Many of my associates are trained in Eye Movement Desensitation therapy (EMDR). We offer this for children and adolescents, and also Dr Jodie Quigg offers this for adults.

When we have awful things that happen to us, we have many mixed-up feelings and many mixed-up thoughts. We do not feel good in our minds, bodies, and hearts. It is like carrying bags of mixed-up stuff. When we are so busy carrying all these bags, we do not have space in our hearts, minds, and bodies for the good feelings and thoughts. EMDR can help young people by making those bags smaller or even to get rid of them so kids will have space for the good feelings and the good thoughts.

One of the things that happens in this treatment is that you move your eyes from one side to another while you think about the awful things that’s happened to you. We actually do this every night, yes we move our eyes every night while we sleep and are having dreams. Grown ups call this Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep cycle. Moving our eyes in therapy creates a similar processing, so the awful feelings don’t hurt as much.

If the awful things that have happened to us are left unprocessed, then this can lead to poor mental health. EMDR allows you to address the root issue and not just treat the symptoms, and helps to feel better in so many ways.