2027 EMDR Playground Immersion
Date:
January 14 - 17, 2027
Place:
Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, 1550 North Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach,, FL, 32931
Bring EMDR to Life Through PLAY, ART, MOVEment, Somatic Work, and Fidelity
For EMDR-trained clinicians who want to feel more confident when trauma healing does not fit neatly into words.
Children play instead of talk.
Teens shut down, joke, resist, avoid, or say, “I don’t know.”
Clients with complex trauma may have so many memories, symptoms, and protective responses that it is hard to know where to begin.
The target is not always clear. The safe place intervention does not always land. The body may be telling the story before words are available.
EMDR Playground Immersion was created for these moments.
Across the immersion, we will explore how play, movement, sandtray, art, music, sound, somatic work, symbolism, cultural responsiveness, and relational attunement can support EMDR therapy while staying grounded in the 8 phases.
The core workshops are available in person and virtually.
The in-person experience in Cocoa Beach also includes sunrise beach experientials, evening practice labs, symbolic storytelling, sound, rhythm, movement, and community connection.
You will leave with a stronger clinical map, practical tools, more confidence in complex moments, and a renewed connection to the heart of this work.
Join us in person in Cocoa Beach for the full immersion experience, or attend virtually for the core workshop sessions from wherever you are.
What We’ll Explore Together
Each part of this immersion is connected to the real clinical moments that can feel hard to navigate in EMDR therapy.
Jessica Crunkleton will help us explore cultural wisdom, family stories, sandtray, play therapy, and the deeper relational patterns that shape trauma healing across children, teens, adults, and families.
Jackie Flynn will help us return to readiness, regulation, and fidelity when using play therapy in EMDR with children and adolescents.
Jodie Keeso will help us look beneath the symptoms and strengthen case conceptualization with complex childhood trauma, IFS-informed thinking, and play therapy.
Katie Miller will help us bring the body into the work through somatic movement, yoga, play therapy, and EMDR for trauma healing.
Brooklyn Hancock will help us stay developmentally attuned with teens who may communicate through humor, resistance, avoidance, shutdown, movement, and the body.
Together, these sessions create a clear and creative path for using EMDR with more confidence, purpose, attunement, and fidelity.
You will leave with developmentally responsive approaches for all 8 phases of EMDR therapy.
We are so proud to welcome Renata Huewitt, an EMDRIA Approved Consultant and deeply respected EMDR therapist, as our EMDR Playground Ambassador this year.
Renata will help support our speakers, welcome attendees, share important announcements, and help keep the experience connected, organized, and meaningful throughout the immersion.
This Is For You If...
✔️ You are EMDR-trained and want EMDR with children and teens to feel more clear, confident, creative, and clinically grounded.
✔️ You want to use play, art, sandtray, movement, music, storytelling, and symbolic work while staying connected to EMDR fidelity.
✔️ You sometimes wonder how to assess readiness when a client communicates through behavior, shutdown, dissociation, resistance, avoidance, humor, or play.
✔️ You want to move beyond Phase 2 and understand how to support children through the full 8 phases of EMDR in a developmentally responsive way.
✔️ You want to know why an intervention fits, when to use it, what phase it supports, and how it connects to the AIP model.
✔️ You want to bring the body into EMDR in ways that are ethical, intentional, trauma-informed, and clinically purposeful.
✔️ You want children and teens to have access to the healing power of EMDR in a way that honors fidelity, development, relationship, and safety.
✔️ You want to learn with clinicians who understand that trauma healing with children is sensory, relational, creative, embodied, and deeply human.
✔️ You are craving an in-person experience that feels high quality, meaningful, supportive, beautiful, and clinically alive.
This Is the Experience
✔️ You will gather in a supportive training space for hands-on clinical learning, reflection, and practice.
✔️ You will integrate through guided experiential sunrise practices on the beach.
✔️ You will explore play, art, music, movement, sandtray, somatic awareness, symbolism, rhythm, and clinical tools in ways that connect back to EMDR therapy.
✔️ You will reflect through sand, stones, figures, movement, sensory experience, symbolic expression, and community.
✔️ You will experience the same principles you are learning to bring back to your clients: safety, choice, regulation, creativity, co-regulation, embodiment, dual awareness, symbolic expression, and integration.
What’s Included With Your Registration
✔️ All EMDR Playground Immersion workshops.
✔️ A shared cohort experience. Everyone stays together for the full immersion. No choosing sessions. No missing workshops.
✔️ Hands-on learning with play, art, sandtray, movement, somatic work, symbolism, rhythm, and EMDR therapy.
✔️ Sunrise EMDR experiential practices on the beach.
✔️ Evening EMDR enrichment experiences.
✔️ A thoughtfully designed EMDR Playground Clinician Kit.
✔️ Bonus On-Demand EMDR Refresher Advanced Training, valued at $333.
✔️ One complimentary professional headshot image with Darlene Brace.
