Bryan Samuels, Commissioner
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Showing posts with label childhood trauma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label childhood trauma. Show all posts
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Child Trauma and the Prefrontal Cortex
Bryan Samuels, Commissioner
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Trauma is the Norm for Youth in Systems
Source:
Bryan Samuels, Commissioner
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Trauma and Homeless Youth
- Fact Sheet on Trauma and Homeless Children
- Trauma Among Homeless Youth
- Videoconference on Working With Runaway and Homeless Youth
- Fostering Resilience in Displaced, Traumatized Families
- Fostering Resilience in Homeless Youth
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Adapting CBITS and SSET to Support Foster Care Youth
The purpose of this toolkit is to assist school-based mental health professionals, school personnel, and child welfare social workers in adapting these interventions for use with youth aged 10-15 who are in foster care:
- CBITS was developed for use by school-based mental health professionals for any student with symptoms of distress following exposure to trauma.
- SSET was adapted from CBITS for use by any school personnel with the time and interest to work with students affected by trauma.
The toolkit was designed to help understand these challenges and provide strategies for addressing them. It is made up of three parts:
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Healing Invisible Wounds: Why Investing in Trauma-Informed Care for Children Makes Sense
The Justice Policy Institute has issued a brief examining the relationship between childhood trauma and youth justice system involvement.
The brief, Healing Invisible Wounds: Why Investing in Trauma-Informed Care for Children Makes Sense, notes that of the more than 93,000 children who are currently incarcerated nationwide, between 75 percent and 93 percent have experienced at least one traumatic experience, including sexual abuse, war, community violence, neglect, and maltreatment, which can have long-term effects such as emotional problems and negative impacts on youth brain development.
According to the brief, the U.S. justice system does not meet the needs of traumatized youth and may in fact increase trauma through its use of incarceration. Youth who receive treatment in their communities have better outcomes than those placed in correctional facilities, which indicates the need for trauma exposure to be considered in youth placement decisions.
The brief, Healing Invisible Wounds: Why Investing in Trauma-Informed Care for Children Makes Sense, notes that of the more than 93,000 children who are currently incarcerated nationwide, between 75 percent and 93 percent have experienced at least one traumatic experience, including sexual abuse, war, community violence, neglect, and maltreatment, which can have long-term effects such as emotional problems and negative impacts on youth brain development.
According to the brief, the U.S. justice system does not meet the needs of traumatized youth and may in fact increase trauma through its use of incarceration. Youth who receive treatment in their communities have better outcomes than those placed in correctional facilities, which indicates the need for trauma exposure to be considered in youth placement decisions.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Children, foster care and PTSD
Link to articles about how to help and treat children who have PTSD as a result of abuse: http://hubpages.com/profile/krillco
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Childhood trauma and emotional maturity
Adults often underestimate what children experience, the extent of their reactions and what they need to know.
Childhood trauma can disrupt child or adolescent development, interfering with the growth of emotional maturity. Repeated exposure to trauma can affect a child's brain and nervous system.
Children suffer a dual response:
- The impact of the trauma on themselves
- The emotional distress of a child's caregiver
Adult support is a strong protective factor. Impacted adults may make at-risk children more vulnerable.
Common trauma responses in children include impaired concentration, difficulty in learning new things, aggression, recklessness, reduced inhibitions, somatic complaints and school refusal.
It is normal for a child who has experienced trauma to:
- Be hypervigilant and constantly alert
- Be jumpy and startled easily by loud sounds and sudden noises
- Feel exhausted
- Have a worsening of chronic medical problems
- Have difficulty concentrating
- Exhibit poor judgment
- Exhibit denial of emotions or lack memory of events
Sometimes children revert to a younger developmental stage (bed-wetting, thumb-sucking, clinging). Teenagers might respond by taking on the role of a parent, acting as an adult and taking charge of the situation. Or, the teen might try to escape in sex, drugs and alcohol.
Childhood trauma can disrupt child or adolescent development, interfering with the growth of emotional maturity. Repeated exposure to trauma can affect a child's brain and nervous system.
Children suffer a dual response:
- The impact of the trauma on themselves
- The emotional distress of a child's caregiver
Adult support is a strong protective factor. Impacted adults may make at-risk children more vulnerable.
Common trauma responses in children include impaired concentration, difficulty in learning new things, aggression, recklessness, reduced inhibitions, somatic complaints and school refusal.
It is normal for a child who has experienced trauma to:
- Be hypervigilant and constantly alert
- Be jumpy and startled easily by loud sounds and sudden noises
- Feel exhausted
- Have a worsening of chronic medical problems
- Have difficulty concentrating
- Exhibit poor judgment
- Exhibit denial of emotions or lack memory of events
Sometimes children revert to a younger developmental stage (bed-wetting, thumb-sucking, clinging). Teenagers might respond by taking on the role of a parent, acting as an adult and taking charge of the situation. Or, the teen might try to escape in sex, drugs and alcohol.
