Push for review for victim-survivors after prosecution change to EMDR

A Sunshine Coast woman whose allegations of child abuse were not investigated by police because she had received a recommended trauma therapy is pushing for a review into how many other victim-survivors have faced the same barrier to justice.

Tess Hassell has spoken out after the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) updated its guidelines to remove reference to eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy — a tweak therapists hope will help more people access court.

The past guidelines effectively prohibited evidence from witnesses who had received EMDR except in specific circumstances, including having sessions recorded.

The new guidelines do not reference EMDR at all. 

A Queensland DPP spokesperson said: "The fact that a person has undergone EMDR or other therapies is considered as a factor in a prosecution.

"The therapeutic benefits witnesses may experience following a range of therapies, including EMDR, continues to be recognised."

'Disappointment and betrayal'

In 2024, Ms Hassell was told that Queensland Police was dropping its investigation into the alleged physical and sexual abuse she suffered in childhood because she had received EMDR.

The therapy is performed by trained mental health professionals and is among treatments recommended for adults with post-traumatic stress disorder by the World Health Organization.

Ms Hassell, who met with the Queensland DPP about her experience, said she had hoped a change to the guidelines would bring relief, but she instead felt "anger, disappointment and betrayal".

"Their removal does not undo the harm caused or absolve those who allowed them to operate for so long,"

Ms Hassell said.

"The guidelines were never adequately grounded in research or informed by the realities of abuse and the complex ways people disclose it, yet they were allowed to influence whether I and many other people subjected to it could pursue justice for more than 30 years."

She said she had urged Queensland DPP Todd Fuller to review how many people had been affected by the past guidelines, which likened EMDR to hypnosis, but was yet to hear back.

"I made him aware of a detective involved in my case, as he personally encountered around 30 women involving EMDR spanning his 15-year career, indicating the systemic nature and scale of the harm caused," Ms Hassell said.

The ABC has spoken with men and women across Australia who have had investigations or prosecutions stall or stop because they had received EMDR.

EMDR Association of Australia chairman Anthony Hurst described the change to Queensland DPP's guidelines as "really significant".

"Victim-survivors can now access EMDR without the therapy itself being singled out as a special hurdle for their case," Mr Hurst said.

According to Mr Hurst, the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is now the only state or territory with a prosecution body that singles out EMDR evidence.

Such evidence is only allowed with approval from the Director of Public Prosecutions or a deputy director.

An ODPP spokesperson said the guideline was under consideration.

"The ODPP has met with, and received a submission prepared by, the EMDR Association of Australia, and is currently considering its approach to matters involving evidence of witnesses who have engaged in EMDR therapy," the spokesperson said.