Revealing The Inner World Of Traumatised Children And Young People

Bringing together the latest research and theory about a child's inner world and the impact of the world around them, this is a guide to understanding and responding to the emotional needs of traumatised children. Founded on the principle that traumatised children do not have a secure sense of self and therefore cannot relate to the outside world without becoming overwhelmed, this book brings psychoanalytic and psychodynamic understandings of child psychology together with current neuroscience and trauma theory. At the heart of the book is an attachment-informed assessment model and guidance for treatment. Professionals working therapeutically with traumatised children, including therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health workers, social workers and residential care workers, will benefit from the wealth of knowledge and valuable practice guidance presented in this book.

This book offers a unique combination of an in-depth examination of attachment, a refined and tested model of Needs Assessment and Therapeutic Treatment plans and applies it to specific contexts including those of children in residential/foster care, young offenders, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors. Trauma in Children and Young People, the culmination of 40 years of experience in the field, focuses on the lives of children and young people who have experienced and live with the repercussion of early trauma. Accompanied with case studies, it examines how therapeutic intervention can enable children and young people to connect with their inner world of fragmented feelings and emotions and to develop a sense of ‘self’ that is real and has meaning. This book is intended for professionals working therapeutically with traumatised children, such as therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health workers, social pedagogues, child and youth care workers, social workers, residential care workers and foster carers, teachers, youth justice workers, and child refugee agencies.

Children and Adolescents in Trauma presents a variety of creative approaches to working with young people in residential children's homes, secure or psychiatric units, and special schools. The contributors describe a wide range of approaches, including art therapy and literature, and how creative methods are applied in cases of abuse, trauma, violence, self-harm and identity development. They discuss the impact of abuse and mistreatment upon the mental health of 'looked after' children, drawing links between psychoanalytic theory and practice and the study of literature and the arts. This indispensable book provides useful insights and a fresh perspective for anyone working with traumatised children and adolescents, including social workers, psychotherapists, arts therapists, psychiatrists, counsellors, psychologists and students in these fields.

Helping Children Cope with Trauma bridges theory and practice in examining emerging approaches to enhancing resilience and treating traumatised children. Adopting a child-centred perspective, it highlights the importance of the synergy between individual, family, community and social interventions for recovery from post-traumatic stress. Consisting of chapters by an international range of contributors, the book is presented in three sections, reflecting the ecological circles of support that facilitate healthy development in the face of traumatic circumstances. Section 1, Individual, addresses the impact of exposure to trauma and loss on post-traumatic adaptation, focusing on biological aspects, attachment patterns, emotion regulation and aggressive behaviour in children. Section 2, Family, looks at the concept of family resilience, the impact of trauma on playfulness in toddlers and parents, innovative models for working with children traumatised by war, domestic violence and poverty and describes the challenges faced by refugee families in the light of intergenerational transmission of trauma. Section 3, Community, broadly explores the concept of community resilience and preparedness, the centrality of the school in the community during times of war and conflict, post-traumatic distress and resilience in diverse cultural contexts and the impact of trauma work on mental health professionals who live and work in shared traumatic realities. The book concludes with a theoretical discussion of the concept of Survival Mode as an organisng principle for understanding post-traumatic phenomena. Helping Children Cope with Trauma will provide mental health professionals, child welfare workers, educators, child development experts and researchers with a thorough understanding of the needs of children after trauma and how those needs may best be met.

Helping traumatized children develop the story of their life and the lives of people closest to them is key to their understanding and acceptance of who they are and their past experiences. The Child's Own Story is an introduction to life story work and how this effective tool can be used to help children and young people recover from abuse and make sense of a disrupted upbringing in multiple homes or families. The authors explain the concepts of attachment, separation, loss and identity, using these contexts to describe how to use techniques such as family trees, wallpaper work, and eco- and geno-scaling. They offer guidance on interviewing relatives and carers, and how to gain access to key documentation, including social workers' case files, legal papers, and health, registrar and police records. This sensitive, practice-focused guide to life story work includes case examples and exercises, and is an invaluable resource for social workers, child psychotherapists, residential care staff, long-term foster carers and other professionals working with traumatized children.

