ROBERT H. TINKER, PhD, PC.

On April 19, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah building was blown up in the largest domestic terrorist attack to that time in American history. Within the next few days of the aftermath, Dr. Lee Becker, Dr. Sandra Wilson, and Dr. Robert Tinker traveled to Oklahoma City (OKC) and saw the devastation and the reactions of the Oklahoma City residents. We agreed that something needed to be done. We had recently learned that our study of the effectiveness of EMDR treatment had been accepted by a tier-one, peer-reviewed journal (the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; JCCP); the first study on EMDR to be so recognized. Results in the study were so strong that it became the lead article in the journal for the next issue. It was the largest study completed on EMDR to that point, and was even the largest study on PTSD at the time. From this research, we were confident that EMDR would be effective with persons traumatized by the bombing, possibly even first responders. Sandra became the Project Director and remained in OKC for the next 6 months, contacting EMDR practitioners trained at the highest level in EMDR to volunteer to fly in, treat victims over a week's time and then travel back home. They were then replaced by a new team of two therapists who would stay a week, on a volunteer basis. In this way, over 250 traumatized adults and children were treated. I conducted my clinical practice during the week to support the project financially and flew in every weekend to OKC to help with treatment and clinical issues.

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Sandra arranged for donations of office space, transportation, and lodging for the volunteer EMDR therapists. Previously, Sandra and Bob had set up a 501(c)3 private, non-profit organization, named the Spencer Curtis Foundation (in memory of two grandchildren who died shortly after their births). Its mission statement was "to provide psychological services for humanitarian purposes". Thus, we already had an organization to accept donations for operating expenses and a mission statement that fit the situation. We called it the EMDR Free Clinic, and many of the best trained EMDR therapists gave fully of their time for volunteer there. The entire operation was pro bono.

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We also arranged for Francine Shapiro, PhD, the originator of EMDR, to conduct an EMDR training for adults, in which about 325 licensed therapists from the OKC area were trained to carry on EMDR treatment when the Free Clinic shut down after six months. I conducted an EMDR Child Training for about 200 therapists who had taken the adult training earlier with Francine. Prior to the EMDR Free clinic, there had been no fully trained EMDR therapists in OKC.  Supporting the Free Clinic, the EMDR Institute (with Francine and Robbie Dunton, M.A.) set up EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs (EMDR-HAP) and the Free clinic project became a joint program of the Spencer Curtis Foundation and EMDR-HAP. 

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Since then, EMDR-HAP has gone on to sponsor hundreds of programs to help victims of disaster, man-made and natural, around the world over the last 30 years. EMDR-HAP also trained thousands of EMDR therapists to be HAP volunteers.

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Lee Becker, PhD., the second author on the JCCP studies, died in 2023 of an aggressive brain tumor, He was a great colleague and a best friend.

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Sandra Wilson, PhD. died in 2015 of an auto-immune disorder. The 24 years we had together were a great time of exciting purpose and discovery. We were proud of our contributions to EMDR, but we were proudest of our part in contributing to the origin of EMDR-HAP and seeing it develop into the fine organization it is now. We need it now more than ever.

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