Publications

Articles & Presentations

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Conference Presentation, May 2026 - BACP International Research Conference - "Making Sense of the Model" by Katharine Brayne

I felt genuinely honoured to bring my Master’s research into the BACP research community, sharing the lived experiences of EMDR therapists as they work with Shapiro’s Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model in the messy, relational reality of practice. Drawing on qualitative work with EMDR‑trained practitioners, I explored how AIP functions not just as a technical framework, but as a lens that is held, questioned, stretched and re‑made in conversation with clients, professional bodies and wider systems. In the presentation, I walked through themes of orienting to the AIP model, working with uncertainty, embodied engagement and shifts in professional identity, inviting colleagues to consider how our “maps” of change are themselves shaped by attachment, context and power.

This conference piece sits right at the heart of my Braynewaves work: attachment‑informed EMDR that takes seriously both the survival self and the emerging agentic self, and that honours the nervous system as a meaning‑making partner rather than something to be overridden. It offered participants a chance to reflect on how their own practice is informed by the stories they tell themselves about the AIP model (or other mechanisms of change), and how we might collectively move towards models of care that are pluralistic, justice‑aware and grounded in real lived experience rather than abstract ideals. My hope is that those who joined me in May left with a little more language, courage and companionship for naming the tensions in EMDR, and for co‑creating safer conditions for movement from survival to a more spacious, securely attached way of being.

Brayne, K. (2026, May). Making Sense of the Model, BACP International Research Conference, available to BACP members on-demand via the BACP website

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Masters Research Article, January 2026 - University of East London: “Exploring the Lived Experience of EMDR Practitioners in their Understanding and Application of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model - An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis" by Katharine Brayne

Completing this Master’s degree felt like laying down a deeper foundation under everything I already knew in my bones about EMDR and integrative practice. Drawing on a qualitative study with EMDR‑trained practitioners, I explored how therapists actually live with the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model in the consulting room, not as a static theory, but as something orienting, contested, and evolving in relationship. Through four overarching themes (from how clinicians 'hold' AIP, to how they navigate uncertainty, embodiment and shifts in professional identity) the dissertation traces a rich, practice-based understanding of EMDR that honours both its power and its limits.

This work now sits at the heart of my practice: it reminds me that EMDR is more than a technique, and that the mechanism of change is inseparable from attachment, relational safety, and the wider biopsychosocial worlds we inhabit. It supports me to meet each person as a co‑researcher of their own nervous system and story, weaving together AIP, attachment‑informed EMDR, neuroscience and embodied awareness in ways that respect uncertainty rather than rushing to premature certainty. My hope is that the insights from this research help clients and colleagues alike to recognise that movement from survival self to more agentic, securely attached ways of being is possible, and that we can explore it together with care, curiosity and honour.

Brayne, K. (2026, January). Exploring the Lived Experience of EMDR Practitioners in their Understanding and Application of the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) Model - An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Masters Dissertation, University of East London, yet to be officially published.

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Article, December 2025 - Go With That Magazine - Fall 2025 Issue: “Holding the Infant and the Infinite” by Jocelyn Rose & Katharine Brayne

I am honoured to have co-authored this feature article for EMDRIA’s Go With That Magazine, exploring an integrative framework for EMDR that weaves together attachment-informed principles, transpersonal psychology, and the emerging field of psychedelic-assisted therapy. The piece examines how EMDR can support the profound shifts that arise in expanded states of consciousness, while remaining rooted in the nervous system, early relational patterns, and the safety of the therapeutic relationship. At its core, the article offers a compassionate, clinically grounded roadmap for working with clients whose histories (or healing journeys) take them into complex emotional and symbolic terrain.

This publication reflects the essence of my therapeutic approach: depth-oriented EMDR that attends to both the “infant” (our earliest attachment and nervous-system imprints) and the “infinite” (the meaning-making, soulful or archetypal layers that often emerge in healing). By bridging the structured reliability of EMDR with the openness of transpersonal experience, the article invites clinicians to hold trauma and transformation with equal care. I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this evolving conversation within the EMDR community, and to support approaches that honour the full complexity of human healing.

Rose, J., & Brayne, K. (2025). Holding the infant and the infinite: Interweaving attachment-informed and transpersonal frameworks into psychedelic-assisted EMDR therapy. Go With That Magazine, Fall 2025.

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Presentation, November 2025 - "Faith, Spirituality and EMDR - Exploring the Inner World Through Silence and Nature" by Jutta Brayne & Katharine Brayne

On 21 November 2025, I had the privilege of co-presenting with Jutta Brayne at EMDR UK’s regional networking day on Faith, Spirituality and the EMDR Therapist; a gathering that brought together nearly a hundred clinicians from across the UK and internationally to explore the spiritual and cultural dimensions of trauma healing.

Our session, Personal Spirituality Through Nature and Silence, invited colleagues into the contemplative qualities that often arise quietly within EMDR. Drawing on Jutta’s research into transformational silences in therapy, and my own background in nature-based spirituality, meditation and cross-cultural practice, we explored:

how EMDR’s inward orientation and bilateral stimulation can evoke profound contemplative states
the role of theta and alpha–theta oscillation, neuroplasticity and the “space between states” in therapeutic change
the grounding and resourcing power of nature connection
how therapists’ inner stance (presence, coherence, compassion) creates the conditions for clients’ deepest healing
the parallels between EMDR and transpersonal, Indigenous and contemplative traditions in understanding meaning-making

What emerged across the wider day was a shared recognition that spirituality (however clients understand it) is often central to identity, resilience and healing. Bringing this into EMDR work with sensitivity, openness and clinical grounding allows for deeper integration and transformation.

I’m honoured to have contributed to such a rich and diverse day of learning alongside colleagues from Jewish, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Bahá’í, Indigenous and nature-based traditions. This conversation continues to shape my own integrative EMDR practice and the work I offer through Braynewaves.

If you’re interested in therapeutic work that welcomes the whole of your experience (mind, body, spirit, culture and story) you’re very welcome.

Brayne, J., & Brayne, K. (2025, November 21). Personal spirituality through nature and silence [Conference presentation]. Faith, Spirituality and the EMDR Therapist: EMDR UK regional networking day, Online.