The Importance of Residential Treatment and Trauma-Informed Care for Adolescents

In today's fast-paced and complex world, adolescents face a multitude of challenges that can significantly impact their mental health and well-being. Issues such as grief, PTSD, family conflicts, and depression are increasingly common, yet they are often misunderstood or overlooked. Residential treatment centers (RTCs) that employ trauma-informed care are crucial in addressing these problems and fostering healing and growth in young people. Residential treatment provides a structured, supportive environment where adolescents can receive intensive therapeutic support away from the stressors of daily life. These centers offer a safe space for youth to work through their issues with the guidance of trained professionals. The residential setting is particularly beneficial because it allows for continuous monitoring and support, ensuring that each adolescent receives the care they need around the clock. Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery. It emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety for both providers and survivors, and creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment. This approach is essential in residential treatment for several reasons: 1. Recognizing the Impact of Trauma: Trauma-informed care starts with the understanding that trauma affects everyone differently. This understanding shapes every aspect of the care provided, from the initial assessment to the ongoing therapeutic interventions. By recognizing the diverse impacts of trauma, RTCs can tailor their approaches to meet the unique needs of each adolescent. 2. Creating a Safe Environment: Safety is a fundamental aspect of trauma-informed care. RTCs strive to create an environment where adolescents feel physically and emotionally secure. This sense of safety is crucial for young people who have experienced trauma, as it helps them begin to trust again and opens the door to healing. 3. Empowering Adolescents: Empowerment is another key principle of trauma-informed care. Adolescents are encouraged to take an active role in their treatment, making decisions about their care and setting goals for their recovery. This empowerment fosters a sense of agency and helps rebuild self-esteem, which can be severely diminished by traumatic experiences. Residential treatment centers utilize a variety of therapeutic modalities to address specific issues such as grief, PTSD, family conflicts, and depression. Here are some of the most effective approaches: 1. Grief Counseling: Grief can be a profound and isolating experience, particularly for adolescents. Grief counseling provides a space for young people to express their emotions, process their loss, and develop healthy coping mechanisms. Through individual and group sessions, adolescents learn to navigate their grief in a supportive environment. 2. Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT): TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment specifically designed to help individuals who have experienced trauma. This approach combines cognitive behavioral techniques with trauma-sensitive principles to help adolescents process their traumatic experiences and develop healthy coping strategies. 3. Family Therapy: Family conflicts can exacerbate other mental health issues, making it crucial to address these dynamics in treatment. Family therapy involves working with the entire family unit to improve communication, resolve conflicts, and build healthier relationships. This approach helps create a supportive home environment for the adolescent’s ongoing recovery. 4. Mindfulness and Stress-Reduction Techniques:Techniques such as mindfulness, yoga, and meditation are increasingly incorporated into residential treatment programs. These practices help adolescents manage stress, reduce anxiety, and develop a greater awareness of their thoughts and emotions. 5. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): DBT is particularly effective for adolescents struggling with intense emotions and self-destructive behaviors. This therapy focuses on building skills in four key areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT helps adolescents develop healthier ways to cope with their emotions and interactions. A holistic approach in residential treatment centers integrates various therapeutic modalities to address the multifaceted needs of adolescents. This comprehensive care model ensures that each young person receives individualized support that encompasses their mental, emotional, and physical well-being. By addressing all aspects of their health, RTCs can foster more profound and lasting recovery. Residential treatment centers that employ trauma-informed care play a crucial role in addressing the complex mental health needs of adolescents. By creating a safe, supportive environment and utilizing targeted therapeutic modalities, these centers help young people heal from trauma, manage their emotions, and build healthier relationships. As we continue to understand the profound impact of trauma on mental health, the importance of these treatment approaches becomes increasingly clear. Investing in residential treatment and trauma-informed care is not just about treating symptoms; it's about giving adolescents the tools and support they need to thrive.

