Dr Chris Neuenfeldt with the junior students at Ōtāne School.
Dr Chris Neuenfeldt with the junior students at Ōtāne School.
When “yucky things happen”, the children of Ōtāne School can now reach for tools such as butterfly hugs, gorilla beats, drumming, or having a darned good stomp.
In a New Zealand first, clinical psychologist Dr Chris Neuenfeldt from Trauma Aid Aotearoa and his team were invited to teach the whole school to use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, or EMDR, which helps people heal from traumatic events.
EMDR has been widely used worldwide to address common symptoms following disasters and provide support to individuals and communities.
Trauma Aid Aotearoa is a charitable organisation providing psychological help to communities affected by disasters, but while Neuenfeldt and his team’s Hawke’s Bay sessions are in response to Cyclone Gabrielle, he says the children - and adults - who shared the Ōtāne sessions were invited to apply the therapies to any “bothering spots” in their lives.
At Ōtāne School, this led to a class full of juniors periodically stomping, drumming, gorilla-beating and butterfly hugging until the room was awhirl and no-one could hear themselves speak.
Brightly coloured windmills encouraged the children to take deep breaths and blow.
But it wasn’t all noise and movement. The programme includes a worksheet, a big picture of a colourful butterfly that helps the team to guide the children through drawing, colouring and writing out their feelings. They aren’t asked any questions and don’t have to share their “bothering spots” but they communicate through the colours they choose - with red being a bad feeling and working through a spectrum towards green being feeling good.
EMDR was developed in the late 1980s and has undergone much research since. The children’s protocol used by Neuenfeldt and his team was developed in Mexico and has been translated into English, then te reo Māori aspects were included.
He and his team sprung into action to offer the programme to Hawke’s Bay as part of the Cyclone Gabrielle recovery, as Neuenfeldt had previously lived in Hawke’s Bay and had an established relationship with the Napier Family Centre.
“I actually moved from Hawke’s Bay to Queenstown just before the cyclone,” he says, “but please don’t hold that against me.”
He reached out to the Napier Family Centre, which started to facilitate EMDR sessions, in person and online.
“We’ve done free sessions in Napier and Marewa as well as online sessions for people throughout the Bay. Mainly adults, with some children’s sessions.
“We found it hard to reach into the smaller communities so when Ōtāne School invited us we felt really lucky. All the stars lined up and we were able to get here in person.
“The sessions at Ōtāne School have been by far the biggest EMDR sessions of their type in New Zealand. We’ve done a day of sessions with the children, and offered online sessions for the adult community,” Neuenfeldt said.
Trauma Aid Aotearoa members Anandra and Nishtha working through the butterfly worksheet with the Ōtāne School students.
“We’ve responded to a lot of different trauma situations in New Zealand and been everywhere from Great Barrier Island to Wellington and Queenstown ... anywhere there’s a need. That’s why the Trauma Aid Aotearoa charity was established. There is no other programme offering this type of therapy.
“We believe that everyone should have access to the help they need to recover from traumatic events and that our services can make a difference in the lives of those affected. We are here for everyone, and our services are available free of charge thanks to the generous support of our volunteers.”
The juniors at Ōtāne School seemed to get a lot from their time with Dr Chris and his team, as they sat down after their last burst of stomping and butterfly hugging and reached for their last crayon to fill in their immediate feelings. The most popular crayon as the session came to its close? Green.
