When children and young people are exposed to trauma, it can feel hard to know how to help them. Maybe they aren't showing any signs of trauma or maybe they are showing several signs but you are unsure of how to support them.
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Children & some young people may find it difficult to engage in some talking therapies. EMDR is a way to work on the trauma they may be finding hard to process without having to go into the details you may have with other modalities. This can be especially helpful if a child has any communication issues, they may be non verbal or they may just find that they are unable to talk about what has happened to them.
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I use a range of techniques to utilise EMDR with all age ranges. The initial session would be either with only the primary caregivers or with the full family. Subsequent sessions would either be with the young person alone or with a primary caregiver. This would be discussed at the end of the initial consultation. As trauma is now shown, using brain scans, to impact the development of the brain, it is important to process any trauma sooner rather than later.
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Below is a link to a video which can help to explain how EMDR works with kids:
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EMDR therapy is considered an "A" level treatment for trauma, recommended by the World Health Organisation (2013) for children, adolescents and adults. EMDR is also listed as one of the PTSD treatment protocols by NICE (2018).
EMDR is a powerful healing method that has helped an estimated half million adults, young people and children, relieve many difficult symptoms resulting from trauma. It helps us to recover and move on from traumatic experiences that can vary in severity from events such as childhood abuse, suffered over many years, to single event trauma such as an accident or traumatic loss. It is a treatment of choice for trauma as recommended by NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. EMDR therapy aims to reduce subjective distress and strengthen adaptive cognitions related to the traumatic event. EMDR therapy does not involve detailed descriptions of the event, extended exposure, direct challenging of beliefs or homework. EMDR can be used to treat a wide range of symptoms, not only PTSD.
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If you would like to learn more about how EMDR can help you or your child, please do not hesitate to contact me.
