2-Day EMDR with Kids: Effective Trauma Treatment Through the Safety of Kids

Credit

Planning Committee Disclosure - No relevant relationships

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

Handouts/Brochure

Speaker

Megan Salar, LCSW, ACADC, CCTP-II, EMDR-C Related seminars and products

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Megan Salar, LCSW, ACADC, CCTP-II, EMDR-C, is an Evergreen certified EMDR clinician and trainer, as well as a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional II through Evergreen Certifications. Megan is also an Advanced Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, who formerly owned and operated one of the largest treatment centers for substance abuse and trauma in Southeast Idaho, which was voted best in practice for 2019.

Her trainings have helped thousands of clinicians across the US get the most of EMDR, trauma and addiction-based skills and practices. She has been invited to train internationally at the International Society of Addiction Medicine in India, the International Conference on Addiction Research and Therapy in Amsterdam and at the Psicologia Institute of Italy. Megan has extensively been trained on the use of EMDR as a protocol and uses EMDR in her practice to achieve improved outcomes with a broad spectrum of clients in the areas of trauma, abuse, attachment and substance abuse. She is an expert witness at the State and Federal level for her expertise in areas surrounding trauma.

Megan is the author of EMDR Workbook for Trauma and PTSD: Skills to Manage Triggers, Move Beyond Traumatic Memories, and Take Back Your Life set to be released by New Harbinger Publications in 2023. She earned her master’s in Clinical Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University in 2011 and is an active member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers. She currently owns and operates her own Counseling, Consulting and Training Business and is passionate about genuinely changing the landscape of trauma treatment through an authentic, hands-on perspective that she has uniquely made her own.
 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Megan Salar has an employment relationship with Recoverhe Counseling & Consulting. She receives royalties as a published author. Megan Boardman receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She is a paid consultant for Evergreen Certifications. Megan Boardman has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Megan Salar is a member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine, the EMDR International Association of EMDR Trauma Specialists, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Carmen Jimenez Pride, LCSW, LISW-CP, ERYT, RCYT, RPT-S™ Related seminars and products

Additional Info

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: Each day there will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

Visit our FAQ page at www.pesi.com/faq or contact us at www.pesi.com/info

Objectives

1. Describe how the 8 phases of the standard EMDR therapy protocol are applied when working with children and adolescent clients. 
2. Determine how a developing brain functions, maladaptive information is stored, and adverse childhood experiences impact children and adolescent clients. 
3. Identify applications of the Adaptive Information Processing, AIP, model with children and adolescent clients. 
4. Determine how to collectively gather information from a parent/caregiver and child/adolescent client through Play Therapy techniques to perform (PHASE 1) to gather a comprehensive history, conceptualize the case, and create a targeted sequence treatment plan. 
5. Develop an understanding of the preparation (PHASE 2) performed with child and adolescent clients by supporting their emotional literacy, experiencing grounding techniques, developing a calm place image, creating a container image, and engaging in resource development through animal imagery. 
6. Prepare a comprehensive assessment (PHASE 3) that activates neural networks in a bilateral fashion by following a deliberate order of procedural steps: worst part, image, emotions, somatic location, negative cognition, subjective unit of distress (SUD), positive cognition, and validity of cognition (VOC). 
7. Demonstrate seven creative methods of Dual Awareness Stimulation, also known as Bi-lateral Stimulation, with child and adolescent clients to effectively support the processes of desensitization and reprocessing of distress (PHASE 4). 
8. Create Play Therapy techniques to reassess and engage in positive cognition installment (PHASE 5). 
9. Create three play-based methods aimed at assisting children and adolescents in identifying somatic distress and related symptoms using a child-friendly version of a Body Scan directive (PHASE 6). 
10. Prepare a regulation resource consisting of seven play-based techniques that facilitate state shifts into regulation of the autonomic nervous system at the conclusion of each session (PHASE 7). 
11. Design ways to educate child/adolescent clients and their parents/caregivers about resourcing and grounding techniques for stabilization and attainment of a sense of equilibrium (PHASE 7). 
12. Deduce a safe and connected approach to re-evaluate (PHASE 8) a previously targeted area when working with children and adolescent clients.

Outline

Adaptive Information Processing Model through the Lens of the Polyvagal Theory

• Body
• Relationships
• Environment

Pivot Approach to Treatment

• Telehealth
• School
• Home
• Office
• Nature

Creating a Clear Clinical Picture
Phase 1: History Taking, Case Conceptualization & Treatment Planning

• Gather Information from a Multitude of Sources
• Develop a 3-Pronged Protocol – PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE - Target Sequence Plan
• Putting It Together for Case Conceptualization & Treatment Planning
• Determine if it’s Good Timing for Therapy
• Gather Potential Targets to Treat Varying Trauma
• Develop Inner and Outer Resources through Play and Creative Arts Recognize and Address Secondary Gain Issues

Preparing the Client
Phase 2: Preparation

• Establish & Maintain a Strong Therapeutic Relationship through Playful Applications of the Polyvagal Theory
• Ensure Predictability and Familiarity
• Create a Comfortable Place
• Develop a Crafty Container
• Develop an Abundance of Resources
• Learn Play-Based Regulation Techniques

Selecting and Setting Up Targets through Safety and Connection
Phase 3: Assessment

• Select Appropriate Targets
• Identify the Procedural Steps through PLAY
• Creative Ways to Assess the SUD and VOC with Children
• Elicit Positive / Negative Cognitions through the Safe Layers of PLAY
• Use Case Vignettes to See the Process

Reduce Emotionality and Image Vividness
Phase 4: Desensitization

• Creative Methods of Bilateral
• Stimulation Based on Child Development
• Float Back and Forward (Future Templates) to Move through the Neural Networks
• Address Looping, Learned Limitations, and Blocking Beliefs
• Reduce and Respond to Abreactions

Strengthen New Positive Belief About Self
Phase 5: Installation

• Play-Based Methods to Reassess and Install the Positive Cognition
• “I am Positive Cognition Thought Cards” and other Creative Art Expressions
• Playful Somatic Expression of Positive Cognitions

Clear Up Any Remaining Residual Somatically Stored Material
Phase 6: Body Scans

• Kid Friendly Body Scans Inspired by the Polyvagal Theory
• Playful Pendulation with Kids to Process Out Stuck Material in the Body

Regulation Reset through Connected, Playful Movement at the End of Sessions
Phase 7: Closure

• Play-Based Methods to Regain Homeostasis
• Playful Breathwork to Up and Down Regulate State
• Games of Reciprocity

Circle Back Around to Check-in on Previous Targets
Phase 8: Re-Evaluation

• Play-Based Methods Assess Previous Targets
• Knowing When and How to Re-Target if Necessary

Risks, limitations, and Scope of Practice

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychotherapists
• Marriage and Family Therapists
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Addiction Counselors
• Other Mental Health Professionals

This workshop is intended for therapists with fundamental EMDR knowledge and skills.