Life story work is an approach designed to enable traumatized children to explore, question and understand the past events of their lives. It aims to secure their future by strengthening attachment with their carers and providing the opportunity to develop a healthy sense of self and a feeling of wellbeing. This new edited volume documents innovative ways in which life story work has been developed. It draws on the work of nine life story centres based around the world and provides understanding and guidance for those working with children who have experienced trauma. The book illustrates current theory and practice and looks at how the approach is being used in a variety of settings including schools, intensive services, youth justice, and post-adoption support, highlighting its versatility. The importance of trauma-informed practice when working with vulnerable children is emphasised throughout, to help practitioners provide the best for the children in their care.

Using insights gleaned from the Bible and psychology, this book is for anyone who is interested in helping the children deal with traumatic issues The inner world of a healthy child is filled with wonder, awe, and faith in a fair and just world. But for some children, a belief in the benevolence of the world and its people is often too hard to claim. In this unique guidebook, Dr. Norman Fried gives valuable insights into the lives of children who have been victimized by chaos and disease, and teaches how to help them grow within the context of a loving, accepting, and ethical bond. Using these examples, along with writings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik on religion and psychology and the wisdom of trauma specialists, Dr. Fried shows how divine connections can serve as an inspiration, as well as a template, for other healthy interactions in a world that needs repair. Through directed action, biblical citations, and psychotherapeutic techniques that provide empowerment and hope, Dr. Fried takes the reader on a journey toward healthier functioning.

Hope for Children of Trauma: An International Perspective synthesizes all the existing evidence, policy and practice from around the world for children and youth who have experienced different forms of complex trauma – such as abuse, neglect and war violence – and also presents a real advance in the literature, by covering new material from the author’s extensive visits and collaborations in low and middle-income countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The book covers a historical and research overview of developments in trauma and child mental health, global policy and evidence on the impact of trauma on child mental health. In particular, this book communicates real experiences through narratives and supporting photographic material from children in slum areas, orphanages or on the streets, and explores the application of therapeutic approaches by frontline practitioners, therapeutic interventions, service development and training programmes. Integrating testimonies, observations, therapeutic interventions and research findings, Hope for Children of Trauma shows how these problems can be addressed, and will be thought-provoking reading for child and adolescent mental health practitioners, NGOs and policy-makers.

This expert guide provides 50 essential tools and activities to use in practice with children and young people who have experienced trauma. From bubbles, balloons, and blocks to ghosts, monsters, and squiggles, this book offers a wealth of activities that help children to express their feelings and experiences while feeling safe and supported. Case studies demonstrate how each activity can be easily incorporated into daily interactions during social work practice, and clear explanations of the theory provide context for how they work. Developed from decades of hands-on experience supporting children after trauma, this book demonstrates ways to sensitively discuss children's histories. This can lead into discussing the way their experiences influence their behaviour, and help them to form healthy attachments for the future.

This manual sets out an accessible model for assessing the emotional needs of traumatised children and young adults and using the outcomes of the assessment to develop individualised therapeutic programmes to support their needs and emotional development. Evolved from Christine Bradley's over 40 years of working with children and young people with complex histories, the model and the case studies presented are firmly rooted in a psychotherapeutic approach and her early training of working with pioneers in the field. It presents a needs led assessment and treatment tool that offers insight and an understanding of the complex histories and behaviours of individual children and young people based on the impact that trauma has on the inner world of the child. The treatment programme is presented in a clearly written and highly accessible step-by-step approach that is supplemented by exemplar case studies and moving anecdotes. This manual will be of use to any professional working with traumatised children and young people including therapists, social workers, foster carers, and teachers. It will allow individuals who otherwise would not feel they possess the confidence, knowledge, training, or experience to conduct a high quality effective individualised needs led assessment and subsequent treatment programme.