FREE DRAWING PROTOCOL

RECOMENDED FOR LARGE GROUPS
TO BE PRECEDED BY THE BASIC PROTOCOL

PERSONNEL AND SUPPLIES NEEDED:

• One facilitator (a mental health professional) and at least one assistant (Emotional Protection Team - EPT) for each group of 15 to 20 children. If there are few therapists, groups can be larger.
• Paper and crayons.
• Tables or desks for drawing, if possible.

PROCEDURE:

Make the groups as age –homogeneous as possible.

Ask the parents to permit the children to stay until the protocol is completed. Explain that the work only looks like play but that it is very important for their children’s mental health to see it to completion.

Ask the children to sit in a circle and hand them each a crayon and a sheet of paper.

Ask the children to write their name and age on their papers (in small letters, or they will use the whole sheet and will not have enough room for drawing). When children cannot write, the members of the EPT will do it for them.

The children’s are asked to draw whatever they want.

The members of the EPT will have more paper and crayons available. The children will receive more paper as they hand in their previous sheets (with drawings on both sides), making sure the sheets have their name and age written on them (the aim is to make sure the material has had a good use, especially when it is scarce). If they want another crayon, they have to return the one they were using before, and they can only have one at a time (the aim is to keep constant contact with the children). The drawings should be numbered in the order they are drawn to facilitate studying the progression of the processing of the traumatic material.

As the children draw. The members of the EPT will observe them, walking around them constantly.

If in the view of the EPT the drawings represent anguish, fear, anger, sadness or the like (e.g.: only using black, chaotic shapes, only genitalia, hands omitted or fingers, faces without facial features) the EPT stand behind the child Butterfly(sitting or squatting) and gently taps on the child’s shoulders (EMDR: bilateral stimulation) while the child continues to draw. This is done without offering an explanation (unless the child request one) to avoid shifting the effective expression to a cognitive level. It is our experience that children simply accept the tapping as an expression of affection.

When the child is finished, the EPT can ask about the drawing. If the child does not answer, the EPT simply asks the child to make another drawing while the EPT continues to tap on the child’s shoulders (EMDR: bilateral stimulation).

If after 5-7 drawings there is no change, the child must be perfectly identified, for subsequent individual work using the established EMDR protocols.

The duration of this exercise is of 20 to 30 minutes, but this can be adapted to the group.

At the end of the exercise, the children will hand back the crayons and the members of the EPT collect all the drawings, making sure that they all have name and age to identify them. This is important for the later study of the drawings and the identification of the children who may need individual therapy with EMDR.

The facilitator then asks the children to close their eyes and go to their Safe Place, using the anchor taught during the Basic Protocol (i.e. pressing the "invisible button" on their hands, tapping their knees, or hugging themselves with the Butterfly Hug or the hug of self love").

(NLP: the aim is to reinforce the anchor). This exercise lasts for approximately 1 minute.

Lastly, the facilitator asks the children to breathe deeply three times and open their eyes.