EMDR for Kids

From a young age, I always knew I wanted to work with children. As a teenager, I was the neighborhood babysitter and throughout college, I found myself drawn towards internships and jobs that involved working with children. For me, it’s an honor to be in the presence of children. To help them learn, grow and heal through play has been truly magical.

Introducing the concept of EMDR to children will always depend on their age and level of development. Over the years, I have found that the key to explaining EMDR therapy to children (and I would argue, adults too) is using simplified language and incorporating their interests or hobbies into the explanation whenever possible! For example, if a child likes to ride their bike, I always compare EMDR therapy to learning how to ride a bike for the first time.

I tend to start by telling kids that EMDR is a type of therapy that can help them feel better about all sorts of problems, such as bullying, worry, anger, scary events and more! Something different about EMDR compared to other therapies is that you will be asked to do two things at the same time! The first thing you will do is focus on the problem you wish to work on and the second thing you will be asked to do is back and forth movement (bilateral stimulation).

When it comes to providing EMDR for children, it is important to adapt the therapy to meet their developmental and emotional needs. Often, EMDR therapy for children will require:

• Language to be simplified

• Sessions to be shorter

• Adaptations for bilateral stimulation

• Incorporating play-based techniques

• Including parents in the therapy process

Compared to adults, the other thing to consider is that children have much smaller memory networks and can reprocess traumatic experiences rather quickly. However, the challenging part about working with young children is that they are still developing and may not understand or have knowledge about certain things. Therefore, more time might be spent providing psychoeducation through bibliotherapy or other play techniques to help children learn.

For children who have experienced trauma, therapists must be mindful that more time is needed to establish trust and rapport to help them feel safe and secure to reprocess upsetting events. Throughout EMDR therapy with children, it is also important for therapists to remain flexible, provide choices, incorporate child-friendly storytelling and metaphors, and involve family members to support the child’s healing process.

Find ways to sprinkle in fun! Be silly and bring laughter to the session. The number one thing I hear from children when we are establishing treatment goals is that they just want to feel “happy” again and “have fun” again. Help children learn that even though they are coming to therapy to work on a hard or upsetting thing, they are still allowed to feel moments of joy.

I love integrating yoga and mindfulness with EMDR in my practice with children. Many people think that yoga is merely body postures; however, yoga is much more than that! I often teach pranayama (breathing techniques) and mindfulness strategies to children in a playful way to help them strengthen their inner resources and coping strategies before integrating EMDR.

While it may seem simple, helping children playfully engage in yoga and mindfulness exercises can help them regulate their nervous system, which often becomes dysregulated in the aftermath of trauma. Yoga poses such as Down Dog can help children with a calming effect on the mind by promoting relaxation and alleviating anxiety.

When possible, educating parents or guardians about trauma and equipping them with strategies to support their child's healing journey beyond therapy can significantly enhance the overall healing process. It is also important to be mindful of the relationship dynamics between children and their caregivers, depending on the trauma or problem they are coming to EMDR therapy for. Before involving caregivers and parents, therapists should consider the best approaches to include parents and assess their capacity to positively engage in the healing process.

Prioritizing my self-care is a continuous balance that involves many practices to nurture all parts of myself (physical, mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and so on). For me, self-care doesn’t begin after work or therapy sessions with children; it is the practice of integration into my daily professional and personal life. My self-care routines are embedded into my day, whether it is sipping on my coffee in the morning, movement through exercise or dance, or making time for nourishing meals and conversations with friends and colleagues. Ultimately, I am always finding ways to sprinkle in self-care with both little and small moments that bring me joy and help me feel fulfilled.

One aspiration that drives me is to see our education systems embracing impactful trauma-informed practices, like EMDR, for children on a broader scale. It's crucial to acknowledge that only a fraction of children will access counseling or individual therapy. Within school environments and larger educational frameworks, thoughtfully crafted mental health initiatives and group-based curricula hold the potential to reach and support a far greater number of children. By integrating effective mental health programs into education systems, we can offer healing, pave the way for prevention and lay the groundwork for future success.