At YBGR, trauma informed care and evidence-based treatment approaches are of utmost importance. Research supports these approaches in the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, oppositional behavior, mood disorders, trauma related symptoms, addictions, and personality disorder traits.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is one of the evidence-based therapy practices used with kids that helps process trauma and reduces Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). EMDR focuses on directly altering emotions, thoughts, beliefs and physical sensations that occurred at the time of a disturbing or traumatic experience. During EMDR therapy, eye movements through lights or finger movements and other forms of rhythmic left-right (bilateral) stimulation (tones, taps, etc.) are used while the youth briefly focuses on the trauma memory. The vividness and emotions of the memory are processed to help change the way the memory is stored in the brain, reducing problematic symptoms.
Consider a gift to the EMDR fund to support the training of four additional clinicians along with the purchasing of necessary equipment used during therapy sessions. This equipment includes light bars, headphones, and hand-held pulsators that produce the rhythmic bilateral stimulation. Donate today!
If you’d like more information, please call us at 406.656.8772 or email info@yellowstonefoundation.org.
SMART (Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment) is an innovative mental health therapy for children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma that helps them with emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal regulation.
SMART utilizes an array of therapeutic equipment, such as weighted blankets, balance beams, fitness balls, and large cushions that are used in shared play to support children’s natural ways of regulating their bodies and their emotions that facilitate attachment-building and to allow for embodied processing of traumatic experiences. This treatment model widens children’s window of tolerance for both positive and negative emotional states and for interpersonal connection so that healthy development can continue.
