This week in April marks the commemoration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, when we can learn more about crime victims’ stories and rights as well as the healing journey they may face. We turned to EMDRIA member Joshualin Dean, LMHC to tell us more about working with this population.
EMDR Therapy with Victims of Crime
Guest Blog Post by Joshualin Dean, LMHC
Tell us a little bit about you, your experience becoming an EMDR therapist, and how you became interested in helping victims of crime.
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Florida and the founder of Transcend Therapy and Wellness, LLC. I specialize in complex trauma and victims of crime. I began working with this population in 2020 when I worked as a trauma therapist for the local rape crisis center in our county. In my time there, I worked with crime victims with complex presentations under the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA).
I added EMDR to my clinical toolbox in 2021 when I completed basic training through the Trauma Recovery, EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP). I have since become an EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ and am currently a Consultant-in-Training.™
Could you talk to us briefly about the incidence and prevalence of crime victims and how EMDR therapy can help this population?
The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides summaries of the data collected from the National Crime Victimization Survey that shows the national rates of both personal and property victimization (Bureau of Justice Statistics, n.d.). This includes violent crimes such as rape, sexual, aggravated, and simple assaults, robbery, and theft. The most recent data released by the FBI Crime Data Explorer showed a decrease in violent crime in the U.S. in 2024 compared to those in 2023 (FBI, 2024).
However, while there may be a decline in the occurrences of these crimes, the effects of past crimes and those that are still occurring have a monumental impact on the victims. The impacts of victimization can manifest in various ways, including nightmares, hypervigilance, feelings of guilt and shame, anxiety, anger, avoidance of trauma reminders, and dissociative reactions. EMDR is highly beneficial as it allows the client to process their experiences without being re-traumatized. Being that many crime victims present with complex presentations due to the prevalence of long-term abuse or repeated victimization, EMDR can be used to target the effects of compounded trauma.
What successes have you experienced when using EMDR therapy with crime victims?
Wow, a few heartwarming cases come to mind here. Without providing details, I will say that the overarching success of these cases has been witnessing the client regain their voice and sense of power and control.
Aside from safety, the actual and perceived loss of power and control that crime victims experience significantly impacts how they interpret their experiences, the ways they respond to the trauma itself, and the extent to which they engage in treatment. This, along with the compounded stress of legal proceedings, often amplifies feelings of helplessness and fear of vulnerability. EMDR allows us to process these experiences without the client having to verbalize the painful details while resourcing allows us to create and strengthen the client’s sense of power and control, enhance feelings of self-worth and confidence, and build emotional resilience.
So, holding this in mind, I must say that being able to witness these individuals not only speak their truth regarding their experiences but also advocate for their rights within the legal system and knock down doors of systems that may have failed them before has been some of the most moving successes I have been able to experience as an EMDR provider.
What issues/difficulties would you say are common with crime victims, and how might that impact therapy?
Crime victims often face the unfortunate reality that their perpetrator is someone known to them, whether that be a parent or protective figure, a partner, a friend, a family member, or a colleague. In that, building trust with a therapist can be difficult. As with all clinical work, building rapport and establishing a therapeutic relationship is imperative for therapy to be effective, and this is important for clinicians to keep in mind when working with victims of crime. The relationship that the client has with their therapist may very well be the building block for them to be able to regain the ability to trust again. Similarly, if the client did not have a supportive experience with the legal system following their victimization, the client may be hesitant to be vulnerable with someone who is in a helping profession out of fear of being let down or not protected.
Are there ethical or legal considerations to consider when working with this population?
As with all populations that we serve, this one is not unique in that informed consent, clear discussions about limits of confidentiality, and mandated reporting laws are discussed with the client. With that being said, an important consideration for working with this population is the potential involvement in legal proceedings. In these cases, therapy records may be subpoenaed, and the provider may be subpoenaed to provide testimony; because of this, it is important that the clinician has an understanding of how to navigate these situations. If a clinician finds themself in this situation, it is recommended that they reach out to their liability insurance provider for additional guidance, support, and preparation.