Children who are traumatized can develop depression, anxiety, mood disorders and/or behavior disorders.
Source: Traumatic Stress in Children, NRCFCPPP, January 8, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The aftermath of child traumatic stress
Child traumatic stress occurs when children and adolescents are exposed to traumatic events or situations, and this exposure overwhelms their ability to cope with what they have experienced.
Traumatic events can include physical and/or sexual abuse, assault, serious accidents or illnesses and the loss of important relationships or caregivers.
The issue of trauma has only recently received attention within the juvenile justice department, and children’s services in general. For this reason, very few agencies routinely screen for trauma or offer trauma-specific treatment interventions for youth in their care.
Severe and/or long-term trauma has a chemical effect on the body which changes the body’s normal stress response into an alarm response.
As a result, young people might internalize their feelings through depression and anxiety, or act out their feelings in the form of aggression, conduct problems and oppositional/defiant behavior.
Young people are faced with the task of dealing with past trauma, recognizing its current impact and learning ways to manage or overcome the emotional and behavioral problems caused by PTSD.
Effective strategies are those that:
- Educate survivors about biochemical reactions associated with PTSD
- Empower survivors with strategies to self-regulate their response to triggers
- Encourage survivors by giving them a safe place to share their story in an atmosphere of acceptance
Source: Ford, J., et al, Trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system. National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, Research and Program Brief, June 2007.
Traumatic events can include physical and/or sexual abuse, assault, serious accidents or illnesses and the loss of important relationships or caregivers.
The issue of trauma has only recently received attention within the juvenile justice department, and children’s services in general. For this reason, very few agencies routinely screen for trauma or offer trauma-specific treatment interventions for youth in their care.
Severe and/or long-term trauma has a chemical effect on the body which changes the body’s normal stress response into an alarm response.
As a result, young people might internalize their feelings through depression and anxiety, or act out their feelings in the form of aggression, conduct problems and oppositional/defiant behavior.
Young people are faced with the task of dealing with past trauma, recognizing its current impact and learning ways to manage or overcome the emotional and behavioral problems caused by PTSD.
Effective strategies are those that:
- Educate survivors about biochemical reactions associated with PTSD
- Empower survivors with strategies to self-regulate their response to triggers
- Encourage survivors by giving them a safe place to share their story in an atmosphere of acceptance
Source: Ford, J., et al, Trauma among youth in the juvenile justice system. National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice, Research and Program Brief, June 2007.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
More Quotes from The Unsayable
- "At first, words are babbling stream of sound. And though very young children play with words and sounds in turn-taking rhythms with others, they don't use language with the purpose of communicating.
"But as a child begins to see that words can make things happen, can call forth specific response from others, she is able to make what Lacan calls 'a demand.' This is a request for recognition of what she means and for a response that affirms she is loved."
- "Provided with food and warmth, yet without recognition or any evidence of love, a child will become lethargic, stop growing and even die. The capacity to ask for something, and make herself understood, is crucial to a child's sense of being loved. But making a demand requires a risk; the other person may not understand, or may understand and say no."
Source: The Unsayable by Annie G. Rogers, PhD
"But as a child begins to see that words can make things happen, can call forth specific response from others, she is able to make what Lacan calls 'a demand.' This is a request for recognition of what she means and for a response that affirms she is loved."
- "Provided with food and warmth, yet without recognition or any evidence of love, a child will become lethargic, stop growing and even die. The capacity to ask for something, and make herself understood, is crucial to a child's sense of being loved. But making a demand requires a risk; the other person may not understand, or may understand and say no."
Source: The Unsayable by Annie G. Rogers, PhD
Quotes from The Unsayable
"Although some see me as an 'expert' on trauma, I'm not. Trauma is bigger than expertise of any sort - it's in our midst, in our language, our wars, even the ways we try to love, repeating, repeating. No one is an expert on trauma."
"Even then I had a reputation for reaching 'unreachable' children... If a child is suffering, in that quiet invisible way that children really do suffer, I am drawn to find that child and make contact. Maybe I am going back to myself as a child... I simply won't be turned away."
"In my practice I want to hear children in a way that invites them to say more, to find words for the unsayable - and this necessarily means listening to the unconscious."
"I gradually learned that trauma follows a different logic, a condensed psychological logic that is associative, layered, nonlinear, and highly metaphoric."
"Trauma is a letter written on the body in vanishing ink.... a message emerges that demands to be read, to be known."
Source: The Unsayable by Annie G. Rogers, PhD
"Even then I had a reputation for reaching 'unreachable' children... If a child is suffering, in that quiet invisible way that children really do suffer, I am drawn to find that child and make contact. Maybe I am going back to myself as a child... I simply won't be turned away."
