From research to practice: What the research has taught us about training therapists to use EMDR with young children

Our initial research study explored the therapist's ability to demonstrate fidelity to the EMDR protocol with young children. While data collection focused on documenting fidelity to the EMDR protocol, ancillary data emerged that identified skills and training that therapists needed in order to successfully implement the full EMDR protocol in the treatment of children. The preliminary content analysis of the data from the research group identified six major themes that impact treating children with the full EMDR protocol that include therapist issues, client issues, treatment issues, parent/home environment issues, clinical environment issues and therapist training issues. This presentation will review the findings from the research with focus on teaching specific skills for therapists to improve their practice of using EMDR with young children. Therapists need to understand the implication of attachment and attunement in the therapeutic relationship, the impact of parents and the home environment on the treatment, and learn skills to teach children emotional literacy in order to improve the efficacy of EMDR in the treatment of young children. This presentation will summarize the advanced skills that therapists working with young children will need after completing basic training in EMDR. With consultation focused on EMDR and additional training in using EMDR with young children, the research study has demonstrated that therapists trained in child development and play therapy can successfully implement the full eight phases of EMDR with children.

Conference

English

Robbie Adler-Tapia

Adler-Tapia, R. (2006, September). From research to practice: What the research has taught us about training therapists to use EMDR with young children. Presentation at the 11th EMDR International Association Conference, Philadelphia, PA