The statistics on homelessness in the United States are astounding. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) (2011), more than 1.3 million children are homeless at some time each year and on the average day, at least 800,000 Americans, including 200,000 children are without a home. These individuals have also encountered trauma before becoming homeless and homelessness itself can exacerbate or re-traumatize children and adults. Ultimately, it is an experience that has powerful effects not only on individuals and families, but also on our neighborhoods and communities.
Homelessness affects individuals of all ages and in all areas of the US; it disproportionately affects people of color and single parent families, but it also impacts people of all ethnicities. For children, the loss of a stable home environment may include loss of pets and possessions, previous routines, school changes, and lack of privacy, compounding the stress related to homelessness. There can be additional stresses too, including abrupt separation, interpersonal or domestic violence, or illness that add to emotional challenges and risk for increased trauma reactions. Children may experience higher incidence of ear infections, asthma attacks and stomach problems; may develop learning and cognitive difficulties; and may have emotional problems that require professional intervention, but frequently go without recognition or treatment. According to NCTSN, by the time homeless children are 8 years old, one in three has a major emotional disorder. Additionally, trauma-related symptoms make recovery more difficult for these youngsters.
A recent episode of CBS’s 60 Minutes addresses how children are impacted by sudden homelessness in the U.S. and highlights the unique challenges children and families face when displaced from home and familiar routines. If you missed this compelling episode, take a few minutes to watch it and hear firsthand accounts from children who are confronting the realities of homelessness in their daily lives:
So what can we do to help homeless children and families? Here are just a few evidence-based, trauma-informed, and resilience-focused practices:
Work to ensure that children and families are not re-traumatized after entering a shelter or program;
Respond in trauma-informed ways to support resilience and empower individuals;
Provide safe and non-threatening environments that maximize choice and control for individuals;
Model positive behavior, maintain clear boundaries, allow participants to make decisions and share power, and respond with cultural sensitivity;
Help children and adults learn skills to self-regulate and reduce trauma reactions;
Provide support for both emotional and physical health, adaptive coping, and culturally appropriate services that address trauma and the experience of homelessness;
Above all, help children and families become survivors and eventual “thrivers” who are capable and empowered to overcome challenges and move forward with hope and dignity.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPCC, LPAT
Reference
National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (2011). FactsonHomelessandChildren. Retrieved on June 28, 2011 at http://www.nctsn.org.
Increasing numbers of helping professionals are including animal-assisted therapy – sometimes called pet therapy– in their work with clients of all ages. In particular, this approach is being used with children who have been traumatized by abuse or neglect. Consider 10-year-old Robbie who has lived in foster care for the last two years after previously being physically abused by his father and brother for more than seven years. Many of Robbie trauma reactions were helped by art and play therapy and family intervention, but he still had some problems with self-regulation and nightmares.
Robbie’s counselor decided to try animal-assisted therapy with him, believing that positive interaction with an animal might make a difference. She introduced Robbie to Scout, a trained therapy dog; at first Robbie was a little afraid because he had never had the opportunity to play with a dog before in his life. She worked with Robbie to help him feel comfortable, modeling how to pet and play with Scout over the course of several meetings. In brief, through regular animal-assisted play therapy sessions with Scout and his counselor, Robbie’s relationships with others began to noticeably change. His behavior became less erratic and more predictable and his nightmares ceased; Robbie developed more healthy attachments and relationships with his foster family members and other children and a newly-found confidence in himself.
According to well-known play therapist Rise VanFleet (2007) animal-assisted play therapy is “the use of animals in the context of play therapy, in which appropriately-trained therapists and animals engage with children and families primarily through systematic play interventions, with the goal of improving children’s developmental and psychosocial health as well as the animal’s well-being. Play and playfulness are essential ingredients of the interactions and the relationship.” This form of intervention most often involves dogs, but other types of animals [cats, birds, rabbits, horses, and dolphins, among others] can be part of treatment, too.
There are many studies on how and why animal-assisted therapy can help children like Robbie. Some of the benefits of animal-assisted therapy include:
1) reducing resistance and increasing attachment;
2) enhancing empathy;
3) teaching appropriate communication skills;
4) building confidence;
5) enhancing the ability to self-soothe;
6) prevention of animal abuse [sometimes seen in children who have been abused or neglected].
If you are not familiar with animal-assisted therapy, what are your options to include this form of intervention in your work with children? One, of course, is to train your own therapy dog; many of my colleagues have done this with their own pets, but be prepared for a lot of commitment to training and follow-up. Some therapists who have their own therapy dogs keep their animals present at all times in their sessions [barring situations that preclude having animals present]. Others may include dogs in play therapy sessions periodically or for a short portion of the session depending on goals for treatment and the personalities and temperaments of the animal and the child.
The other option is to engage the services of a professional in the field of animal-assisted therapy. In this case, you may want to visit the American Humane Society website (see link below) for more information or your local metropolitan or state organizations for a referral to a qualified and experienced individual in your area. Like many helping professionals who work with children, you might just become interested in learning more about introducing your own “furry therapist” to your work, too!
