EMDR Treatment for First Responders: Interview with Dr. Deborah Korn – 393

Joining Dr. Korn is Dr. Richard Kamin, MD, FACEP, FAEMS. Dr. Kamin will share his first-hand experience as a patient who received EMDR following his response to the Sandy Hook school shooting. Dr. Kamin credits EMDR therapy for helping him deal with the aftereffects of that traumatic experience.  He found EMDR to be extremely useful and effective personally and he promotes it as an excellent option in helping first responders and victims recover from acute/recent trauma.

As someone who has completed doctoral-level research focused on cognitive neuroscience, I found Dr. Korn’s book to be a fascinating and easy to understand.  Many of the lessons of brain science she writes about in her book and spoke to us on the show about are the same topics I studied during my quest to understand how first responders make decisions under stress. 

Dr. Korn’s focus is helping responders deal with traumatic events that are not properly processed by the brain, be that from a difficult emergency response, or from some other traumatic event in life.

To Learn more about Dr. Korn’s work and EMDR, visit: https://www.everymemorydeservesrespect.com

Guest Bios

Deborah Korn, PsyD, is an internationally renowned pioneer and expert in EMDR Therapy. She is on the faculties of the EMDR Institute in CA and the Trauma Research Foundation in Boston. As an active and respected member of the EMDR International Association, Dr. Korn presents and consults internationally on Complex PTSD recovery with a specialization in the treatment of  adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect. In addition to teaching, consulting, and maintaining a private practice in Cambridge, MA, she is involved in mental health advocacy, criminal justice reform, and combating systemic racism. She is the coauthor of “Every Memory Deserves Respect: EMDR the Proven Trauma Therapy with the Power to Heal,” with Michael Baldwin. (For more information about Dr. Korn’s work and book, and to find EMDR clinicians in their area, listeners can visit www.EveryMemoryDeservesRespect.com.)

Richard Kamin, MD, FACEP, FAEMS, is a practicing emergency physician and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center where he is the EMS Program Director. Dr. Kamin serves as the medical director for the Connecticut Department of Public Health, Office of EMS. He is the co-chair of the Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, an active member of the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO) Medical Directors Council, a co-principle investigator on the NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Guidelines Project, and a member of the ACEP High Threat Task Force. Dr. Kamin was involved in the response to the Sandy Hook school shooting and sought EMDR therapy to help him deal with the aftereffects of that particular traumatic experience.  He found EMDR to be extremely useful and effective personally and promotes it as an excellent option in helping first responders and victims recover from acute/recent trauma.

Episode length: 92 minutes