Growth and Change

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road… Unless you fail to make the turn.” This is a quote in the lobby of the school at Sorenson’s Ranch School. The only true “constant” in life is change. Sometimes we willingly choose to change our circumstances, such as when we search out new job opportunities or love interests or go on diets for better health. Sometimes change is thrust upon us because of things beyond our control: natural disasters, accidents, loss of employment, sickness, disease, death, or even through consequences of our actions or the actions of others. Despite the means by which change finds its way into our lives, we have control of our mindset. As our circumstances and opportunities change, whether by our own decisions or by factors beyond our control, it is ultimately an individual choice as to how we will respond to these changes. Most people fear change whether or not the change will bring positive rewards. People are creatures of habit, and it is easy to get “stuck in the bend” rather than moving forward to greater things at the end of the road. This is due to our mindset during these times of change. Even if we are willingly making a change, if our mindset is not 100 percent focused on the end result being positive, we often get de-railed and wonder why we made the decision to make a change in the first place. However, the opposite is also true. If someone is positive and optimistic during times of duress and unanticipated change, things most often turn out for the better. Everything in life starts with mindset (i.e., how people they think about themselves and the world around them, and how they adapt to the constant changes going on in life). Positive mindset is the foundation of success and happiness. Research shows that successful people have a “growth” mindset. This means that they believe that every day can be better than the day before. They know that even little changes can add up to make big changes over time. That realize that if they do make a mistake, it’s okay. They know that direction is more important than speed. It’s natural and healthy to experience a wide range of thoughts and feelings, including less pleasant ones like disappointment, sadness, or guilt. There are no wrong thoughts-some thoughts just don’t serve people as well as others. A person’s brain is a very powerful tool. The human brain has the amazing ability to change and adapt by forming and eliminating connections between cells (neurons). The more a person practices using positive self-talk and having a “growth mindset”, the better he/she will get at it. At Sorenson’s Ranch, students are given the opportunity to embrace every day with a positive, growth mindset. No matter how bad yesterday was, today is a new day. As is common in everyday life, students sometimes get stuck in the bend of the road and fail to make the turn for a while. They fail to recognize the greater adventure that awaits them on a more positive road ahead.. However, with time to practice and support from staff, most successfully navigate the changes that come while attending the ranch Change is the most common, yet most overlooked force in this world. Though it is feared by many, it brings with it great opportunity. No matter the changes that arise in our lives, with a little perspective and a growth mindset every change brought into our lives can ultimately empower, inspire, and direct us on a path that will lead to individual success. Do not fear those bends in your road. They are NOT the end of the road, but an opportunity to learn more, see more, and do more along the journey.

Recreational Education

At Sorenson’s Ranch School we understand that all learning does not take place in the classroom. We approach education with a more holistic perspective. We strive to expose our students to a wide variety of activities that they may or may not have participated in before. Some examples are: camping, fishing, cooking, hiking/exploring, horseback riding, ranch work and participation in organized sports leagues. Our staff routinely take groups of our students, who qualify by meeting behavior goals, off campus to participate in these activities. We see these activities as being beneficial for our students in a variety of ways. Just taken at face value, exposing our students to new activities, broadens their minds and thought processes in positive ways. When students become better acquainted with the world around them, they see and tend to think of all things differently. Many students find activities that specifically and even intimately appeal to them. Participation in these activities serves as a motivator to improve some of the behavior problems they may have exhibited in the past. These activities are natural and healing. Typical young people of similar ages participate in many of these activities outside of this concentrated setting. Outdoor activities are often lower stress in nature and allow our students to think and feel positively. Replacing old habits and thought processes with new activities has proven to be effective in helping our students “heal” from past experiences that have been less than appropriate or successful. Hands on learning opportunities seem to be the most successful for our students. Learning by doing allows our students to learn through all of the senses, which helps them to assimilate or “digest” the information and then remember the things they learn. Students are able to learn where they can see, hear, feel, smell, and in some cases taste, things in their immediate environment. Learning by doing also allows our students to create some positive memories with peers they can relate to, and to learn that there are positive things you can do with “leisure” time. It should be noted that at Sorenson’s Ranch School classroom education is important to us. We have a fully accredited high school on site, and our campus is conducive to learning. Our educational faculty occasionally add field trips to the classroom experience to better help our students understand what they learn. Our mission, through a variety of means, is to help our students understand where they are with regard to grade level expectations and to experience academic success, in many cases for the first time in their lives. Ross Franks

