in 2023 Arianne Struik presented a series of  90-minute webinars on for EMDR clinicians working with children and young people. The recordings are combined into this package which you can view in your own time. Arianne breaks down the complex processes in doable steps and the learnings boost your confidence and improve your skills.

Webinar 1 Preparing dissociative children for EMDR

Chronically traumatized children can struggle with dissociation in daily life or even have a dissociative disorder. Processing traumatic memories with EMDR is considered first choice treatment, but how do we address the dissociation? In this webinar Arianne Struik will provide an overview of the preparation phase 1-2 for children with dissociative disorders, how to determine what needs to be done and in which order to get them ready for processing in phase 3-8. We will address questions such as: What does trauma treatment for children with dissociation look like? How do I stabilise and prepare the child for EMDR? How can I assess, whether I can start with EMDR or not? What can I expect during EMDR therapy? Why does the child not remember traumatic experiences? How can these memories be made accessible, when there is amnesia? How can I explain dissociation to children

Webinar 2 EMDR processing with dissociative children

Chronically traumatized children can struggle with dissociation in daily life or even have a dissociative disorder. Processing traumatic memories with EMDR is considered first choice treatment, but how do we address the dissociation? In this webinar, we will discuss Phase 3-8 of the EMDR child protocol for children who dissociate or have a dissociative disorder. We will address questions such as: What can I expect during desensitization of the traumatic memories? How can I manage anger, shame, guilt, self-hatred? How can I troubleshoot when things go wrong? Which extra support may children need? What does the child need after EMDR therapy?

Webinar 3 Selecting EMDR targets with children with chronic and developmental trauma

Some children and adolescents have experienced so many traumatizing circumstances that it can be difficult to decide where to start with EMDR. They have memories of domestic violence, sexual abuse, they are neglected, they have preverbal memories. Then they were bullied in school, taken into care and abandoned by their parents. They had multiple placement breakdowns, experiences of rejection and loss. In this webinar Arianne Struik will discuss how to select and prioritise targets for these children to make the EMDR Therapy process as efficient as possible. What are important things to consider. Arianne Struik will illustrate this with case examples and participants will practise with casevignettes. Do you work with children or young people with chronic and developmental trauma and use EMDR? Join us in this webinar and ask your questions!

Webinar 4 EMDR with children who self-harm, are suicidal and stuck on guilt and shame

When young people self-harm significantly or are suicidal, they are at risk of serious injuries. This can make us cautious in providing trauma treatment. We attempt to stabilize them, however there can be so much chaos in their families that they never seem ready for EMDR. However, the traumatic memories are often related to their self-hatred, self-harming or suicidality. Not processing them with EMDR maintains their guilt and shame which they manage by self-harming, using drugs, alcohol or (sexual)violence and it becomes a Catch 22. In this webinar Arianne will discuss how to assess the risk for a young person to start with EMDR, what is needed in preparation and how to set up the EMDR processing in a safe way. She will also elaborate on Shapiro’s plateaus of processing and how to use this framework to understand why the client is stuck and which interweaves to use in which part of the processing.

Webinar 5 EMDR protocol for preverbal trauma in children

Clients who experienced trauma at a young age, such as (sexual) abuse, neglect, violence or medical trauma  can display traumasymptoms, attachment difficulties and developmental delays. Preverbal trauma is stored in the implicit memory often with bodily sensations and feelings. Therefore it is important to involve the body in the EMDR processing phase. However,  a young child alone cannot exist, they are part of a relationship, as Winnicott said: “There is no such thing as a baby”. Preverbal trauma is also stored in the child’s parent or caregiver and the way they interact, and those trauma representations need to be addressed as well in order to heal the attachment wounds. In this webinar Arianne Struik will provide an introduction into processing preverbal trauma with EMDR with young children and older children with the Parent-Child EMDR Protocol. We will discuss how to access and activate the preverbal memories and attachment wounds, what to do when there is not much information about the trauma, how to set up the session and who needs to be involved, how to monitor progress.