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When Christine Mark-Griffin, LCSW, began working with young kids, she quickly realized that traditional therapy was often not enough to fully unravel the trauma and pain these little ones were carrying. Inspired by her clients' creativity and imagination, she set out to create an EMDR resource specifically designed for use with young clients.

What is EMDR for kids?

Eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy (or EMDR therapy, for short!) is a type of therapy that can help kids feel better after scary, stressful, or traumatic experiences. It can help your young clients work through big emotions they might be feeling, like worry, sadness, and anger, as well as any unhelpful thoughts or memories that they can't seem to get out of their mind. It can also help them process uncomfortable body sensations, like feeling shaky, having a funny feeling in their stomach, or feeling hot in certain parts of their body.

How can EMDR help kids?

EMDR therapy can help them feel better about a bunch of different problems, like:

• Bullying
• Anxiety and worries
• Sadness
• Anger problems
• Parents arguing and fighting
• Parents divorcing or separating
• Medical problems
• Moving to a new home
• Eating issues
• Losing a person or pet
• Experiencing abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) or neglect
• Having nightmares
• Sleeping problems
• Witnessing violence in their neighborhood
• Experiencing natural disasters, like earthquakes, fires, or tornadoes
• And much more!

Help your clients learn more about the story of EMDR and get unstuck from scary and traumatic thoughts, memories, and emotions with these These worksheets will allow you to playfully integrate EMDR therapy into your practice with elementary-aged children.

And if you want more tools to help you use EMDR with young clients, you can order the to help you address a variety of common childhood concerns.