It’s time to make your plans to attend the 2011 TLC’s Childhood Trauma Practitioner’s Assembly from July 12 to 16th! The Assembly will be held at the Macomb County Intermediate School District’s (MISD) new Educational Service Center. MISD is located at 44001 Garfield Road, Clinton Township, Michigan 48038-1100. This year’s program is about practices that are both trauma-informed and resilience-focused; some are evidence-based, others evidence-supported, as not all evidence-based interventions are appropriate for all traumatized children. Here are some of the leading edge presentations this year:
Relationship & Neurobiological Integration Part 1 Many children of trauma experience changes in brain structure and brain chemistry. This workshop is focused on providing strategies through the caregiver’s relationship to create new pathways for the healing of a child’s body and mind system. We will look at how behavioral approaches discriminate against children with neurodiversity issues. A relational paradigm will then be introduced, and you will be provided with several strategies including: co-regulation, time in, the three A’s (attunement, affection and attention), self exploration, playfulness and humor, acceptance, presence, containment, being a sensory detective, physical affection, entering pain pathways, limbic resonance, the neurophysiological feedback loop, transitional time in, multi-sensory feedback, rupture and repair, collaborative communication, non-verbal communication and many more. Here are just a few of the offerings at this summer’s Assembly:
Group Strategies and Interventions with Youth Exposed to Domestic Violence Participants will learn practical tools and important themes to consider when working with youth exposed to domestic violence. In addition, content presented will help participants gain a trauma-informed understanding about how these strategies and interventions promote safety, emotional expression, coping, validation, and normalizing related to working with youth from violent homes. Participants will also engage in activities and experientials to enhance their awareness and insight about the benefits of using hands-on and creative interventions in group work with traumatized youth.
What Really Gets Worked Out in the Sandtray? Sand, images and the sandtray help create a “safe and protected space” for the builder. This psychodynamic process can be part of a nondirective or directive experience. Participants will see video clips including “Sandtray Storytelling” and a clip of how sandtray was utilized in schools with children whose parents worked in the Twin Towers as shown on the New York cable show, Frontiers in Psychotherapy.
No Bullies-No Victims: Trauma-Informed Bullying Prevention for K-12 This presentation will explore the bullying happening in schools and on the internet and explore specific, effective strategies at the organizational and student levels. Participants will be provided with a workbook outlining those strategies that can then be transferred to their organization or counseling practice. Emphasis will be on building students’ strengths by giving them the skills and strategies they need to prevent the bullying from happening and to deal with it when it does. Participants will also be given strategies for managing the environment and working with school staff and parents in order to help this transformation.
And of course, we hope you will join us for the keynote and full-day courses [to be described in a future post] to become certified in the use of TLC’s school and agency-based SITCAP® programs or, if already certified, to learn additional strategies presented by practitioners in a variety of 3-hour workshops.
In a previous post in September 2010, I discussed some concepts pertaining to “trauma informed art therapy.” Over the past few months, Dr. William Steele and I have been working on a new book called Trauma Informed Practices with Children and Adolescents. How we apply trauma informed principles to assessment and evaluation of children and teens is an important part of this book. Trauma informed practices do not only apply to interventions, relationships, and environments inherent to our work with traumatized young people; we also can apply these principles to how we evaluate individuals, especially those who have experienced chronic abuse, neglect, interpersonal violence, and other challenges during their lives.
There are several excellent trauma informed assessments that evaluate multiple dimensions, including physical and medical status, cognition, psychosocial issues, and the impact of trauma itself. However, how do we capture additional information that may be missed through standardized, paper and pencil assessments or parental, caretaker, or professional observations? Trauma informed assessment also includes evaluation of the sensory experiences of children—in other words, how the mind and body respond to traumatic events and the flight, fight, or freeze responses of the individual. It also includes the recognition that these responses are adaptive coping strategies rather than pathological reactions.
I also believe that trauma informed assessment includes an evaluation of how traumatic events may have impacted neurodevelopment. Neurodevelopment is a term used to describe how the brain develops over the first 20 years or so of the lifespan, from infancy through adolescence into young adulthood. Bruce Perry (2006) and others have presented comprehensive theories about what neurodevelopment and specifically, neurosequential development entail.
In order to fully understand and evaluate sensory responses in young clients, sensory-based methods of assessment are necessary. These can include many types of action-oriented activities, but the most widely applied involve art and play-based protocols, many of which are found in the fields of art therapy and play therapy. Why art and play? Because for children and adolescents who may not be comfortable with standardized, more cognitively-based assessments, they have an opportunity to use materials, media, toys, and props to give us a series of snapshots about their experiences, trauma reactions, and worldview. Because there are identifiable developmental sequences for play and art expression over the first decade of life, applying this knowledge to child clients provides another way to use the senses to engage individuals in treatment. And, as most of you already know, art and play are child-appropriate forms of communication that allow for a wide-range of expression and for many, a way to tell us about their terrors when words are not available.
