EMDR Therapy with Children and Adolescents

www.jackieflynnconsulting.com Jackie Flynn, EdS, LMHC-S, RPT, EMDRIA Approved Consultant
EMDR therapy is a wonderful, robust type of therapy to use with children and teens. EMDR stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. When kids go through an adverse life experience, their body can respond or react to situations in a very different way than it would’ve otherwise. They may have flashbacks, fears, sadness, sleep problems, they may exhibit out of proportionate responses to situations, behavior issues, relationship struggles. Trauma can have big impacts on life, especially for kids. For example, many children that go through a divorce in their family feel a sense of unsettlement as they adjust so many life changes in a short period of time. It can feel confusing, shameful, sad. It can be a lot for a kid as life as the knew it to be changes in a big way. Some kids may feel responsible because they heard their name some heated arguments between their parents. They may have negative thoughts about themselves such as I am a bad person or I did something bad. Or, I’m not worthy or thoughts of not being in control, feeling powerless. Some kids experience the trauma of bullying, crimes, accidents, abuse, violent crime, adoption and other big and small traumas. We call them capital T and lower case t traumas. They all can effect the way that kids behave, interact, sleep, feel about themselves…. EMDR therapy helps them to reprocess the tough stuff that they experienced… turning the negative thoughts, whatever it is for them, such as I am a bad person into I am a good person , I am not safe to I am safe now, I am shameful to I learned from it. It changes they way they approach their world by literally healing their brain. There’s lots of research show how it heals the brain and increase capacity to manage stressful events, reduce triggers, and just help the person to live their life in the present. Those traumatic experiences are stored deep into the brain with lots of emotions. It can be stored in there for a long time. It’s in the brain in a way that other types of therapies can’t always access. Now, we now that emotional memories are stored as early as 5 months in utereo! It can look like unexplainable reactions to situations. EMDR therapy can help reprocess it all. As adults, we may have many years and experiences that affirms our negative thoughts. For example, a 40 year old may have 4 decades and countless experiences that make Im not safe feel true. For kids though, they have much less life experience, for the most part, so the reprocessing can go quicker. EMDR therapy with kids is very similar to with adults. There’s 8 phases. First , in phase 1, they child’s therapists will gather information from a multitude of sources such as the parent/caregiver, the child, the school, doctor, or whomever would be able to provide information that the therapist can create a treatment plan that targets what to work on. In the second phase, phase 2, the child will do some developmentally appropriate activities to give them lots of ways to calm their body, contain any overwhelming stuff, access their resources and get familiar with how the rest of the therapy goes, in phase 3 the therapist will do an assessment to pick out exactly what to work on and what negative thoughts the child has and what positive thoughts apply, then the client will go into the desensitization phase of the therapy, phase 4. Often in play and art based ways, the clinician will provide a rhythmic alternating stimulation of the brain through eye movements, tactile and audio options. EMDR helps them to feel the truth in positive thoughts as the emotionally charged vivid images, thoughts, feelings and sensations are desensitized and essentially reprocessed to put the experience in the past, helping the client to move past whatever tough thing it was that they experienced, changing the way that their body responds to situations in their present and future. They then think and feel differently about it. It’s called an adaptive shift. Now, in Phase 6 of EMDR Therapy the kids really become aware of body sensations in a somatic sense, which can help them feel more in control and to be able to process through their emotions. The child’s therapist will close down each session, that’s called phase 7, in a way that helps the kid go back into daily life activities in a state of emotional equilibrium as much as possible. EMDR therapists re-evaluate the target, what they worked on in previous sessions with clients to check for any residual to finish up. EMDR Therapy with kids helps the symptoms go away… behaviors can improve, nightmares can stop, relationship improve… I’ve seen school refusals improve. Seemingly unlimited applications. maladaptive behaviors can decrease substantially.The quality of life can improve with EMDR therapy for not only the child or teen, but for the entire family system.

[@antoniskaloterakis7996]

I ve had some emdrs to me at age 40, it works its mind blowing.
My 4yo son couldn't sleep from a scary cartoon and I did it myself to him and from the next day he could sleep in 4 minutes from the time we lay in bed. It's amazing, quit from any therapist that doesn't know about it.

[@mightyscrubbles]

So interesting! I am a child and youth counselor in Ontario, Canada and am now convinced I need to get EMDR certified!

[@JackieFlynnPlayTherapy]

that's wonderful!!! I think you'd be glad that you did. ua-cam.com/video/5lKvN5Fzywk/v-deo.html

[@samniacat]

Save your money and get trained in play therapy.

[@psikologokankus]

@@samniacat why?

[@ogsupremelyvida]

Im 16 and my therapist said that we will start going with this type of therapy. I’m kinda scared idky.. I don’t think I have trauma though, but I guess it wouldn’t be used if I didn’t. Thank you, this gives me some insight on my next session.

[@antoniskaloterakis7996]

Don't be afraid, it works, it's like magic. Everybody has trauma it doesn't have to be something really bold.
It's been a year, how did it go?

[@ceciliabarros7447]

I am getting trained in EMDR and this is an awesome video! Thank you!

[@JackieFlynnPlayTherapy]

You're so welcome! glad you like it! That is AWESOME that you're getting trained. Take care, Jackie

[@ashleyanderson825]

I am looking forward to two trainings in Palm Beach County with you! I've been listening to your podcast for a while and I'm totally "fan-girl" over here! Haha! I graduate in August with my MSW! Looking forward to being a LCSW and RPT! :-)

[@JackieFlynnPlayTherapy]

Oh Ashley!! I'm so sorry it was cancelled. Hopefully we can meet at a training sometimes soon. Congrats on your upcoming graduation in August!

[@harrietthespy2119]

Thank you! This is excellent!

[@JackieFlynnPlayTherapy]

You're very welcome!

[@loribender1813]

Hi Jackie. Love this video. In your opinion, can EMDR be effective when working virtually with clients? Thank you.

[@JackieFlynnPlayTherapy]

Yes, absolutely