"In my practice I want to hear children in a way that invites them to say more, to find words for the unsayable - and this necessarily means listening to the unconscious."
"I gradually learned that trauma follows a different logic, a condensed psychological logic that is associative, layered, nonlinear, and highly metaphoric."
"Trauma is a letter written on the body in vanishing ink.... a message emerges that demands to be read, to be known."
Source: The Unsayable by Annie G. Rogers, PhD
Sunday, August 19, 2007
The Myth of Child Resiliency
Bruce Perry has made it his life's work to understand how trauma affects children, and to develop innovative ways to help them cope with it. In 1996, he founded the Child Trauma Academy, since research demonstrates that the impact of PTSD is far greater on on children than it is on adults.
Children can recover from unspeakable trauma -- but adults' responses to children during and after traumatic events can greatly affect their chances of recovery.
Quotes from The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog:
- "It's hard to imagine today, but when I was in medical school in the early 1980's, researchers didn't pay much attention to the lasting damage that psychological trauma can produce. Even less consideration was given to how trauma mgiht harm children. It wasn't considered relevant. Children were believed to be naturally "resilient" with an innate ability to "bounce back."
- "The brain is a historical organ. It stores our personal narrative. Our life experiences shape who we become by creating our brain's catalog of template memories, which guide our behavior, sometimes in ways we can consciously recognize, more often via processes beyond our awareness."
- "if anything, children are more vulnerable to trauma than adults... Resilient children are made, not born. The developing brain is most malleable and sensitive to experiences - both good and bad - early in life."
- "Children become resilient as a result of the patterns of stress and nurturing that they experience early on in life... we are rapidly and easily transformed by trauma when we are young. Though its effects may not always be visible to the untrained eye, when you know what trauma can do to children, sadly, you begin to see its aftermath everywhere."
- "Ultimately, what determines how children survive trauma, physically, emotionally , or psychologically, is whether the people around them - particularly the adults they should be able to trust and rely upon - stand by them with love, support and encouragement."
The story in this book that most deeply affected me as a reader was one about a three-year-old girl named Sandy who witnessed her mother's murder, and almost died herself.
Yet, her CPS caseworker did not believe that she needed to see a mental health professional. For nine months, Sandy was moved from foster home to foster home, with no counseling whatsoever -- and the details of her life were not shared with any of her foster parents because she was in hiding from the murderer.
Children can recover from unspeakable trauma -- but adults' responses to children during and after traumatic events can greatly affect their chances of recovery.
Quotes from The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog:
- "It's hard to imagine today, but when I was in medical school in the early 1980's, researchers didn't pay much attention to the lasting damage that psychological trauma can produce. Even less consideration was given to how trauma mgiht harm children. It wasn't considered relevant. Children were believed to be naturally "resilient" with an innate ability to "bounce back."
- "The brain is a historical organ. It stores our personal narrative. Our life experiences shape who we become by creating our brain's catalog of template memories, which guide our behavior, sometimes in ways we can consciously recognize, more often via processes beyond our awareness."
- "if anything, children are more vulnerable to trauma than adults... Resilient children are made, not born. The developing brain is most malleable and sensitive to experiences - both good and bad - early in life."
- "Children become resilient as a result of the patterns of stress and nurturing that they experience early on in life... we are rapidly and easily transformed by trauma when we are young. Though its effects may not always be visible to the untrained eye, when you know what trauma can do to children, sadly, you begin to see its aftermath everywhere."
- "Ultimately, what determines how children survive trauma, physically, emotionally , or psychologically, is whether the people around them - particularly the adults they should be able to trust and rely upon - stand by them with love, support and encouragement."
The story in this book that most deeply affected me as a reader was one about a three-year-old girl named Sandy who witnessed her mother's murder, and almost died herself.
Yet, her CPS caseworker did not believe that she needed to see a mental health professional. For nine months, Sandy was moved from foster home to foster home, with no counseling whatsoever -- and the details of her life were not shared with any of her foster parents because she was in hiding from the murderer.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Helping Traumatized Children Learn
The Massachusetts Advocates for Children has released a report and policy agenda to help ensure that children traumatized by family violence succeed in school.
The report sets forth an education and policy agenda to help schools become more supportive environments where traumatized children can focus, behave appropriately, and learn.
http://www.massadvocates.org/helping_traumatized_children_learn
The Massachusetts Advocates for Children has released a report and policy agenda to help ensure that children traumatized by family violence succeed in school.
The report sets forth an education and policy agenda to help schools become more supportive environments where traumatized children can focus, behave appropriately, and learn.
http://www.massadvocates.org/helping_traumatized_children_learn
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