Training & Professional Education

EMDR within a broader therapeutic context

I design and deliver professional training for mental health clinicians working with women and families across fertility, pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period.

My training is integrative and formulation-led, drawing on trauma-informed practice, EMDR, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and person-centred and relational approaches. I focus on supporting clinicians to make thoughtful clinical decisions, pace their work safely, and respond flexibly to the emotional, physiological, and relational complexity of perinatal presentations.

Training is delivered online and in person, and is suitable for counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, and allied health professionals.

An integrative clinical framework

Perinatal mental health work rarely fits neatly into a single model. Clients often present with overlapping trauma, anxiety, grief, identity shifts, and relational strain, alongside significant physiological change.

My training supports clinicians to:

  • Formulate perinatal presentations across trauma, attachment, and emotional regulation

  • Integrate EMDR, ACT, and person-centred approaches rather than applying them in isolation

  • Work flexibly with uncertainty, ambivalence, and ongoing stressors

  • Balance validation, meaning-making, and trauma processing

  • Maintain ethical awareness and clinical responsibility in high-risk contexts

The emphasis is always on clinical judgement, not technique for its own sake.

EMDR within a broader therapeutic context

EMDR is an important part of my clinical and teaching work, particularly in relation to birth-related trauma, pregnancy loss, and medical trauma. However, in perinatal contexts, EMDR is most effective when embedded within a wider relational and regulatory framework.

Training addresses:

  • When EMDR is indicated in perinatal work, and when it is not

  • Preparing clients through stabilisation, values-based work (ACT), and relational safety

  • Adapting EMDR for pregnancy, postpartum, and fertility contexts

  • Integrating EMDR with ongoing therapeutic work rather than positioning it as a stand-alone intervention

This reflects how EMDR is used in real clinical practice, not idealized training scenarios.

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Areas of training focus

Training topics commonly include:

  • Perinatal mental health assessment and formulation.

  • Birth trauma, pregnancy loss, and reproductive trauma.

  • Working with anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and uncertainty using ACT.

  • Trauma-informed and person-centred care in pregnancy and postpartum.

  • Integrating EMDR within ongoing therapeutic relationships.

  • Stabilisation, pacing, and therapist self-regulation.

  • Ethical and professional considerations in perinatal work.

Training content is adapted to the experience level and clinical setting of participants.

Who this training is for

This training is suitable for:

  • Clinicians working in perinatal and reproductive mental health

  • Therapists using integrative or pluralistic approaches

  • EMDR-trained clinicians seeking a perinatal framework

  • Professionals wanting to deepen their use of ACT or relational approaches in perinatal work

  • Organisations and teams supporting perinatal populations

  • “Dr Silvia has great presentation skills and her training was interactive and informative. From her slides, you will know that she puts in a lot of effort into delivering the right materials. I have learnt so much from her and look forward to attending her other trainings”

    Diana Ng - Counsellor

  • The training offered a strong balance of evidence-based concepts and real-life clinical application. I appreciated the practical tools, the case-based discussions, and the sensitivity with which you approached perinatal mental health. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

    Angeline, Counsellor

  • Silvia's depth of knowledge, extensive experience and genuine passion for perinatal mental health, combined with the warmth and care she brings to her teaching, make for a rich, supportive and enjoyable learning experience. I’d highly recommend this course to anyone wanting to deepen their skills in this area.

    Lucy Lyon, Counsellor

  • Great training that covered the different aspects of perinatal mental health, especially with regard to the trauma aspect, something that we as clinicians need to pay more attention to.

    Gayatri, Counsellor

  • This workshop was deeply insightful and clinically enriching. It strengthened my understanding of the complex psychological needs of mothers and families, and offered practical, sensitive frameworks I can immediately bring into my therapeutic work. Silvia brings an impressive wealth of experience and compassion to this work which makes her the expert she is!

    Mahima Didwania

Past Trainings

This one-day in-person training equips counsellors, psychologists and social workers who support pregnant and postpartum women and their partners. Across the day we will cover screening and differential diagnosis of perinatal mood, anxiety, trauma and bipolar disorders, using validated tools to guide triage and risk escalation. We will look at mental health needs linked to infertility, pregnancy loss and NICU experiences, and how to provide grief-informed, family-centred care.

Participants will learn how to assess trauma in the perinatal period, teach practical stabilisation skills and plan appropriate referrals for PTSD. We will apply brief, evidence-informed interventions adapted to the perinatal context, including ACT, CBT, IPT, EMDR, mindfulness, with considerations for sessions where baby or partner is present.

The training awards 6 CPD hours and is Postpartum Support International approved, counting toward the PMH-C 6-hour Advanced requirement.

For questions about PMH-C eligibility, contact me.

This focused, practice-led workshop is for counsellors, psychologists, social workers and allied perinatal professionals who support clients after difficult or traumatic births. We will clarify what constitutes traumatic childbirth versus typical postpartum distress and when to escalate care. You will see how to use brief screeners such as the City Birth Trauma Scale and PCL-5 to guide triage, then translate assessment into an EMDR case plan.

Across the session we will map a target sequence from pregnancy through birth to the postnatal period, teach stabilisation and grounding skills that work during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and cover practical adaptations when baby is in the room. We will walk through delivering EMDR phases 2 to 8 safely and effectively, including telehealth options, managing medical and sensory triggers, and planning measurement-based aftercare and relapse prevention.

Duration: 2.5 hours
Format: In person (Singapore)