Are there any myths you would like to bust about using EMDR therapy with crime victims?
Absolutely! The biggest myth that I want to bust is that EMDR plants false memories. This myth has come up more times than I would like to admit, and its impact on crime victims is saddening. When statements such as this are made, it sometimes leads to individuals being afraid and/or hesitant to engage in treatment out of fear that this would negatively impact any legal proceedings they are involved in. Consequently, this gross misunderstanding of how EMDR therapy works can plague legal cases and the way the client is approached during the proceedings.
In a recent article directly addressing this myth, it was emphasized that EMDR does not utilize suggestive techniques that would induce false memories and, rather, is a structured treatment that does not allow room for suggestibility on the part of the therapist (Callus, Gallina & Fernandez, 2024).
What multicultural considerations might EMDR therapists need to keep in mind regarding EMDR therapy and crime victims?
Cultural sensitivity is imperative when working with victims of crime. Crime and traumatic experiences do not discriminate, so it is important to have a good grasp on how the relationship between culture and intersectionality shows up in treatment.
Intersectionality provides us with an understanding of how different aspects of an individual’s identity may influence their experiences in life. This includes but is not limited to an individual’s race, socioeconomic status, age, gender, disability, and sexual orientation. When we hold this in mind when working with crime victims, we see that the impact of the traumatic event(s) and the healing journey afterward can vary significantly based on these intersecting identities.
The cultural background and intersecting identities of the individuals we serve can shape both their view of their experiences as well as how they cope and approach treatment. For example, while some cultures embrace mental health treatment on the road to recovery, others may believe that the emphasis should be placed on spirituality and religion. Moreover, the pervasive stigma around mental health treatment in some cultures could impact how long someone takes to reach out for support or even lead to avoidance of reaching out for support altogether. All of these things are important to keep in mind when approaching treatment with anyone that you serve. Treatment should be trauma-informed and hold space for the unique needs of the client
Do you have any favorite free EMDR-related resource that you would suggest to EMDR therapists working with this population?
My favorite free resource to use when working with trauma survivors is the Psychotherapy Infographics section of the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) website. Though these are not specific to EMDR, they provide excellent resources for both the clinician and client. These resources range from psychoeducation on ways that trauma affects the brain to structural dissociation and everything in between. The information that these infographics contain provides a great foundation for the beginning stages of EMDR.
Secondly, the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs have useful variations of the Power and Control Wheel that I often use when working with crime victims in preparation for EMDR, along with videos that break down different sections of the original Power and Control Wheel, explaining in detail the impacts of various forms of domestic abuse.
Joshualin “Jay” Dean is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, National Certified Counselor, EMDR Certified Therapist and Consultant-in-Training, TF-CBT Certified Therapist, and nationally rostered Child-Parent Psychotherapy provider. She is the founder of Transcend Therapy and Wellness in Tampa, Florida, and specializes in complex trauma with a population focus on victims of crime. Dean holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from The University of Alabama and a Master of Science in Counseling and Psychology from Troy University. She currently serves as a Board Director for NAMI Hillsborough and is a member of the American Mental Health Counselors Association, Florida Mental Health Counselors Association, and EMDR International Association.
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (n.d.). Victims of crime. https://bjs.ojp.gov/topics/victims
Callus, E., Gallina, E., & Fernandez, I. (2024). EMDR: dispelling the false memory creation myth in response to Otgaar et al. (2022a). Frontiers in Psychology, 15: 1366137. Open access: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1366137
Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs. (n.d.). Wheel Information Center. https://www.theduluthmodel.org/wheels/
FBI. (2024, September 30). FBI releases 2024 Quarterly Crime Report and use-of-force data update. FBI. Retrieved from: https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-quarterly-crime-report-and-use-of-force-data-update-q2
National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) website. (n.d.) Psychotherapy Infographics section. https://www.nicabm.com/
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