Commissioners Art Fair

In the month of April, Sevier County, which includes Salina, Richfield, and Monroe, as well as other small towns in the surrounding area, held an art contest for the Commissioners’ Art Fair at Snow College, Richfield Campus. I asked the students at Sorenson’s Ranch if they would like to participate, and there ended up being 35 participants from our school alone. In the whole county, there were over 350 participants. Four students from the ranch were chosen winners out of twenty-four overall winners. YAY!!!! Each student who won was given his/her own printed poster and a prize of $5.00 each. Donny Somers and I took fourteen boys and girls to the college to see the Art Fair. There were many different types of art, and the students got to vote on their favorite piece. The art work was produced by persons ranging in age from age three to age eighty. There were oil paintings, pastels, photography, pencil, watercolor, crayon, sculpture and anything else you can imagine. There are four art classes offered at Sorenson’s Ranch School: Art 1, Art 2, and Art 3 for the High school students; and a middle school art class. The kids in high school get a lot more in-depth and use all kinds of different mediums. The middle school students stick to basic skills to prepare them for high school. It is really important to encourage art in the students. Art fosters imagination, thought, and new skills. Some of the students think they don’t have talent, but when they find the right medium, they do amazing work. Next year we will again enter their art pieces in the Commissioners’ Art Fair to and see if they can win some more ribbons. After the fair, we took the kids to Ideal Dairy in Richfield, and they got to order slush with soft vanilla ice cream on top. They said they had never tried it before...only in Utah. Tina Somers Director of Special Education

TABE Adaptive Testing at Sorenson's Ranch School

One of the principal aims of the accreditation process is identifying with some clarity the strengths and weaknesses of the school being evaluated for accreditation. Areas of strength are identified as “powerful practices” and commended in the final report. Areas needing improvement are also identified so that efforts toward school improvement can be focused and effective. Corrective measures aimed at improvement in those areas must be addressed in a report to the accreditation commission via AdvancED twenty four months after the date of the school evaluation. The primary area of focus for Sorenson’s Ranch School during this accreditation cycle is the establishment of a comprehensive assessment system which will allow us to quantify, to a much greater degree than we ever have, the progress that students make academically while they are with us. As one component of this goal, we have instituted semi-annual testing of the entire student body using TABE Adaptive. TABE stands for Test of Adult Basic Education. For years TABE has been a very reliable and widely used instrument for assessing academic achievement in adult education programs across the nation. Due to increased demand for a reliable test that could be used for students aged twelve to eighteen, the developers of TABE, McGraw-Hill, normed a version of the test for use with this younger population. In addition, the test was formatted for administration on-line, and TABE Adaptive was born. The word “adaptive” in the title indicates that the on-line test adjusts future questions based on the responses given by the student. For example, if a student misses two questions in a row, the testing software will make next question easier. If a student continues to get correct answers, the software will increase the difficulty of the ensuing questions until the student answers incorrectly. Through this process of making the questions harder or easier based on student performance, the grade level equivalent of the test subject can be more accurately determined than was ever possible with a paper-and-pencil test. TABE Adaptive results are given as a scaled score and as a grade equivalent (GE) score. Scaled scores are useful for comparison to previous and subsequent test administrations, but do not mean much in isolation. GE scores are also useful for comparison, but because they indicate a grade level, they are also instructive when used alone. For example, a student may earn a GE score of 9.2 which indicates that the student’s performance is equal to what would be expected from an average student in the second month of the ninth grade. Students are tested on reading, language usage, mathematics computation, and applied mathematics. A score is computed for each subtest, and a composite score is computed for total math and the entire battery. The bottom line for SRS is that we now have a highly accurate way to determine the academic performance of our students when they arrive and at sixth month intervals while they attend our school. New arrivals are given TABE Adaptive within about a month of their arrival and are then tested with the rest of the students every March and September until they discharge from our facility. We will use the data generated from testing to adjust our curriculum and teaching practices to better serve our students’ needs.

What Messages Are You Sending?

