Ana Gomez is delighted to be training for the first time in Scotland in May 2019.

Ana, author of EMDR and Adjunct Approaches with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment and Dissociation (2013) and EMDR Therapy with Children: Journey Into Wholeness (2013), is a psychotherapist in private practice, author of several books, chapters and articles, and a lecturer internationally known for her innovative work with children and adolescents. In addition, Ana Gomez is an EMDRIA approved consultant; an EMDRIA advanced training provider, an EMDR Institute, EMDR-IBA and EMDR-HAP trainer. Furthermore, Ana has received training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Play Therapy, Sandtray Therapy, Theraplay, Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), and the use of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). She has worked with children, adolescents, adults and families affected by trauma and adversity for almost 20 years.

Ana will be presenting three separate days of training, as follows :

Day 1 (May 8th, 2019) : The World of Stories and Symbols - An Introduction to the EMDR Sandtray Protocol

Day 2 (May 9th, 2019) : Intergenerational Trauma - An Attachment Based EMDR Program to Work With Children and their Parents.

Day 3 (May 10th, 2019) : Working with Complex Trauma, Dissociation and Failures of Integration in Children and Adolescents using EMDR Therapy

6 EMDR UK & Ireland CPD points will be awarded in relation to each separate day of training.

Workshop content outlines are as follows :

Day 1 (May 8th, 2019) : The World of Stories and Symbols - An Introduction to the EMDR Sandtray Protocol

This is an innovative training that presents an introduction to the EMDR-Sandtray protocol developed by Ana Gomez. This training covers an overview of the eight phases of EMDR therapy with children and adolescents and the use of the EMDR Sandtray Protocol. This is especially useful for children that present with dysregulation of the affective system and require greater distance from the traumatic material. In addition, children that use a number of mechanism of adaptation such as avoidance can highly benefit from using this protocol. The EMDR-Sandtray protocol offers various levels of distance from the traumatic material: The actual memory of trauma where the self is present in the story, to the general story/world where the self is absent.

One of the wonderful assets of the EMDR-Sandtray Protocol is its capacity to access implicit and right hemisphere material through the use of stories, symbols and archetypes. It is not necessary to have the formal training in Sandtray therapy as this protocol has its own procedures and principles rooted within the AIP model.

Aims / Learning Outcomes:

This work will enable clinicians to work with children This work will enable clinicians to work with children that do not acknowledge or do not want to talk about the traumatic or adverse events. For example,

• Children in the child protective system
• Children living in unpredictable and chaotic environments
• Children with parents that are not able to provide appropriate support
• Children with attachment injuries and unmet attachment needs
• Children that use avoidance as a mechanism of adaptation
• Children that become dysregulated or dissociative when trauma memories are brought up or activated
• Children that despite going through a lengthy preparation phase cannot tolerate the accessing of traumatic material.

Objectives:

Clinicians will learn -

• Case conceptualization skills to use with children and adolescents with complex clinical presentations that may require greater level of distance from the traumatic material.
• Basic Sandtray therapy procedures such as how to set up the sand tray, miniature collection etc.
• To set the various levels of distance offered by the EMDR-Sandtray protocol.
• How to develop resources during preparation phase using the sand tray including:
• To set up the assessment phase honouring the various levels of distance.
• To use interweaves within the EMDR-Sandtray Protocol such as:
• Interweaves directed to meet attachment needs
• Interweaves directed to modulate arousal
• Interweaves directed to complete defence responses
• To playfully do the installation phase and body scan using the EMDR-Sandtray Protocol.

Videos and lots of pictures of therapeutic work will be presented to give workshop attendees a very tangible and concrete experience. Formal training in Sandplay or Sandtray therapy is not required.

Day 2 (May 9th, 2019) : Intergenerational Trauma - An Attachment Based EMDR Program to Work With Children and their Parents.

Clinicians will learn how to work with dismissing, preoccupied and unresolved states of mind throughout the eight phases with parents. In addition, you will learn how to help parents develop attunement so the capacity to “hold the child’s mind in mind” (Fonagy) can be promoted. Case conceptualization strategies and Preparation tools that include protocols to enhance the parent’s capacity for differentiation and boundary awareness, as well as linkage and connection, will be addressed. The use of videos to promote the development of attunement and the capacity of the parent to synchronize to the child’s internal states will be studied.

In addition, the use of Theraplay strategies and the installation of dyadic-regulated states (Gomez) with the child and the parent will be demonstrated. Moreover, how to resource the "parent's younger self" and "the child's little self" will be covered. A wide range of interventions and interweaves will be presented. These strategies are used with the purpose of assisting parents in assimilating and integrating thwarted attachment experiences that currently inhibit the parent's ability to respond contingently and synchronically to the child’s needs and inhibits the child's capacity to connect and attach securely. Dyadic sessions will be presented and demonstrated as well. This program will present a model and a program where a combination of group and individual EMDR therapy may be used. When the parent and the family dynamics are wounding agents, EMDR therapy needs to be used systemically and intergenerationally.

Aims / Learning Outcomes:

In this workshop, clinicians will learn to work with adults (parents) and children using attachment-informed EMDR therapy. How to use the eight phases with parents and children to heal intergenerational trauma will be addressed. You will learn an original model developed by Ana Gomez to work with parents and children that include four different levels of parental involvement:

• Level 1: Psychoeducation
• Level 2 : Emotion regulation and Mentalization work
• Level 3 : Processing
• Level 4 : Dyadic work.

Day 3 (May 10th, 2019) : Working with Complex Trauma, Dissociation and Failures of Integration in Children and Adolescents using EMDR Therapy

The treatment of chronically traumatized youngsters raise significant challenges for clinicians due to the compartmentalization, splitting, failures of integration, internal conflicts, and trauma related phobias they display. This presentation will provide an overview of the models and theories that address the etiology and development of dissociation in children.

Treatment strategies that will aid clinicians in working with children and adolescents with complex trauma and structural dissociation will be covered. In addition, it will offer a number of “entry strategies” for accessing the internal system of children presenting with severe dissociation. How to work with "dissociative parts" within the EMDR eight-phase model will be also addressed.

Standard procedural steps only offer one “entry way” into the memories of trauma. This presentation will address multiple “memory entry strategies” to access traumatic material such as pendulation, peritraumatic resources and more. In addition, two protocols directed to layer the memory will be presented. Overall this workshop will be dedicated to children and adolescents presenting with failures of integration, fragmentation and diagnosis such as DID or OSDD.