Helping communities to heal after the bushfires - Dr Derek Farrell, EMDR Specialist

Rotary Melbourne Podcast

Recognising that mental health will be the major ongoing concern from the recent bushfires in Victoria, the Rotarian Action Group for Family Safety, with the support of the Rotary Club of Melbourne, invited members of the District to meet with Dr Derek Farrell to learn about international programs designed to build the capacity for communities to heal after major disasters. The Rotarian Action Group also organised for Dr Farrell to train 70 psychologists and social workers from around Australia in early intervention treatments which can prevent the onset of long-term mental health issues. The participants in the training also spent time considering how to help communities develop the ongoing resources they need for optimum mental health. Dr Derek Farrell is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Worcester (UK), an EMDR Therapy Europe Accredited Trainer and Consultant, a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society, and an Accredited Psychotherapist with the British Association of Cognitive & Behavioural Psychotherapies (BABCP). He is currently President of the EMDR UK & Ireland Board, President of Trauma Aid Europe, Co-Vice President of EMDR Europe Board and Chair of the EMDR Europe Practice Committee. He is involved in a number of Humanitarian Trauma Capacity Building programmes in Pakistan, Turkey, India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Lebanon, Poland, Palestine and Iraq. In 2013, Derek was the recipient of the ‘David Servan Schreiber Award’ for Outstanding Contribution to EMDR Therapy. In addition, Derek was also shortlisted for the prestigious Times Higher Education Supplement (TES) Awards (2017) for ‘International Impact’ due to his Humanitarian Trauma Capacity Building work in Iraq with the Free Yezidi Foundation and the Jiyan Foundation for Torture and Human Rights.