An interesting question was once posed to a group of mathematics and science teachers at a conference that I was attending. “What do your students think is important to you?” This became the topic of much discussion and reflective thinking as teachers pondered what they truly communicated to their students by their words and actions in the classroom. Some teachers thought about the time they spent making sure that students work is organized, written legibly, and turned in to the correct location. Others admitted that neatness was not as important as correct answers and that they were not as concerned about student work being well organized. Many different thoughts were shared within the group, but the central theme of the discussion was that students’ attitudes reflect the attitudes modeled by teachers and parents. Parents and teachers are the most significant figures in a child’s education. We pass on many of our attitudes, intentionally or not, to children in our care. These may be good or bad attitudes and we may not even realize how these attitudes are being transmitted. Consider what your response is when your child seeks help with a math problem. Do you take a quick glance and tell your child that you have been out of school too long and don’t remember how to solve the problem? Do you tell him/her that you don’t know because you didn’t have to do that math in school? Do you sit down with your student(s) to search the textbook or other resources and persist until you both understand the concept? What is your attitude toward homework? What is your attitude about your student’s grades? Do they understand that you feel it important that they do well? Do you feel that it is important to be on time? When confronted with situations such as those name above, our actions transmit, and in turn transfer, our attitudes toward various subjects. If you aren’t willing to try to solve a problem that your child is being asked to solve, you may be communicating that you do not feel it is important to persist until you understand the concept. The look on your face may show that you feel that the task is painful or unimportant. In an interesting study, researchers found that college students preparing to become elementary school teachers had the highest levels of mathematics anxiety in comparison to all other college majors. Most of these students will soon become teachers who spend the minimum amount of time required on mathematics content and do so without enthusiasm. This attitude is communicated to their students and, coupled with less-than-enthusiastic attitudes displayed by parents, may become detrimental to mathematics skills development. Another attitude that seems to be more and more prevalent in American schools is that all school work should be easy. In a recent study that compared Japanese, German, and American students researchers found that while Japanese and German students expect math and science classes to be difficult and to require a significant amount of time and effort to gain proficiency, American students felt that these courses should be simple and take no more than a short time to complete. If the class wasn’t “fun,” or if the students didn’t “get” the concept immediately, it was perceived to be the fault of the teacher. These attitudes work against many of the principles driving education. Persistence in solving problems, employing a variety of strategies, and other educational goals are undermined by this attitude. One of the biggest challenges that we face at Sorenson’s Ranch School is overcoming this tendency for students to want everything to be “fun” and “easy.” Our competency-based advancement requires initiative and persistence on the part of our students. Many struggle with these aspects as they begin their stay with us. Over time, particularly as they get closer to graduation, initiative and persistence become more a part of our students’ daily endeavors. Without exception, those students who become better at self-motivation and persistance, do better as they re-integrate into their families, schools, and jobs post-SRS.

New Accreditation under AdvancED

Sorenson’s Ranch School will be going through the accreditation process during the next year. Our accreditation team visit is scheduled for April of 2014. During the last year, the Utah State Office of Education (USOE) has decided to have all schools accredited by AdvancED, an organization which, with the addition of the states in the old Northwest Association, currently accredits schools in forty of the fifty states. Under the old system, a school could earn a maximum term of six years if the visiting team felt that the school was doing a very good job, a 3 year term if the team felt somewhat less confident about the schools performance, or a one year term if the team had significant reservations about the academic environment. The new system allows for only two outcomes: either accreditation is renewed for a five year term, or accreditation is denied. The criteria for accreditation have changed somewhat under AdvancED, and as a result, we will be changing the ways that we do some things in our school. One third of our faculty attended a workshop sponsored by the USOE last fall which was designed to acquaint school personnel with the new standards and indicators. In addition, our principal was able to participate in three accreditation team visits during the month of April. He reported that this experience was very helpful, not only because he had the chance to go over the standards and indicators in depth with the other members of the visiting team, but also because he was able to see how other schools with a mission similar to ours are implementing reforms and gathering data to comply with the new standards. As part of this process, a new stakeholder survey will be conducted within the next few months which will give respondents an opportunity to give us feedback on our performance and make suggestions about how we can better serve our students and their families. Along with implementing suggestions from our stakeholder surveys, we will be setting up some new assessments to help us better measure where our students are academically when they come to us and how much learning has taken place while they attended our school. The visiting team consists of a representative from the USOE (representing AdvancED) and other education professionals from similar schools. Together, these members conduct classroom observations, faculty and support personnel interviews, stakeholder interviews, and a documentation review in an effort to accurately assess whether or not the school is adequately performing its stated mission and complying with the stated objectives of AdvancED and the USOE. This process allows the school to be commended for “powerful practices” and to be given “required actions” in those areas that the team feels need improvement. We welcome the chance to work our way through the process of self-evaluation and the formal team visit in the coming months.

Our Trip to the Utah Shakespearean Festival

I have asked two students to write about our trip to the Shakespearean Festival, and I wanted to preface their remarks by saying that we go to the festival for the students to learn many lessons. One of these lessons is how to be courteous at a formal play and how to have respect for other patrons and the actors. The Shakespearean Festival offers not only plays by Shakespeare but also many other famous playwrights. We want the students to come away learning something valuable. In this situation, the students learned about the author of “Scapin”, Moliere, and the style in which he wrote. We also talk about the deeper meanings of the plays we attend. It is important to have follow-up discussions so that the students learn the importance of Shakespeare and other authors to the literary canon. The Shakespearean Festival has been recognized with a Tony award. To be able to yearly attend such a magnificent production is truly a gift. Students’ viewpoints: On August 21, Donny and Tina Somers, Ron Cazier and Justin Barrie, took 10 boys and 10 girls, level 3 and higher to the World Renowned Utah Shakespearean Festival. After driving to Cedar City, Utah, we arrived at a local park where we enjoyed a wonderful picnic lunch. After lunch, we drove directly to the Randall L. Jones Theatre to watch the play, “Scapin”, a French adaptation from Moliere. When we walked into the building, it was so beautiful and a man was playing piano and they were songs from “Phantom of the Opera.” We walked up to the balcony in the theatre and took our seats. The play began, and it was so funny. It was about the high-jinx of two servants and the families they worked for. The play kept us laughing the entire 2 hrs. We were there. And the end of the play turned out well for all the characters involved. After that, we went to Taco Bell for dinner and we got to have tons of food. It was delicious! Then, we walked across the street and got to experience a new ice cream adventure, Root Beer ice cream. It was so good too. We then loaded up an headed for home. We had a fun-filled day at the festival and we couldn’t quit talking about it all the way home. We are so thankful to Jill for allowing us to go each year. This was written by Students of Sorenson’s Ranch School

Sorenson’s Ranch School Participating in the Wellness Works Utah Program

Sorenson’s Ranch School is participating in a 4-H program called “Wellness Works Utah” for the next ten weeks. The program promotes healthy living through fun and educational programming. It does this by the use of team-work skills, pro-social activities, nutrition education, and physical activity. There was an assembly on Monday, April 11, in the Sorenson’s Ranch School gymnasium to explain the program and to sign up teams. Students and Sorenson’s Ranch staff are participating in teams of two to five people. The teams are same sex and are all students, all staff, or a combination of students and staff.
The program consists of taking some pre-test measurements (such as heart rate, blood pressure, body mass index, percent body fat, and weight), tracking exercise for ten weeks, and then taking a post test on the same measurements. An additional element of the program is the “Walk across Utah.” The teams will be figuring their virtual mileage each week and tracking their progress on a trail across Utah. Teams can earn bonus miles for such things as not drinking any soda the first week, doing 20 sit-ups in one minute the second week, sleeping a minimum of eight hours per night the third week, and so on. The areas of focus in the Bonus Mile System are aerobic, strength, balance, flexibility, nutrition, sleep, stress and life skills. There will be a variety of prizes at the end for winners in different categories.
Sorenson’s Ranch School staff and students are excited to be participating in this program. Being a team-based program brings a fun level of competition that supports motivation. Most everyone needs a little motivation when it comes to getting and staying in shape.

Springville Art Museum

Every year during March Sorenson’s Ranch School, a residential treatment center for troubled youth, takes the art and high-level students on a field trip to the Springville Art Museum. March is the month they hold the Utah State Student Art Show. We took the male teenagers on the first trip and then the female teenagers went a few weeks later. Sorenson’s Ranch School students usually visit four different museums each year. The Utah State Student Art Show is always the highlight of the year for the teens that go. It is inspiring to see the many different mediums at work. Sorenson’s Ranch School students came away with ideas for projects and a new appreciation of the artistic ability of teenagers their own age.

The Utah State Student Art Show is juried, and there are many exciting awards given. The top prize is the Congressional Award. There are three congressional districts in Utah. The first place prize for the Congressional Award is two round-trip airline tickets to Washington D.C. The student’s work is then hung for one year in the United States Capital Building. Some of the other awards were cash prizes and college scholarships. Sorenson’s Ranch School students were very interested in the jury process and spent time trying to guess which pieces won awards. Their favorites were not always the pieces that won awards. We discussed how art is subjective, and that there isn’t a right or wrong opinion.

