An overview of using EMDR positive resource development with children and adolescents

EMDR is an effective and principled intervention to help people with the impact of trauma. It also offers powerful resource development approaches. These are useful as preparation work in processing trauma, but also valuable interventions in themselves. This can be very helpful when circumstances preclude doing trauma work, or when only brief interventions are possible. Positive installations and resource development are also apt for use with children and young people, addressing real world functioning in what is often an enjoyable and rewarding way. Many resource development approaches are well known, and have been used in both standard and novel ways by practitioners. Others have been developed by individual practitioners, and also their clients. Often, therefore, there are good methods that could be more widely known. This workshop presents an account of both standard and non-standard resource development techniques, with an opportunity for participants to present their own good practice and share knowledge. There will also be a discussion of resource development within the EMDR protocol, as part of a principled model for this kind of work., but with a practical view as to how resource development can make trauma processing both easier and more effective. This paper gives an overview of using RID with children. We will look at a whole range of RID’s- common ones and some non-standard, innovative ones. With the participants we will look at purposes, pitfalls, the extent to which any can be safely ‘given away’, and any experiences of using these in groups. To our knowledge, the field has not been drawn together in this way, and we hope through a mixture of presentation and discussion to begin to share our experiences, and develop peoples’ confidence in extending their repertoire.

Conference

English

Helen Myers
James McTaggart

Myers, H., & McTaggart, J. (2011, March). An overview of using EMDR positive resource development with children and adolescents. Symposium conducted at the 9th EMDR Association UK & Ireland Annual Conference & AGM, Bristol, UK