if I only do five minutes of EMDR, with somebody, I feel like they’re getting gypped. Because we have the rest of the time. And I’m like, Well, what did that client do that made it only five minutes, they asked to pause and rest. I’m like, wow. So you offered a space for a client to be able to set a boundary to be able to tell you that they needed a break. So that’s like, you know, a year of therapy right there.

 

Kim Howard  26:23

That’s a good thing, that they feel comfortable enough to tell you that, yeah, absolutely. That’s, that’s an awesome relationship.

 

Kriss Jarecki  26:29

Yeah it is: In being able to share in being able to do resourcing or, or just having a chat about something and how to navigate or handle something is just it can have just as much value. Because not only do we want to know about the upsets or the you know, the traumas that people have experienced, but I also asked, Tell me about the good things that come as the as a result of you being in the community. So like, I just punch in meeting people having fun, camaraderie, those kinds of things, I think it’s important for therapists to ask a lot about, you know, the good things that people variance. And I also think, in my studies, and in my exploration personally and with my community, I see that a lot of what we experience goes across many cultures. So for example, in the community of folks with a disability, we have what’s called ableism. And ableism, is very similar to what bipoc folks would call racism, or folks in the queer community would call bigotry. We all have that. We all have internal struggles in our own communities of, well, you’re not as visually impaired as I am. So I’m one upping you. Sometimes we have inner struggles in our community with our own members. And I bring that up, because I had a client say to me, you know, my, my partner says, I am not gender fluid enough. Another person had said, you know, I identify as black. And I have colleagues or people in my community who have several different cultural backgrounds. And the message is, well, I’m more cultured than you.

 

Kim Howard  28:09

Oh yeah, you’re not, yeah, I’m not black enough, you’re not black enough.

 

Kriss Jarecki  28:13

Yeah, all of those things. So I think it’s important to check, you know, with clients, you know, those that experience and you know, disability and trauma, that you’re not prejudice, it doesn’t matter. Like, statistically speaking, folks who identify as black one in four have a disability, folks identifying as white, or one in five, and Hispanic, we have one in six. So we’re pretty much in the same, you know, in the same boat, so to speak, with our exposure to trauma with I’m having identifying with a disability, with some of the internal, you know, struggles as well as external struggles.

 

Kim Howard  28:49

I’m somebody who’s able, able bodied, I guess, is the right term. But unless you are around people of a community who have a disability, you don’t, you don’t really pay much attention to how the world works and functions until you and I have traveled together. And I have seen a little bit of how you have to navigate the world, it just makes you become a little more aware, which I think awareness is a good thing. So that, you know, you can realize when the first thing I look at now, when I go into a shop or a restaurant, I’m like, well, there’s no way anybody with any kind of crutch or wheelchair get into this place, depending on where they’re at the place is and the codes and you know, whether they have to retrofit and all that. And so you look at those things, and you know, just like my work with for about four years, I worked with a minority corporate counsel association, and became much more aware of diversity and equity and inclusion and those kinds of issues. And so, I was at an event last summer at this very fancy shmancy club, where I live author that I liked, and she was doing a book signing and there was a dinner and I go into the club and the first there’s a sign up sign At the door said no jeans allowed. And I thought, well, thank goodness, I don’t have jeans on, then I walk in the hallway and had to go all the way down to the other end of the building. And there’s all these men on the wall, all these photos of previous presidents, and they were all men, and they were all white. And I was like, oh, there’s no diversity here. You know, and so you, as somebody who’s white, you know, you you become more aware, when you work with colleagues, and you work with associations or, or causes that are close to your heart. And so that awareness, I think, for people who are not in certain communities matters. A lot. So thank you for sharing that, Kriss.

 

Kriss Jarecki  30:38

Yes.

 

Kim Howard  30:39

Do you have a favorite free EMDR related resource you would suggest either for the public or other EMDR therapists?

 

Kriss Jarecki  30:45

Yeah, I have a few handouts that people are welcome to email me and I can, you know, attach and send one of the handouts has specific articles you to go twos for or even there’s I have, I have a handout specifically for EMDR therapists, which has a websites to go to for information, current research, different articles that other EMDR folks have read, I have that form. And then I also have one that clinicians can give to clients that has a lot of generic resourcing and things they can do to prepare for EMDR. And that so if people want to email me, I’d be happy to send it that the other thing is there’s a couple of free, online hula attention stimulus sites. And I have I have those, which I can provide the links to names and links to, but it’s nice that they’re free. And many of them have accessibility, like you can make the ball as big as you need to, you can change the color in the background for folks who, like me, black background with white letters is much easier for me than the other way around and change that you can use sound, you know, so very flexible, very easy and wonderful, you know, sites that don’t cost something. So again, I can send that to people.

 

Kim Howard  32:09

Yeah, that’s great. I will include a link to your website so people can get in touch with you. And then if you want to shoot me any of those links that you mentioned, I can add them in the description. They’re not already on your website. So yeah, that’s fantastic. Thank you.

 

Kriss Jarecki  32:24

Yeah.

 

Kim Howard  32:25

Kriss, if you weren’t an EMDR therapist, what would you be?

 

Kriss Jarecki  32:28

I thought a lot about this, because I just think it’s going…

 

Kim Howard  32:31

…to be chicken lady personally, for all you out there. But let’s see what she says.

 

Kriss Jarecki  32:36

You’re close. You’re close. What I can’t imagine not doing EMDR. Right. But I think what I would be is a farmer. So you’re right. Currently, I have, as you know, my flock of chickens and a rooster, a few barn animals. And so I would probably, you know, up the ante and have some more animals and, you know, just enjoy being outside and being with the uniqueness that animals and healing than animals can bring.

 

Kim Howard  33:03

Yeah, absolutely. That’s good answer. Thanks, Kriss. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

 

Kriss Jarecki  33:08

One thing I would like to say is to therapists, believe your clients when they tell you something hurts, or believe your clients when they when they tell you about something that’s happened to them. Because whatever is real for a person’s body, and brain is what’s real for the person’s body and brain. And that’s what we need to work with. And what’s nice about EMDR, for example, is it’s not about where you Right? And how you interpreted an experience? Or did you get it wrong, it’s about here’s how your brain and body took it in and analyzed it and owned it and is re experiencing it. And that’s what we’re going to use EMDR for. So, you know, believe in your clients. If they say that they’re, you know, that they’re hurt, that they have pain, that kind of thing. Again, a client’s disability does not mean that EMDR will be more difficult or less effective. It’s just as effective and just as accessible for those folks, as anyone else. I mentioned this before. Yes, you want to get a comprehensive, you know, list of the not so good things that have happened to people, but absolutely get some positives too. You know, what was what has their journey been of positive people and places and things and experiences and inner work in your clients share so that you can use those during preparation and throughout EMDR. And again, don’t assume that you can’t work with somebody who has a disability. Give yourself a little space to try it on. Whether it’s you know, looking up information, asking clients what they need to have things be accessible to them discerning your own. What are my biases that make me think I can’t work with somebody with a disability. So those are just some of the things that I would say it would be important additions.

 

Kim Howard  34:47

That’s a good way to end the podcast. Thank you, Kriss.

 

Kriss Jarecki  34:49

Thank you so much.

 

Kim Howard  34:50

This has been the Let’s Talk EMDR podcast with our guest Kriss Jarecki. Visit www.emdria.org for more information about EMDR therapy, or to use our Find an EMDR Therapist Directory, more than 16,000 therapists available. Like what you hear? Make sure you subscribe to this free podcast wherever you listen. Thanks for being here today.