ABOUT DEBRA WESSELMANN

Clinician. Researcher. Author. Speaker.

Three Decades at the Intersection of EMDR & Attachment Science.

A Note From Debra

My path to this work began in the late 1970s, when I was teaching elementary school students in a neighborhood struggling with poverty and substance addiction. I saw what trauma looked like before I had the language for it. At the same time, my husband and I were building our own family through birth and adoption — and my curiosity about child development and attachment became both personal and professional.

After completing my master's degree in counseling in 1989, I committed my career to healing trauma and attachment disruption in children, adults, and families. I was fortunate early on to access training experiences that fundamentally shaped my clinical lens: EMDR Therapy (with Francine Shapiro, PhD herself as a trainer), the Adult Attachment Interview with Nancy Kaplan and Mary Main, and Ann Potter, PhD's early P-A-C parts-work model, which we later developed together as colleagues.

A turning point came around 2000, when Francine Shapiro heard me present at an EMDRIA conference. She called me at home to ask questions about my work — and not long after, invited me to present alongside her at conferences on the West Coast. She encouraged me to write, and her mentorship shaped not only my approach to EMDR but my approach to communicating it. I am deeply grateful for that relationship.

In 2008, I co-founded the Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska. Together with my colleagues Cathy Schweitzer and Stefanie Armstrong, I continued to develop and refine the integrative EMDR and family therapy approach for children and families — which we named the Integrative Attachment Trauma Protocol for Children (IATP-C). Our collaborative case series research, supported by Meghan Davidson, PhD at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, demonstrated positive outcomes at the group level for traumatic stress symptoms, attachment patterns, and behavior in children adopted from foster or orphanage care.

Today, I enjoy speaking at a wide range of venues and providing clinical consultations to other therapists who wish to sharpen their clinical skills and develop an attachment-focused approach. I serve as a trainer with the EMDR Institute of Dr. Francine Shapiro, provide advanced specialty EMDR workshops, and continue writing. My most recent books are published by Springer and W. W. Norton — and I am especially proud that the work has been taken up by clinicians in the United States, Europe, and beyond.

I invite you to explore the training, books, and speaking resources on this site — and to reach out if I can support your work.

I invite you to explore the training, books, & speaking resources on this site. Also, please reach out if I can help support you in your work.

All my Best,

Credentials & Affiliations

  • MS in Counseling

  • Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner (LIMHP)

  • Trainer, EMDR Institute of Dr. Francine Shapiro

  • Co-founder, Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska (2008)

  • Creator, Integrative Attachment Trauma Protocol for Children (IATP-C)

  • Co-developer, AFTT-A (Adult Attachment-Focused Trauma Therapy)

  • Member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research

Publications

Books

Potter, A., & Wesselmann, D. (2023). EMDR and Attachment-Focused Trauma Therapy for Adults (AFTT-A): Reclaiming Authentic Self and Healthy Attachments. Springer.

Wesselmann, D. (2025). EMDR and Family Therapy: Integrative Treatment for Attachment Trauma in Children (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Wesselmann, D. (2025). Attachment Trauma in Children: Integrative Strategies for Parents (2nd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.

Wesselmann, D., Schweitzer, C., & Armstrong, S. (2014). Integrative Team Treatment for Attachment Trauma: Family Therapy and EMDR. W. W. Norton & Company.

Wesselmann, D., Schweitzer, C., & Armstrong, S. (2014). Integrative Parenting: Strategies for Raising Children Affected by Attachment Trauma. W. W. Norton & Company.

Journal Articles

Wesselmann, D., & Potter, A. E. (2009). Change in adult attachment status following treatment with EMDR: Three case studies. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 3, 178–191.

Potter, A., Davidson, M., & Wesselmann, D. (2013). Utilizing dialectical behavior therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing as phase-based trauma treatment: A case study series. In L. C. Stewart (Ed.), Eye Movement: Developmental Perspectives, Dysfunctions, and Disorders in Humans (pp. 49–72). Nova Publishers.

Wesselmann, D., Davidson, M., Armstrong, S., Schweitzer, C., Bruckner, & Potter, A. (2012). EMDR as a treatment for improving attachment status in adults and children. European Review of Applied Psychology, 62, 223–230.

Wesselmann, D., Armstrong, S., Schweitzer, C., Davidson, M., & Potter, A. (2018). An integrative EMDR and family therapy model for treating attachment trauma in children: A case series. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 12(4), 196–207.

Research on the IATP-C Model

Swimm, L. L. (2018). EMDR intervention for a 17-month-old child to treat attachment trauma: Clinical case presentation. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 12, 269–281.

van der Hoeven, M. L., Plukaard, S. C., Schlattmann, N. E. F., Lindauer, R. J. L., & Hein, I. M. (2023). An integrative treatment model of EMDR and family therapy for children [citation incomplete — see note].

Chapters

Wesselmann, D. (2007). Treating attachment issues through EMDR and a family systems approach. In F. Shapiro, F. W. Kaslow, & L. Maxfield (Eds.), Handbook of EMDR and Family Therapy Processes (pp. 113–130). John Wiley & Sons.

Wesselmann, D. (2013). Healing trauma and creating secure attachments with EMDR. In M. Solomon & D. S. Siegel (Eds.), Healing Moments in Psychotherapy: Mindful Awareness, Neural Integration, and Therapeutic Presence (pp. 115–128). W. W. Norton & Company.

‍Wesselmann, D., & Shapiro, F. (2013). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. In J. Ford & C. Courtois (Eds.), Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents (pp. 213–224). Guilford Press.

Shapiro, F., Wesselmann, D., & Mevissen, L. (2017). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR). In M. A. Landolt, M. Cloitre, & U. Schnyder (Eds.), Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma-Related Disorders in Children and Adolescents (pp. 273–298). Springer.

Wesselmann, D., Armstrong, S., & Schweitzer, C. (2017). Interweaves for children with an attachment trauma in foster and adoptive families. In R. Beer & C. De Roos (Eds.), Handbook EMDR: Children and Adolescents (pp. 399–413). LannooCampus.

Wesselmann, D., Armstrong, S., & Schweitzer, C. (2017). Using an EMDR integrative model to treat attachment-based difficulties. In K. D. Buckwalter & D. Reed (Eds.), Attachment Theory in Action: Building Connections Between Children and Parents. Rowman & Littlefield.

Wesselmann, D., Schweitzer, C., & Armstrong, S. (2015). Child attachment trauma protocol. In M. Luber (Ed.), EMDR Therapy: Scripted Protocols and Summary Sheets (pp. 9–44). Springer Publishing.

Wesselmann, D., Settle, C., Mevissen, L., & Shapiro, F. (2024). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) with children and adolescents. In M. A. Landolt, M. Cloitre, & U. Schnyder (Eds.), Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma-Related Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-77215-3_13

Wesselmann, D., Hein, I., & Schlattmann, N. (in press). Integrative attachment trauma protocol for children. In R. Beer & C. De Roos (Eds.), Handbook EMDR: Children and Adolescents (2nd ed.). LannooCampus.

In good company

Clinical & professional titles:

Clinical & parent-facing titles:

Full publications list: orcid.org/0000-0001-5635-5052

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