It was fantastic! We united over 140 participants from 14 countries in this multicultural training. David Grand cannot fly or drive to all these corners of the world, but they could all come online “to him” to his office in New York. The NEM stands for Neuroexperiential Model – and this Brainspotting Masterclass was translated live into five languages (German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese) to give as many Brainspotters as possible access to learning from and with the founder of the method. Together with the Brainspotting trainers and leaders from Italy (Ermanno Carrara), Poland/Ireland/Hungary/Serbia (Monika Gos), Spain (Mario Salvador) and Portugal (Margarida Couto), we organized a memorable seminar. The most moving moments were certainly the nine live sessions (experientials and supervision role plays) in which David Grand worked with therapists on personal issues or supervision cases. The results and healings achieved here were almost unbelievable – even though we have actually known for a long time that Brainspotting works and how effective it is. Since developing the Neuro-Experiential Model in 2021, David Grand has taught the masterclass differently and has now shaped it into the NEM Masterclass. Some wisdom and knowledge that David Grand did a great job of imparting over these three days:

• He began by contrasting the NEM with the differences between the diagnostic model and the evidence-based model, which are widely used in the therapeutic field, and shared highly interesting thoughts and theories in detail.
• He spoke of using the term “identity adaptation” rather than “dissociative identity disorder”. Dissociation is a great tool for our brain to protect us, to survive trauma, and to continue functioning. Here, for example, participants were able to learn how the techniques of “dosing” or “mirroring” can help in treatment.
• He then demonstrated the “concept of the basket”, in which the practitioner can combine not just one topic in a session, but two or more.
• He also talked about the – perhaps overlooked ? – importance of our bones (why do clients often say “This goes to my bones!”) and non-verbal experiences such as birth, prenatal or transgenerational trauma that are stored in the body.

He has repeatedly emphasized that Brainspotting practitioners trust the system in their clients, including their self-healing capacity. It is about following them in their processing and providing support when they need support or direction – but only then!

We would like to thank everyone who was there for so many goosebump moments and so many deep insights! Especially David Grand, the technical assistant Shannon, the translators, the trainers, and last but not least, all the participants!