✔️ Access to Momma Owls, our exclusive sandtray and symbolic figure vendor, plus official conference merchandise.
✔️ On Site Support Clinicians for brief grounding and re-orientation support.
✔️ Giveaways and special surprises throughout the immersion.
The EMDR Playground Clinician Kit
Every registrant receives an EMDR Playground Clinician Kit created to support hands-on learning, creative clinical practice, and developmentally responsive EMDR therapy. Your kit includes clinical supports, art materials, an individual sandtray, a small set of miniatures, card decks, Fidelity at a Glance tools, and more. Each item is thoughtfully selected to help you practice during the immersion and bring the learning back into your real work with children, teens, and families.
The WORKSHOPS
Across four days, you will learn from EMDR clinicians who specialize in play therapy, sandtray, somatic movement, cultural responsiveness, complex trauma, attachment, adolescents, and developmentally responsive trauma treatment.
Each session is designed to help you integrate creativity into EMDR with clinical purpose.
Using Play Therapy in EMDR with Children and Adolescents: Readiness, Regulation, and Fidelity
Jackie will guide participants in exploring how play therapy can support readiness, regulation, Phase 2 preparation, pacing, emotional safety, and fidelity within EMDR therapy. This session helps clinicians choose play-based interventions with clear purpose while staying connected to the 8 phases and the AIP model.
The Stories Beneath the Symptoms: Case Conceptualization in EMDR Using IFS and Play Therapy with Complex Childhood Trauma
Jodie will help participants deepen EMDR case conceptualization with complex childhood trauma through an IFS-informed and play therapy lens. This session explores protective parts, survival responses, attachment wounds, dissociation, symbolic communication, neuromotor development, co-regulation, gross motor expression, and the stories beneath symptoms.
Cultural Wisdom in Play: Integrating Play Therapy, Sandtray, and EMDR for Trauma Healing
Jessica, our Saturday KEYNOTE presenter, will explore how culture, identity, story, symbolism, sandtray, and play therapy shape trauma healing within EMDR therapy. This keynote highlights cultural humility, meaning making, nervous system safety, symbolic expression, relational context, and developmentally responsive clinical choices.
Embodied Healing in Play and Movement: Somatic Movement, Yoga, Play Therapy, and EMDR for Trauma Healing
Katie will help participants explore how somatic movement, breath, body awareness, yoga-informed practices, and play can support EMDR preparation, regulation, stabilization, co-regulation, trauma processing, and integration. This session focuses on using embodied and play-based strategies with intention and fidelity.
EMDR With Teens: Developmentally Attuned Play Therapy in Practice
Brooklyn will focus on developmentally attuned EMDR therapy with adolescents. Participants will explore strategies for teens who shut down, escalate, resist, avoid, disconnect, intellectualize, or struggle to stay engaged. This session supports agency, regulation, pacing, window of tolerance, therapeutic connection, and teen-focused EMDR practice.
Sunrise EMDR Experientials on the Beach
The sunrise experiences are one of the most memorable parts of the immersion.
Participants meet in the hotel lobby and walk down to the beach together.
These experiences are designed to help you embody the same principles you are learning: regulation, resourcing, grounding, sensory awareness, bilateral awareness, closure, and integration.
Safe Enough Spaces in the Sand
Friday morning, join us for a sunrise beach experience for felt safety, grounding, and EMDR preparation.
Using sand, sensory awareness, imagination, body-based contact, and the natural environment, this experience explores the concept of “safe enough” rather than complete safety. This is especially meaningful for clients who may not have access to complete safety in daily life.
This experience connects with EMDR Phase 2 through resourcing, stabilization, nervous system regulation, readiness, and present-moment orientation.
Bilateral Rhythms at Sunrise
Saturday morning, join us for a sunrise experience with sound, rhythm, movement, and creative bilateral awareness.
Participants will explore creative bilateral stimulation, dual attention stimulus, attuned rhythmic movement, regulation, and embodied presence with and without music.
This experience connects with EMDR Phase 2 and Phase 7 through preparation, grounding, closure, nervous system settling, and return to the present.
Sand, Stones, and Sun
Sunday morning, join us for a closing beach experience for integration and the journey home.
This final sunrise experience uses sand, stones, ocean air, sensory awareness, and grounding to support closure, integration, resourcing, future orientation, and preparation for returning home.
In-Person Evening Experiences
The evening experiences are designed to help the learning settle in a creative, embodied, and meaningful way.
Participants will explore symbol, story, sound, rhythm, movement, reflection, and shared presence as pathways for regulation, resourcing, dual awareness, connection, and integration in EMDR therapy.
Every Figure Has a History
Thursday evening, join us for an opening experience with handmade sandtray figures and symbolic pieces.
Momma Owls will share the stories, inspiration, and lived meaning behind their creations. Some figures are playful. Some are heartfelt. Some are shaped by beauty, memory, imagination, culture, pain, hope, healing, and the layered experiences that shape human stories.
