The demanding and fast-paced environment that healthcare professionals and trainees operate within often leads to high levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout. The constant pressure to perform, coupled with the emotional toll of patient care, can create an unsustainable pace that severely impacts mental and physical well-being. Recognizing these challenges, this workshop is designed to provide a comprehensive approach to help healthcare professionals reconnect with themselves, manage stress, and foster long-term resilience.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be equipped with a set of powerful techniques and skills that they can immediately apply in their professional lives. The combination of EMD and Embodied Movement practices offers a holistic approach to stress management, one that addresses both the mind and body. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of how to regulate their nervous system, maintain emotional equilibrium, and ultimately cultivate a more balanced, resilient approach to their demanding work environment. This workshop aims to not only enhance the well-being of healthcare professionals but also improve their ability to provide compassionate, effective care to their patients. Cost will include 5 CEUs for mental health professionals.

Key Modalities:

EMDR:  Through the use of EMDR concepts and skills, retreat participants will learn how the nervous system can become dysregulated through internal and external influences that, over time, can further disrupt the individual’s nervous system resulting in more serious mental health conditions like burnout, anxiety and depression.  Retreat participants will go through the experience of creating a Recent Distressing Experience timeline of moments in the recent past that felt overwhelming while on the job and/or outside life experiences. Then, they will create a Calm/Safe Place to help create a mental coping skill for the EMD work and for their daily work-life. Following the process of EMD, retreat participants will select one of those experiences from the timeline and desensitize to it using EMD protocol. In order to ground, participants will engage in the Calm/Safe Place skill. They will also learn about different tactile bilateral stimulation techniques that will continue the work outside of the clinical setting and provide a foundation for more advanced EMDR clinical work if the retreat participants determine the need.

Embodied Movement: Through the use of mindful somatic principles and techniques paired with Restorative Yoga, participants will experience the positive effects of grounding our awareness into the present moment through our sensory and physical movements. Allowing the participants’ nervous systems to further the work of EMD by grounding into the present moment, rather than worry about the past or future. Participants will leave the session with tools on how to incorporate grounding somatic skills into their daily lives.

What you can expect:

  Rejuvenation and Replenishment: Gain opportunities to rejuvenate and replenish through engagement with creative therapeutic modalities.

  Understanding Nervous System Dysregulation:

• Learn how the nervous system can become dysregulated due to internal and external influences.
• Explore how dysregulation can lead to mental health conditions such as burnout, anxiety, and depression.

  EMDR Techniques:

• Create a Stress/Anxiety/Depression timeline of overwhelming work-related experiences.
• Develop a “Calm/Safe Place” as a mental coping skill for EMDR work and daily life.
• Experience the calming effects of EMDR on the nervous system.
• Learn tactile bilateral stimulation techniques to continue the benefits of EMDR outside the clinical setting.

  Embodied Movement:

• Practice mindful somatic principles paired with Restorative Yoga.
• Experience the benefits of grounding awareness in the present moment through sensory and physical movements.
• Learn how to integrate grounding somatic skills into daily life to reduce stress and anxiety.

  Experiential Learning:

• Engage in workshops, experiential exercises, group discussions, and self-reflection activities led by experienced therapists and educators.

Schedule:

9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Introduction/What EMDR is/BLS Explanation/Phases of EMDR

9:30 AM – 11:00 AM (Phase 1 of EMDR) Create Recent Distressing Experience Timeline through art therapy

11:00 – 12:00 PM (Phase 2 of EMDR) Claycie resources the safe/calm place/Container/Butterfly Hug

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Taylor showing equipment/side effects and Lunch (bring your own)

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Caitlin facilitates EMD

2:15 – 3:15 PM Break

2:15 PM – 3:15 PM Andrew does somatic grounding (restorative yoga) with Calm/Safe place.