History of EMDR

In 2001, El Salvador suffers two earthquakes in a row; one in January 13, the other in February 13. The country is left quite devastated, with the poorest people suffering the most. Their houses fell down, their schools collapsed. It's for this reason that Dr. Reginaldo Hernández, a Salvadoran psychiatrist, decides to establish contact with a humanitarian foundation called EMDR, and this is how he coordinates the arrival to the country of Dr. John Hartung, a full trainer for the EMDR Institute, Dr. Jarero, a full trainer in Mexico and Ligia Piedrasanta, trainer from Central America.

EMDR was put on hold for a while, since its needs were specific to help the population after the earthquakes and Dr. Hernández was unable to move forward with the project. It is then that he finds out that his wife, Silvia Saravia Hernández, did not stop and continued training in EMDR, constantly traveling to Guatemala. He begins to organize one or another event in El Salvador, until Estela Soundy joins.

In 2010, Rolando Mena shows interest in training in EMDR and goes to Guatemala to train with Ligia Barasco de Piedrasanta. There he meets Sonia Silvia Hernandez, who is also being trained to be a coach, and Estela Soundy. On their return the three team up, beginning to promote EMDR in El Salvador and begin to promote institutional and open seminars. In this process, they were trained to become coaches; to such a degree that Sonia Silvia graduated as a Full Trainer in 2015.

However, unfortunately Silvia passed away six months later, so Rolando Mena and Estela Soundy had to continue. Estela Soundy became a certified therapist and certified supervisor, and Rolando Mena graduated as an EMDR Full Trainer, being accredited by the EMDR Institute United States and EMDR Iberoamerica. This is how he began to work more fully with this therapy in El Salvador. The EMDR El Salvador Association was born some time later, thanks to the initiative of Sonia Silvia, Estela Soundy and Rolando Mena. In it, it was agreed that the founding partners would be the ones to act as certified therapists.

This is how legality is sought and the EMDR El Salvador Association develops with a board of eleven people. Today the country has three periods of Board of Directors, during which there have been three presidents. The first, José Rolando Mena, the second, Dora Beatriz Urrutia, and finally the latest, Yolanda Elizabeth Castillo Rodríguez. There are two boards of directors that have lasted three years each. Currently, only one advanced course has been offered as a result of the work of the members of EMDR El Salvador and important people have also been brought to the country to give seminars, such as the Uruguayan psychiatrist and Dr. John Hartung. As EMDR El Salvador, two international congresses have been attended, one in Costa Rica and another in Argentina.