This experience connects with EMDR-informed practice through symbolic representation, resourcing, dual awareness, externalization, adaptive information, and meaning making.
Music and Sound in EMDR Practice Lab
Friday evening, join us for a one-hour practice lab exploring how music, sound, rhythm, voice, and personalized songs can support EMDR therapy.
Participants will experience simple sound-based practices and explore how music can support regulation, resourcing, dual awareness, and integration. This practice lab includes reflection, treatment planning ideas, a practical booklet, and a giveaway.
This experience connects with EMDR-informed practice through Phase 2 resourcing, nervous system regulation, dual awareness, integration, and treatment planning across the 8 phases.
Community Rhythm and Resource Circle
Saturday evening, join us for a shared rhythm and resource experience for grounding, regulation, connection, and belonging.
Participants may use simple rhythm instruments, sound-makers, body-based rhythm, tapping, movement, or gesture to create a shared group rhythm. Sound healing will be woven into the experience through gentle sound, rhythm, vibration, and intentional pauses.
This experience connects with EMDR-informed practice through Phase 2 resourcing, nervous system regulation, dual awareness, bilateral awareness, co-regulation, attunement, social engagement, closure, and integration.
Community Rhythm and Resource Circle
This memorable Saturday evening experience uses rhythm, sound, movement, and shared presence to support grounding, regulation, connection, and belonging. Sound healing will be woven into select sessions and experiential practices to support grounding, regulation, and integration through gentle sound, rhythm, vibration, and intentional pauses.
Participants may use simple rhythm instruments, sound-makers, body-based rhythm, tapping, movement, or gesture to create a shared group rhythm.
This experience connects with EMDR-informed practice through Phase 2 resourcing, nervous system regulation, dual awareness, bilateral awareness, co-regulation, attunement, social engagement, closure, and integration.
Supportive On Site Clinicians
Because this immersion is experiential, brief regulation support will be available on site. Niesia Garza and Symika Taylor, fellow EMDR trained therapists, will offer voluntary grounding and re-orientation support for participants who feel activated, overwhelmed, or in need of a steady presence. This support is not therapy, clinical treatment, supervision, or crisis intervention. Their role is limited to brief regulation support within the learning environment.
Professional Headshots
Your registration includes one complimentary professional headshot image taken by Darlene Brace, and EMDRIA approved consultant, during EMDR Playground Immersion.
Darlene is both an EMDR therapist and photographer, which makes this offering feel especially aligned with the spirit of the event. She understands clinicians, professional presence, and the importance of feeling comfortable in front of the camera.
Headshots will be taken right outside the conference room area and scheduled with Darlene closer to the event. If time allows, Darlene may offer longer paid photo sessions or additional photo bookings for an additional fee. Any extended sessions, additional images, or paid bookings are arranged directly with Darlene and are separate from conference registration.
Exclusive Vendor: Momma Owls
Momma Owls will be the exclusive vendor for sandtray figures, symbolic pieces, and clinical play therapy materials at EMDR Playground Immersion, alongside official conference merchandise.
For clinicians who use sandtray, symbolism, play therapy, storytelling, and expressive work, they offer a beautiful opportunity to find pieces that carry clinical depth, imagination, and meaning.
Why Cocoa Beach Matters
The setting is part of the experience. This is where I (Jackie Flynn) practice. This is our EMDR Playground. Healing happens here. I've offered EMDR sessions on this beach for over a decade and the thought of sharing this experience with you is my dream come true.
This immersion takes place in Cocoa Beach, where the ocean, sunrise, sand, and natural environment become part of the rhythm of the event.
You are stepping into a space designed for learning, restoration, connection, and clinical renewal.
The beauty of the location supports the purpose of the immersion: to help you slow down, reconnect, reflect, and return to your work with more clarity and energy.
Who This Immersion Is For
This immersion is for EMDR-trained clinicians who work with children, adolescents, families, or trauma and want to make their EMDR practice more developmentally responsive, embodied, symbolic, expressive, regulated, and clinically grounded.
It is especially designed for clinicians who love play therapy, sandtray therapy, somatic work, movement, expressive arts, music, storytelling, and relational trauma treatment, and want their creative interventions to stay connected to EMDR fidelity and the AIP model.
This is for the clinician who knows trauma work must surpass the limitations of words.
This is for the clinician who wants to be part of a growing movement toward EMDR that honors the whole person: body, story, culture, nervous system, imagination, relationship, and meaning.
Continuing Education, Venue, and Schedule Details
Eligible continuing education credit is available for qualifying participants.
Please use the menu to view specific details about CE approvals, eligibility, attendance requirements, evaluations, certificates, venue information, travel details, registration, and the full agenda.
Reserve Your Seat
Because this is an experiential in-person immersion, space is limited to preserve the quality of practice, reflection, connection, support, and group experience.
Reserve your seat for EMDR Playground Immersion and join us in Cocoa Beach for four days of EMDR, play, art, embodiment, movement, symbolism, creativity, community, and clinical renewal.