Children can help family systems heal from intergenerational trauma

In this presentation Arianne will illustrate the use of EMDR with children with intergenerational trauma, severe presentations such as dissociative disorders and children out of home care. Actively involving their families in the healing process enables the family to heal from intergenerational trauma themselves as well. EMDR is an evidence-based treatment for traumatized children and young people and can even be used with infants. EMDR with children uses the standard protocol with adaptions to make it age appropriate and requires collaboration with their family systems to assist in preparation, history taking, activating traumatic material, and coregulating distress. However, children with intergenerational trauma often get stuck during processing or refuse to engage in EMDR. They have persistent negative cognitions and lack the adaptive information to make the shift to positive cognitions. Arianne will show how family members can remove these barriers by acknowledging the child’s innocence, resulting in a reduction of guilt and shame. Even parents with very severe problems can be invaluable in helping their child heal. These interventions often result in a reduction of their own trauma symptoms as well, as parents often struggle with the same themes. EMDR with children can help whole families heal.

Conference

English

Arianne Struik

Struik, A (2024, May). Children can help family systems heal from intergenerational trauma. Keynote presented at the EMDRAA Conference, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia