The children have endured years of oppression, exploitation, abuse and mistreatment. Most are traumatized and run the risk of having their lives affected, for example by the development of behavioral and/or personality disorders and will therefore benefit from an evidence-based psychological treatment. Additionally they will be taught new coping strategies, such as mindfulness techniques and yoga.

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing , abbreviated to EMDR, is a therapy for people with mental illnesses and complaints that have to do with past experiences that continue to evoke a stereotype reaction. With EMDR it is often possible to completely make this traumatic response dissapear in a relatively short time. An essential element is the focus on shifting from left to right with eye movements while having the trauma in mind. The combination of the highly reminiscent of the traumatic event and the attention to distracting stimuli ensures that the natural processing system is stimulated. The method has been proven effective. Click here for more information about the therapy. There is also a special leaflet available for children.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a meditation technique, a way of life and a focus training method, which teaches the practitioner to be more conscious in life and live in the moment, not in the past or future. This lowers stress levels and allows the practitioner to be more relaxed.

Kriya yoga

Kriya yoga is a meditation technique that focuses on controlling your breathing. It allows you to develop body and mind simultaneously. Kriya Yoga takes you beyond the sensory inputs of your body and allows you to free yourself from daily concerns, emotions and thoughts. The Kriya yoga technique consists of several physical, breathing and concentration exercises which transform your life energy.

Supervision and inter-vision

In mental healthcare, it is common to have supervision and participate in peer groups to benefit from each other’s knowledge and experience. This helps to treat patients in a responsible manner. Therefore, there will be weekly long distance supervision from India with fellow psychologists from the Netherlands, who are working in the field of child and youth therapy.