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Did you know that NER can be a fantastic tool when working with kids? Just like adults, children are influenced by stress and emotions. In fact, it can be an even bigger deal for them because they haven’t learned how to cope with them in a healthy way.

Let’s take a look at why NER practitioners love to apply it with their younger clients and how it can be a useful method in your clinic.

5 big reasons why NER is amazing for kids

First up, let’s explore the reasons that NER is specifically beneficial for kids (and in case you don’t know what NER is all about, start here)

They get to do something hands-on!

Kids love to get into something practical, rather than sitting in a strange room. So being given simple instructions like tapping the side of their hand or repeating a sentence will light them up.

This can be particularly useful for children who are diagnosed with a neurodivergent condition or are showing signs of one.

They have an opportunity to be heard

Sometimes as a practitioner, it can be hard to distinguish between a parent’s perception and the child’s experience. There’s nothing wrong with hearing the parent’s side, but we still need as much information from the child as possible.

That’s where NER can be a helpful tool. A parent can’t substitute into NER – it’s the child who will be guiding you. This can also be important in cases where the child might not be feeling heard or acknowledged in their symptoms, or if they are struggling to communicate what they’re feeling.

It helps them to feel involved in the process

When you’re a child, you don’t often feel empowered around your own wellbeing. Many of the recommendations about a child’s health are given to the parent around food choices, the balance between screen time and outside, giving supplements and the like.

But by using NER, you’re adding in a tool that allows your client to feel like they are involved in the process of feeling better. Just like adults, kids can feel lighter and happier after NER. And thanks to their innate vitality, the results can show up quite quickly once the underlying cause is dealt with!

There’s no need to talk about what might have happened

What if you’re concerned about potential trauma in a child? Well the good news is that NER can be used to process stress and emotions – even without the child having to say a word about their experience.

It can tackle stress & emotions before more serious issues take root

Unfortunately, we are seeing the effects of stress in younger children. Thanks to the pandemic, the age of onset for problems such as eating disorders, anxiety and depression has dropped into the primary school years. There are also many children who are experiencing regression in learning and behaviour as a way of coping with the stress they’ve been under.

That’s why we need to be addressing the root cause – stress – before it takes hold and develops into something more serious. Otherwise, countless children will be on the path to a lifetime of health challenges and chronic disease.

What kind of children’s health concerns can benefit from NER?

It’s great to talk about the theory of why NER is helpful for children. But let’s talk about some of the conditions that are indicated when it comes to NER.

The most common ones I see are:

  • Bed-wetting
  • Problems with sleep including night terrors
  • Fears and phobias
  • Digestive complaints such as diarrhoea, constipation and incontinence
  • Mental health concerns including eating disorders, anxiety and depression
  • Autoimmune conditions such as type 1 diabetes, Coeliac disease and juvenile idiopathic arthritis
  • Pain of any kind

This is far from the complete list. Any children’s health concern that has stress as a driver or trigger can benefit from the application of NER.

It can also be used for big life events. For example, parents divorcing, moving house, changing schools and starting new hobbies are all experiences that could bring a lot of stress onto a child – even if we don’t see it as adults. NER can help them to process the emotions and thoughts that develop around these events and prevent any future issues coming up.

Want to add Naturopathic Emotional Release to your clinical toolbox?

The place to start is with my NER Training Course, which is run online and in-person. To learn more about the training and check out the upcoming workshops, click here.