Trauma Aid AotearoaEMDR for AllGroup EMDR allows people affected by a shared event or similar experiences to receive structured support together, while keeping the details of their own trauma private.
In group EMDR, participants can work privately with worksheets, drawings, symbols, images, or internal focus. The group structure is shared, but the traumatic material does not need to be spoken aloud or disclosed to the group.
After disasters, critical incidents, and collective trauma, many people may need support at the same time. Group EMDR-informed approaches make it possible to offer structured care at a community scale while still respecting each person's pace, privacy, and choice.
Group EMDR protocols have been developed in disaster and humanitarian contexts, including the EMDR Integrative Group Treatment Protocol and later recent-event group approaches. Read the post-disaster protocol paper.
G-TEP is a structured group EMDR protocol designed for people affected by a shared traumatic episode. Participants use a worksheet that helps organise the work around present safety, past resources, the disturbing points connected to the event, and a desired future. The structure gives people a private way to work with difficult material without having to disclose details to the group.
Sessions begin with stabilisation and containment skills so participants have practical ways to steady themselves. They then identify resources, notice a specific point of disturbance connected to the traumatic episode, and rate their distress. Processing uses self-administered bilateral stimulation while moving attention between present safety and the point of disturbance. Distress is checked regularly, and the process can move through several points of disturbance before ending with a strengthened positive cognition and further containment.
Further reading on G-TEP