EMDR Ulster Committee are excited to present

Let’s play EMDR:
Fundamentals of EMDR with Children & Adolescents

Trainers: Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S, Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT-S
Dates: March 24^th and March 25^th  2025
Venue: Lecture Theatre, South Tyrone Hospital, Dungannon
Times: 9.30am to 4:30pm both days (Tea/Coffee/Lunch Included)

CPD Points: 12 points have been awarded by EMDR All Ireland for the 2 day workshop

To Register: please email emdr.ulster@gmail.com and we will email you the payment/registration details

Cost: Early bird rate until January 31^st is £170
From February 1^st the rate will be £200 per person.
Please note that if an organization is sending 3 or more staff, please contact us at the email address as there will be a further reduction for this situation.

Event Information:
When child and adolescent therapists complete training in EMDR therapy, they sometimes find it challenging to integrate EMDR into their current work and are often looking for ways to deliver the 8 phase EMDR protocol in more developmentally sensitive ways. This workshop will help clinicians integrate Play Therapy principles and EMDR for children to increase the confidence of the clinician and make EMDR therapy possible in a child friendly setting. Children learn best through the tactile/kinesthetic or full body learning of play, thus making the integration of play therapy and EMDR therapy an important component of effective treatment for traumatized children. We will master a variety of preparation phase interventions and explore how to invite children into re-processing phase in the context of their play. We will expose participants to titration of trauma content in using EMDR with play-based trauma narratives using some video examples and discussion of how to respect the child’s movement towards and away from the trauma content. Case examples illustrating how to integrate parents into this work will be woven throughout the day.
Objectives: Participants will

• List 8 essential considerations in integrating the therapeutic powers of play therapy with EMDR for children & adolescents.
• Apply a play therapy scripted technique for obtaining a trauma history from the child in a developmentally sensitive way during phase one.
• Practice a play therapy intervention to install and enhance positive beliefs and resources during phase two to make the client stronger.
• Select materials and activities to prepare children for the EMDR protocol and notice their own body sensations during play therapy sessions.
• Explain 2 ways of inviting and guiding play narratives that titrate the approach to traumatic material during assessment, desensitization and reprocessing phases.
• Demonstrate a sequence of interventions to involve caregivers in all phases of EMDR.
• Identify 5 prescriptive play therapy activities to promote self-regulation
• Recognize when to directly include parents through the use of a scripted parent interview and inventory.

The Trainers:

    Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Buffalo, New York. Her specialties include attachment and child and adolescent trauma, and she also works with adult survivors. She is certified in EMDR, is an EMDR Approved Consultant and Trainer, a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor, and an Approved Provider of play therapy continuing education through the Association for Play Therapy. She provides consultation in person and remotely, and gives trainings across the US and internationally. Her primary interest is in the intersection of play therapy and EMDR and has published on this topic including as contributor and co-editor of EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (2020).
Email: [email protected] | Website: www.annbeckleyforest.com, playfulemdr.com

     Annie Monaco, LCSW-R, RPT-S, Child Trauma Institute & Trauma Institute and co-founder of Playful EMDR, an online hub for training and consultation in treating trauma-exposed children. Annie travels throughout the US and internationally providing a multitude of trauma-informed trainings and agency and therapist consultation. Annie is an EMDRIA approved trainer of EMDR, EMDR consultant and trainer of Progressive Counting. Annie also provides specialty trainings on attachment, dissociation, and EMDR with children and teens. Annie was a Director of Restorative Justice programs at a non-profit agency where she oversaw juvenile and adult offender programs for over 10 years. Presently her private practice includes a multitude of behaviors and issues including foster care, out of country adoptions, juvenile justice and dissociation. Annie is the co-editor and contributor of chapters for EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room, An Integrated Approach (2020).
Email: monaco.training.center@gmail.com | Website: www.anniemonaco.com, www.playfulemdr.com