EMDR and other Strategies for Aging, Older Life Stages, and End-of-Life Issues

Two-Day Summit Conference

10.5 credit hours: EMDRIA, Psychologists, ACSW ACE, NBCC

Presentations: Day 1 | Friday, October 24 - 10am-5:30pm ET

10:00 am–11:30 am (90 min)

Session Topic - Exploring Aging, Older Life Stages and End of Life Issues

Opening Remarks - The Need for and Benefits of Attention to

Older Life Stage Issues

- Mark Nickerson

Wisdom Comes with Winters: An Overview of Psychotherapy with the Aging Client - Kathy Steele

Dissociation vs. Dementia: How to Tell the Difference in the Older Client

Kathy Steele

Break (15 min)

11:45 am–1:15 pm (90 min)

Session Topic- EMDR Research Findings and Recommendations

What Can EMDR Offer People Living with Dementia and Their Caretakers?

- Jonathan Hutchins, Khyati Rawal, and Henk Swanepoel

Trauma Treatment with Older Adults: Challenges and Insights from Clinical Practice and Research - Ellen Gielkens

Break (60 min)

2:15 – 3:45 (90 min)

Session Topic - Death with Peace and Dignity: EMDR Therapy at the End of Life

- Michael Keller, Barbara Ganzel, and Jim Reiser

Break (15 min)

4:00 –5:30 (90 min)

Session Topic - EMDR Resource Narratives for older adults

Remembering the Forgotten: EMDR Narratives When Memory Fails Us

- Susan Darker-Smith

Dying with Dignity: EMDR Resource Narratives at the End of Life for Adults with Terminal Conditions

- Susan Darker-Smith

Presentations: Day 2 | Friday, October 25 - 10:00am-4:00pm ET

10:00 am–11:30 am (90 min)

      Session Topic- Treatment Considerations and Case Presentations 

Which Road Are We Taking Together? Prognostic Factors in the Older Trauma Client - Kathy Steele

“The Boulder That’s Been Hanging Over Me My Whole Life Is Gone!” EMDR with Older Clients Facing Life-Limiting Illness - Katherine Walsh

Coping with Illness and Fears of Death: A Case Study - Carol Miles

Break (15 min)

11:45 am–1:15 am (90 min)

Session Topic- Dealing with Loss   

  EMDR Therapy for Loss Issues - Roger Solomon

1:15 - 2:15 Break (60 min)

1:45 pm – 2:15 pm | Colleague collaboration - This optional meeting is for participants to share resources and explore possibilities for ongoing collaboration (30 min) (no CEs)

2:15 – 3:45 (90 min)

Session Topic -The Complexities of Living Through the Aging, Dying and Sometimes Caretaking for a Person who has Hurt You - Laura Brown

Closing Comments and Strategies for Ongoing Collaboration - Mark Nickerson

Full Presentation details can be found here

Learning Objectives—Participants will be able to:

Wisdom Comes with Winters: An Overview of Psychotherapy with the Aging Client - Kathy Steele

1. Identify the developmental issues and physical and psychological concerns unique to aging that impact psychotherapy with older clients.
2. Describe existential issues highly relevant to aging clients and how to support these clients in managing existential crises.
3. Recognize and address ethical considerations, cultural contexts, and potential biases in therapy to foster a respectful and individualized approach that enhances resilience, quality of life, and meaning-making for older clients.

Dissociation vs. Dementia: How to Tell the Difference in the Older Client - Kathy Steele

1. List the memory problems that are similar between dissociation and dementia.
2. Identify cognitive and behavioral characteristics of dementia that can help distinguish it from dissociation.
3. Make a plan for referral to a dementia specialist for formal assessment and develop a plan to engage any willing family or friends in additional supportive care.

What Can EMDR Offer People Living with Dementia and Their Caretakers?- Jonathan Hutchins, Khyati Rawal, Henk Swanepoel

1. Understand what dementia is and why we may consider using EMDR for those living with dementia and their caretakers.
2. Describe when and how we might use the three-pronged, eight-phase EMDR protocol with this group.
3. Improve their awareness of the potential challenges in delivering EMDR therapy with this group.

