Incorporating fun and engaging activities when to gathering lists of not so good experiences and when providing EMDR on these experiences is very important for kids and teens. Participants will learn the “Tree of Me” for gathering target memories and then learn the Seed to Weed technique as a metaphor to graphically illustrate symptom etiology, treatment, and monitor treatment resolution using EMDR.

The Tree of Me assists clients in gathering their journey of not so good experiences in a fun and engaging way. It normalizes and de-pathologizes experiences, which help clients become more comfortable when sharing those experiences. Then, participants will move to learning the Seed to Weed technique. This strategy offers an opportunity to help a client understand the problem and treatment approach and the ability to see progress in treatment. These crucial areas are important to treatment engagement and success, whether working with children or adults. An illustrated garden metaphor is used to guide a client to look at his or her life experiences and gain an understanding of how events have contributed to the problems and concerns that bring them into therapy. The seed-to-weed technique provides a graphic means of presenting trauma, a treatment plan, introducing eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and tracking treatment progress.