What is the EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program and why does it sponsor the Traumatology Workshops?
In 1995, Dr. Francine Shapiro and several associates created EMDR HAP as a non-profit corporation. Dr. Shapiro had previously developed a breakthrough method for trauma treatment, known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR. EMDR is not the only method for treating trauma, but it has been documented in controlled studies to be both highly effective and rapid while avoiding the high treatment stress of some earlier therapies. National health services in several European countries and Israel have made EMDR a treatment of choice for PTSD, as has the US VA and Department of Defense for combat-related PTSD. Within a few years of her discovery, Dr. Shapiro had created the EMDR Institute to train other therapists and had helped launch the EMDR International Association which sets standards for EMDR practice. Today there are over 60,000 EMDR therapists worldwide. By 1995 it was apparent that the greatest population of people who needed trauma treatment were not likely to ha