Teens with behavioral problems in the public school systems rarely get to participate in these types of extra curricular activities. At Sorenson’s Ranch School, we believe that these are exactly the kind of teens that will benefit most from such cultural experiences. Teens who have been having trouble in their personal and academic life have a very myopic view of their situation and of life in general. By exposing troubled teens to these culturally enriching activities, Sorenson’s Ranch School hopes to open their minds to the many possibilities that life can offer them. These teens that have had fun and enjoyable experiences without the use of drugs are better able to keep away from drugs after returning home. It is with this in mind, that these activities are planned and prepared for the youth at Sorenson’s Ranch School.

A Day at Sorenson's Ranch School

What better thing to do on a perfect "Utah" spring day than to take advantage of our weather and a local attraction. Pam and Darold Francis, who are pioneer bucket and broom makers, host our nearby Freemont Visitor Center and Museum. Pam makes handcrafted brooms for home use as well as for decoration. Darold a "Cooperer" demonstrated handcrafted buckets and kegs.

We started our day by driving from Sorenson’s Ranch, a residential treatment center for troubled teens, in a van full of teens toward Interstate 70, going through Greenwich, passing Otter Creek and Piute Reservoir. The close streams were running clear and fast. We chose an area in Marysvale to have lunch, by one of the more peaceful and calming streams. On the drive we were also able to pick out some really good future fishing, cookout, and horse riding spots that the teens wanted to visit.

Arriving early for the demonstration, the Visitor Center hostess directed us to the exploration path on the grounds. The students from our residential treatment center, just followed the numbered observation points. We observed several Petroglyphs and Fossils. The trail also led to several places to view the canyons where the Indians built dwellings in the ground to capture the heat from the day’s sun. After climbing around some, we went back to the visitor center for the "Pioneer Bucket and Broom" demonstration. Pam told us that the brooms are made from reeds, grown like corn, and are from the sorghum family. She uses three layers of the reeds. Each reed is secured by heavy gauge cord and wound tightly by hand. The last row of reeds was also woven into a pattern to decoratively top the broom. These handmade brooms were touted to last 15 to 20 years of household use.

Darold, a cooper, makes handmade pioneer buckets. He used planing tools to shape each piece of wood fitting them securely together thus preventing any leaks. The buckets are functional as well as decorative.

After a short question and answer session during which the at-risk youth asked several questions, we headed back to Sorenson’s Ranch School. Everyone had had a lovely day and enjoyed their experiences there. This was just one of many outings that our troubled teens are able to participate in. These type of excursions make lasting impressions on our at-risk youth, many of whom came from difficult situations where their experiences were limited and so they came to believe that getting high and doing drugs was the only way to have a good time. Sorenson’s Ranch tries to prove them wrong by filling their lives with rewarding, drug-free experiences, and has been successfully doing so for over 30 years.

WHAT IS EMDR?

(Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

EMDR is a therapy technique specifically designed to assist people in working through and releasing old trauma. It was developed by Francine Shapiro in the 1970s. Shapiro was a therapist working in California with both Vietnam veterans and rape survivors who were experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other negative psychological reactions due to very upsetting or traumatic events that had occurred to them. Simply put, EMDR utilizes a technique to get both sides of the brain firing very strongly at the same time. It works on the theory that when we go through our normal day-to-day life and something mildly or moderately upsetting happens to us, our brain will process it through to the most adaptive or healthy level for us. However, whenever an extremely upsetting event occurs the brain can become overwhelmed and not be able to fully process the incident to the most healthy or adaptive level for us. EMDR utilizes a simple process of getting both the right and left side of the brain firing strongly while the client goes back through their memories and associated thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations related to the traumatic incident. There is also a process for desensitizing the negative thought about themselves that the client developed in response to the traumatic incident and reprocessing the negative self-thought to a more positive self-thought that fits them better today.

I have utilized EMDR successfully here at Sorenson’s Ranch with a number of issues including death of a parent, death of a pet, automobile accidents, sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessing physical accidents, witnessing domestic violence, and negative issues or patterns that students have been stuck in. EMDR is one of the few evidenced-based practices in psychotherapy. There is a fairly large body of research indicating its success. In addition, EMDR is one of the most quickly effective techniques for making progress on healing traumatic issues. Usually, one to four EMDR sessions are all that is needed to release an old trauma.

Joy Morris, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist