The group was launched as part of Cygnet Hospital Bierley’s ongoing commitment to trauma informed care, increasing choice and availability of psychological interventions and trauma treatment has been a key priority. The group focuses on the stabilisation phase of the three-staged model of trauma processing proposed by Judith Herman (1992). It was developed with the view to offer service users the chance to learn a new skill or resource each week, using an attachment focused EMDR approach.
The group launched in September 2025 and has been running regularly since then, with some very positive feedback from group members! It has become the most regularly attended groups out of the range of therapy groups offered.
Service users said:
- “The psychology EMDR skills group has been really helpful for me in managing my flashbacks to the past. It’s been helping me a lot, it’s a really positive group and everyone should come and attend this.”
- “This group is one of the best things that happened for me.”
The psychology team identified an innovative service development idea, and consulted with other services and EMDR supervision to understand if other services had a similar therapy group available. It quickly became apparent that Cygnet Hospital Bierley could become a leading service provider for trauma treatment by developing a group. The session content was developed in discussion with EMDR therapists and by using the ‘Tapping In’ EMDR based book (Parnell, 2008).
The six session rotational group is run by a trained EMDR therapist and one other member of the psychology team. It is open to service users on both the Acute and Low Secure wards at Bierley. The aim of the EMDR Skills Group is a gentle and accessible introduction into EMDR to support overall wellbeing, learn new coping techniques that can be used when group members are experiencing distress related to their trauma, or support individuals to simply build on their existing coping techniques. As the group focuses on a different skill each week, it does not require group members to have attended any previous sessions. Each skill is introduced and practised, alongside the installation of a different method of Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) to strengthen the skill.
The Subjective Units of Distress (SUDs) scale is completed by service users at the beginning and end of each session, and these have typically identified a reduction in distress for participants, along with their self-reports. There are also longer term plans to further evaluate the EMDR skills group effectiveness with the potential for publication of the group therapy sessions.
The group has also attracted positive feedback from staff members, commissioners, staff conducting inspections, and psychology colleagues both with Cygnet and external to it. The psychology team are very proud of the group developed and looking forward to continuing with our journey to excellence in providing trauma informed care.