Important Information

As this is an early trauma protocol, your felt sense as a therapist should not be ignored. If you feel in your body that a participant is needing something: somatic experiencing such as rocking for BLS, hearing soothing words, being told it wasn’t their fault, please trust this feeling and use your instincts as a kind and warm person to help your client feel supported.

Your role as an attachment facilitator is important by offering the attunement the baby missed out on.

You may find your participant will land on other targets that happened in the “future” (older than a baby) that need to be processed. Process these until SUDS are low enough and then return to the baby image. Once the baby image is fully processed, check in with these other targets to see if they are now resolved and if not follow standard protocol, adding in resource figures as needed.

Be creative and trust yourself!

Preparation and Stabilisation (Phase 2)

Establish a safe therapeutic environment.
Psychoeducation: Explain attachment trauma and EMDR.
Stabilisation exercises: Teach grounding techniques.
Establish a calm place for emotional regulation and a healing place for young parts to go in case of an incomplete session..
Create a resource team of internal and external resource figures such as nurturers, protectors and wise figures

Assessment and Target Identification

Discuss early attachment history with the primary care givers, typically the mother and father. In adoption, both biological and adoptive parents can be processed. This protocol can be used with step-parents or any other carers that a child relied on for attachment.
Identify attachment wounds and areas to focus on.

Begin Mother-focused Visualisation (Phase 3)

Invite the participant to visualise themselves as a baby held by their mother.
Ask the participant:
- What do you see when you look into your mother’s face?
- What do you feel in your body as this baby?
- What emotions are present? (optional)
- What do you believe about yourself in this moment? (optional)

NB: if a participant is unable to visualise please use other senses to imagine this scene, through the body, sounds or knowing. You can also use tools such as sand trays, drawing or words to create the scene.

Bilateral Stimulation (BLS) and Processing for Mother (Phase 4)

Apply BLS to guide processing.
Repeat the processing cycle until shifts or resolutions occur.

Resource Therapy* Interweave

Expression

Ask if there is anything the baby wants to tell the mother. “in your imagination, because we can do anything there, we can shrink your mother down until she’s the size of a mouse or even a beetle. What do you want to say?” Encourage the baby to speak directly to the parent.

Introject Speak

If there was a sense of rejection but NO fear, encourage the participant to take on the role of the mother and ask them to speak back to the baby. “Tracy, being the best actress you can be, I want you to speak to this little baby as your mum, knowing she can understand you.”

“Mum, thank you for coming to Tracy’s therapy. I don’t know what is going on for you but I have this little baby here and she’s told me ... Is there anything you would like to say to her?

Allow the mother to speak and encourage her to speak directly to the baby. If appropriate encourage the mother to tell the baby she loves her. Once the mother has said everything thank the mother for coming and ask the participant to go back to being the baby.

Removal

Ask the baby if she wants the mother to stay in her internal world or space. If she wants her to go, encourage the participant to voice it directly to the mother saying “I want you to go.” Participant imagines mother leaving internal space.

If the participant wants the mother to stay, she might need to be filtered through a magical strong and golden sieve that filters all the things the baby does not want to keep leaving behind only the good things. Encourage the filtered rubbish to be released to earth, air, fire or water.

Relief

Ask the participant by name, "Tracy, if you saw a little baby like this, what would you want to do to help? How would you want to look after them?” Vivify this part of the participant, ask for the part’s name and anchor it in with a symbol or animal.
Or ask if there is a resource figure who could help them now and ask what that figure would do to look after the baby.
Guide the participant to interact with these figures for emotional support in whatever way the baby and participant feel is right for them.
Attune to what you feel the baby needs and facilitate attachment with the resource figure or figures.
Sometimes a Resource figure is needed for the parent too. It must not be from the participant’s team but someone just for them.

Phase 5 and 6

Feel free to install a positive belief if you feel it’s needed. Do a body scan if needed. Sometimes you will feel it’s important, other times it will be more relevant to return to the initial target your participant presented as a starting point when you decided this protocol would be helpful.