EMDR with Children
Play Therapy and Polyvagal-Informed Techniques for Trauma Therapists
Why TTI
Built for Learning. Designed for Belonging.
Shame-Free Space for Learning™
Expert Clinical Training
Where Learning Meets Community
Practical Skills
Practical Interventions You'll Learn
- Use non-directive play in history taking to assess trauma narratives safely
- Introduce child-friendly EMDR rating tools such as playful SUD and VOC scales
- Incorporate play-based bilateral stimulation (BLS) with drumming, puppets, sword play, hopping, and tapping
- Learn rhythmic play interventions (singing, echo games, call-and-response) to anchor ventral vagal regulation
- Implement nature-based play regulation practices (drumming on logs, circle dances, safe place animal metaphors)
- Apply cultural humility in play therapy by including diverse toys, sounds, and stories
What You Get
What's Waiting for You Inside This Training
IFS foundations for EMDR clinicians
IFS across all 8 phases
Recognizing protective parts in EMDR
Unblending and Self-energy interventions
IFS-informed interweaves
Modified Phase 3 for parts work
Lifetime on-demand access
Free community membership
Is This For You?
Who Is This Training For
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Confidently adapt EMDR to the unique needs and nervous system responses of children.
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Build a bridge between trauma-focused work and playful, nervous-system-safe interventions.
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Move past protocol-based limitations to reach children who are stuck or struggling.
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Transform sessions into safe, engaging, and creative spaces where children feel truly seen.
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Support children living with complex trauma, attachment disruptions, or dissociation.
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Equip themselves with tools to explain polyvagal theory and EMDR simply to kids and caregivers.
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Stand out as a therapist who blends creativity, neuroscience, and deep empathy in their EMDR practice.
Whether you work in private practice, schools, clinics, or community settings, if you strive to change the narrative for young survivors, this training will give you what you need.
Meet Your Trainer
About Your Trainer
Jackie Flynn
EdS, LMHC-S, RPT-S
Jackie Flynn is a passionate advocate for healing through play, EMDR, and nature. As the owner of Counseling in Brevard in Cocoa Beach, Florida, she supports individuals of all ages using play therapy, expressive therapies, and EMDR. Her work centers on compassion, creativity, and nervous system regulation, offering clients a safe space to heal and grow.
With a background as a teacher, school counselor, and school-based clinician, Jackie holds an Education Specialist degree and brings decades of experience to her practice. She specializes in trauma, anxiety, and emotional regulation, tailoring evidence-based approaches to meet the unique needs of each client, from children to adults and families.
Investment
Ready to Get Started?
Course Price
- Lifetime access to the on-demand training, refresh your skills anytime
- EMDRIA, ASWB, and NBCC CEs
- Parts-informed interventions you can apply in your next EMDR session
- Flexible payment plans available
Free Resource
Not Ready Yet? Take This With You.
Additional Information
Course Details
Agenda
- Foundations
- Overview of Polyvagal Theory
- Nervous system states and co-regulation
- Introduction to the therapeutic powers of play
- Child development principles relevant to trauma and EMDR
- Polyvagal-Informed Play in Phases 1 and 2
- History taking and treatment planning through non-directive play
- Assessing readiness and regulation
- Building safety and trust through playful relational rhythms
- Targeting and Resourcing in Phase 3
- Integrating cues of safety into assessment
- Using symbolic play and nervous system signals in target selection
- Desensitization and Installation in Phases 4 and 5
- Supporting dual attention with play-based strategies
- Maintaining connection during trauma processing
- Integrating play materials for child-led installation
- Body Scan and Closure
- Developmentally appropriate adaptations of body awareness
- Creative somatic interventions
- Rituals of safety and symbolic containment
- Reevaluation and Integration & Supervision, Fidelity, and Clinical Application
- Using expressive play to assess progress
- Adjusting case formulation through the lens of play and polyvagal insight
- Consultation and ethical considerations
- Navigating fidelity with creativity
- Clinical decision-making and therapist regulation
Learning Objectives
- Identify key tenets of polyvagal theory and how they apply to nervous system regulation and co-regulation within the play therapy process.
- Describe core principles of child development and their relevance to safety, attachment, and therapeutic pacing in play therapy.
- Apply play-based strategies that support safe and attuned history-taking (Phase One) and preparation (Phase Two) when working with children in EMDR.
- Demonstrate ways to integrate safety cues and co-regulatory play in Phase Three (Assessment) to support target selection and dual attention.
- Utilize polyvagal-informed play-based techniques during Phase Four (Desensitization) and Phase Five (Installation) to facilitate trauma processing while maintaining connection.
- Evaluate client progress and safety using child-centered play therapy approaches during Phase Eight (Reevaluation) within the EMDR framework.
Prerequisites
- EMDR Basic Training
Continuing Education
6 CEs are available upon completion of all course material.
Trauma Therapist Institute is an approved continuing education provider. ACE, NBCC, and EMDRIA CEs are available for this course. APA CEs are not available for this course.
Participants must complete the full training to receive credit.
ACE Approved Provider
Trauma Therapist Institute, #1869, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 1/16/25 - 1/16/28. Social workers completing this course receive 6 clinical continuing education credits.
NBCC Approved Provider
Trauma Therapist Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7033. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Trauma Therapist Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
EMDRIA Approved Provider
Trauma Therapist Institute is an EMDRIA Approved Training Provider. TTI courses are individually approved. CE Certificate will contain course approval number.
Course Completion
Cancellation Policy
Take The Next Step
Ready to Begin?
Stop Working Around Parts. Start Working With Them.
When a protector steps in, an exile floods, or a client loses access to Self, the standard EMDR protocol doesn't have a built-in answer. This training gives you the IFS-informed framework, the Phase 3 modifications, and the parts-aware interweaves to keep the work moving without losing fidelity to either model.