Trauma Treatment with Older Adults: Challenges and Insights from Clinical Practice and Research - Ellen Gielkens

1. Recognize the impact of past trauma in the current psychological and physical complaints older adults present.
2. Identify how earlier traumatic experiences may manifest in present-day symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, or somatic complaints.
3. Describe the current state of the evidence regarding the use of EMDR in the treatment of older adults.

Death with Peace and Dignity: EMDR Therapy at the End of Life - Michael Keller, Barbara Ganzel, Jim Reiser

1. Explain the importance of trauma-informed assessment and psychotherapy for dying persons.
2. Describe ways in which EMDR therapy is indicated in the care of aging and dying clients.
3. Describe how each phase of the EMDR protocol can be applied to aging and dying clients.
4. Describe possible modifications of the EMDR protocol based on clients’ needs and capacities.
5. Develop treatment plans based on client needs, strengths, and limitations.

Remembering the Forgotten: The Need for EMDR Narratives When Memory Fails Us - Susan Darker-Smith

1. Describe the challenges of delivering standard EMDR therapy to older adult populations, especially when there is cognitive decline.
2. List the ways in which narratives can be used for reprocessing traumatic (often repressed) memories in older adult populations.
3. Explain how to develop a narrative with an older adult with memory issues.

Dying with Dignity: The Use of EMDR Resource Narratives at the End of Life for Adults with Terminal Conditions - Susan Darker-Smith

1. Describe the importance of writing narratives with older adults at the end of their lives.
2. List the steps and methods involved in writing a resource narrative with older adults, using the five-part story model.
3. Explain the impact of narratives not only upon the client but also upon their family and caregivers, and how the same stories can be used to process anxiety, fear, loss, grief, shame, and guilt to help the older adult and their loved ones reach an adaptive state.

Which Road Are We Taking Together? Prognostic Factors in the Older Trauma Client - Kathy Steele

1. Identify the level of protective defense and capacity for change in the older client.
2. Assess the emotional, cognitive, physical, social, and relational capacities of the older client and determine a treatment plan based on these factors.
3. Develop a treatment plan for an older client who has significant personality disorder features, including chronic emotional dysregulation.

 “The Boulder That’s Been Hanging Over Me My Whole Life Is Gone!” EMDR with Older Clients Facing Life-Limiting Illness - Katherine Walsh

1. Describe the integration of EMDR in relationship-focused integrative psychotherapy with older adults.
2. Identify the types of distress older adults facing serious and life-limiting illness experience that can be alleviated through EMDR.
3. Improve their awareness of the potential challenges in delivering EMDR therapy with this group.

Coping with Illness and Fears of Death: A Case Study - Carol Miles

1. Describe the standard EMDR protocol and its application in treating anxiety related to health concerns in older adults.
2. List the key elements of the therapeutic process used in the EMDR intensive setting, including the integration of childhood memories and their impact on current anxiety.
3. Explain the significance of addressing death anxiety in therapeutic settings, particularly how EMDR can facilitate emotional processing and reduce panic symptoms in clients with end-of-life concerns.

EMDR Therapy for Loss Issues - Roger Solomon

1. Apply the AIP model in their understanding of grief related to the loss of a loved one.
2. Apply the AIP model in their understanding of grief related to loss due to aging.
3. Describe an example of blocked reprocessing related to grief.

The Complexities of Living Through the Aging, Dying and Sometimes Caretaking for a Person who has Hurt You

1. Describe the three most common challenges survivors face when their perpetrators need caregiving.
2. Describe how a survivor’s other intersectional identities may become sources of conflict between cultural norms and needs for self-protection and self-care.
3. Explain how EMDR can be utilized to address shame or strengthen internal resources in preparation for a survivor’s interaction with perpetrators or other collusive or bystander family members.

EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning, LLC is an EMDRIA Approved Credit Provider (#07002) and maintains responsibility for this program and its content in accordance with EMDRIA standards. Advanced Psychotherapy Trainings (APT) is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. National Board for Certified Clinicians (NBCC): EMDR Advanced Trainings & Distance Learning, LLC (EMDR ATDL) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6709. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. EMDR Advanced Training and Distance Learning is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. EMDR Advanced Training & Distance Learning, LLC (EMDR ATDL), provider # 2036, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education credits by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory Boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 1/10/2025–1/10/2026. EMDR ATDL maintains responsibility for these programs.

Registration questions to support@beaconlive.com

Program content questions to info@emdradvancedtrainings.com