Lived Experience Forum

[elilith]

Hi Everyone - I am both someone with a mental illness and a carer for my dad who has a mental illness (busy lol) I am also studying a cert in Mental health at the moment (aswell as working full time) In the latest study period its brought up feelings and realisations for me that (and i guess myself and those close to me have always knows this) That i have a bit of unresolved trauma kicking about. I am wondering if anyone has done EMDR therapy and if you've got any feedback on it? its something im looking at trying out possibly.

[TideisTurning]

Hi @elilith , @TideisTurning here, one of the new Peer Workers 

I'm not sure how much you know or have researched already, but I've had a little experience with EMDR and have found it really effective in taking away the more traumatic aspects of trauma memories. As an example, for me, there's experiences I can now talk about relatively calmly where once it would have been too triggering and my emotions took over- that's thanks to going through a little EMDR. The process can get really intense, and for that reason, I wouldn't advocate for it straight after a trauma experience, but for me, it was well worth doing it a little later down the track to deal with traumatic experiences that hadn't processed properly and were being retriggered.

If you've got questions or anything specific you're wondering about, I'm happy to try and answer as best I can. I'm not an expert though and just speaking from my experience, but hope that helps a little! 

TideisTurning