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Del Morrill, M.S. C.C.H

Transitions

A Center for Counseling & Hypnosis
Tacoma, Washington, USA
(253) 752-1506

Using Great Escapes for Young Children

Question
I have purchased your GREAT ESCAPES Volume I for my work with children. Would you give me some ideas on just how I might use your scripts for my child clients who are quite young?

Answer
Many of the scripts in Volume I will work for the younger children, especially if you "break some of them down." For instance, instead of using the Star-Worry Tree-Garden script and images all together, use just one at a time. The little ones don't need much in order to participate or be "entranced." However, I have had 6-year olds do just fine with the entire script. The pendulum induction works fine, but you can also shorten that as well. Blowing up balloons works. The 6 little scripts (Being Animals) are excellent for the youngest ages, and are written the way they are so they can be used individually. Rainbow People works with the young child. Burning the Ship is fine, but probably needs to be shorter, with less "lead-in." Receiving Gifts is also fine. With 3 to 5 year olds I often don't use scripts. I'll do something different with each child. It's hard to list them--however, you've spurred me to try to write them down in a list to include in the next volume I'm writing -- GREAT ESCAPES Volume III: More Scripts for Those who Work with Children. For instance, I have "magic stones", which I keep in a little box that has drawers--these are colored and shiny (Most "New-Age" or crystal stores have them). When a very young child comes to me for pain control I have them choose a stone that they think has the most magic, blow on it, and rub it on the painful area, saying something like, "Go away pain. I don't need you any more." Or, they might choose one of the puppets I have on my puppet stand, or one of the cuddly animals I have sitting around in the room. They then tell them their problem and have the puppet or animal make suggestions to them while they have their eyes closed. The therapist, or the child, can play the role of the "puppeteer." Amazingly, with a small child these little moments can be just as affective as any script would be. Remember that children are already very close to the "trance state" most of the time. They don't constantly make judgments about what is "real" or "unreal." They don't have a lot of other barriers put up yet, so their imaginations are very keen. Since the imagination is the bridge between the conscious and unconscious mind, it doesn't take much to affect them--positively or negatively. I keep other magic boxes for different things, as well. I also have pages of black and white images that can pull a child "into the center." A small child can even enter a very receptive state by simply coloring such a picture while you talk to them, giving them positive suggestions for changing whatever is necessary. I also have a spinning circle on my low table that a child can play with as I suggest they keep looking at the center of it. Sorry I don't have time to suggest others, but I'll keep it in my mind so I can spell the various techniques out more in my next volume. The scripts I have included in the volume you have are mostly to stir your own imagination. I often take off on "flights of fancy" with my young ones, and too often can't remember afterwards what I did. If I have presence of mind, I try to turn on a recorder when I get going. I will need to be as diligent about jotting down these "non-script" moments I develop with my child clients--what one wouldn't term "regular hypnosis." Would love to hear of your own moments with children that put them into a receptive state for change, as well as from other therapists.

 
 

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