Finally, in using sensory means to conduct assessments (especially in a trauma informed, culturally sensitive way), isn’t it nice that many children will find a degree of self-soothing in using toys, paint, or props to communicate their perceptions, feelings, and experiences to you? This is one of the core principles of trauma informed work—to create a sense of safety through all interactions and to capitalize on positive relational aspects between helping professionals and young clients as much as possible. Look forward to reading more about this topic as Bill Steele and I finish up the book!
Until next time, be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC
Reference
Perry, B.D. (2006) The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics: Applying principles of neuroscience to clinical work with traumatized and maltreated children In: Working with Traumatized Youth in Child Welfare (Ed. Nancy Boyd Webb), The Guilford Press, New York, NY, pp. 27‐52.
If you are a Super Bowl fan, I hope you had the chance to enjoy both the game and some of the entertaining commercials. There was one in particular has captured people’s imaginations. It’s all about a little boy in a Darth Vader costume who tries in vain to use his super powers around his home and finally gets his wish. If you missed it, take a minute to watch it before reading the rest of this post:
While you might have found the ending of this commercial funny or unexpected or charming, to me it is also a good example of how we give children the experience of empowerment. To make the pint-sized Darth Vader’s wish to become “empowered” come true, his father intervenes to give his son an actual experience of what that is like.
Personal empowerment can be affirmed by through what we say to children, but it is most effectively communicated through actively experiencing it. Role models are important, but doing is just as effective. The pint-sized Darth Vader in the commercial was given the opportunity to play act and to explore and to dream; while he would probably eventually find out that he did not start the car by magic, he was given a priceless moment of empowerment by his father.
Think about children who due to abuse or neglect, may have never experienced a feeling of empowerment on a sensory level. Or the bullied child who has lost a sense of self-worth or young person who has survived a significant loss now only to feel hopeless and unable to affect change in the world. We need to try harder with these individuals to give them as many positive opportunities as possible so they can “find out how that feels,” and “hear words of encouragement” that make a difference. Most of all, like the father of little Darth Vader, we have the responsibility to provide the safety, security, role modeling, support, and most of all, the “magic moments” in order to help all children “see how much you can do” and thereby give them a chance to discover their own personal power.
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as many as half of all children are bullied at some time during their school years, and at least 10% are bullied on a regular basis. Most helping professionals know that bullying can include physical intimidation and verbal threats or gossip, including cyber-bullying via online social networks and e-mail.
You probably also know that children who are bullied experience tremendous suffering, anxiety or depression, may have cognitive problems that interfere with schoolwork, and may be challenged socially and developmentally. But have you ever considered the dynamics involved in bullying? Caelan Kuban, LMSW, Program Director and Certified Trainer for the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, explains the role of not only the bully, but also the bully’s impact on the victim and the witness:
The Victim
Terror – scared for one’s safety/one’s life;
Powerlessness – unable to do or say anything to stop the current situation;
Hurt – physical and emotional hurts from being bullied physically/verbally;
Fear – never knowing if/when bullying is going to happen next;
Anger – anger at the bully, anger at self for not being able to do anything to stop it, at witnesses for not helping put a stop to the bullying behavior and anger at adults for not doing anything to stop the bullying behavior;
Revenge – wanting to “get back” at the person who bullied;
Victim Thinking – “I am the target of bullying, I am no good, Nobody likes me.”
The Witness
Terror – scared for the victim’s safety/life;
Powerlessness – “If I can’t protect others, how can I protect myself?”
Hurt – viewing physical and emotional abuse and sometimes becoming desensitized to hurtful behavior;
Guilt – “I should have stopped it.”
Survivor Grief – “I’m okay but he/she is not.”
Fear – “Is it going to happen again? Could it happen to me? If I help will I be an outcast too?”
Anger – mad that the victim “takes it”. Angry that the bully’s “bullies.”
Revenge – wanting to “get back” at the person who bullied;
Victim Thinking – “I could be next. I’m no good for not jumping in or stopping the bullying.”
The Bully
Terror – “I’m out of control, I even scare myself. If I can hurt someone else like this, I could hurt myself too.”
Powerlessness – “I can’t stop what I am doing.”
Hurt – physical hurts from bullying behaviors/violence;
Fear – “I have to stick up for myself – nobody else will.”
Anger – “I am angry at the victim for making me do it.”
Revenge – “I want to get back at my Dad for beating me but he’d kill me, instead I’ll take it out on this little kid.”
Victim Thinking – “I’ll always be a bully. I’m too stupid not to fight.”
In upcoming posts, you’ll read more about some strategies for addressing bullying with children and adolescents, including the dynamics of bully, victim, and witness. If you want to learn more about bullying and cyber-bullying, why not register for TLC’s excellent online course with Caelan Kuban? The Bullying and Cyber-bullying course provides the foundation for working with youth involved in bullying regardless of their place within the bullying circle – victim, perpetrator, or witness. Upon successful completion of assignments, tests and evaluation you can download a CE Certificate of Completion. This course provides 6 continuing education contact hours.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2010), trauma informed interventions specifically address the consequences of trauma in the individual and recognize the interrelation between trauma and symptoms of trauma. A comprehensive view of neurological, biological, psychological and social effects of trauma and violence ultimately informs intervention. Here is what SAMHSA specifically has to say about trauma informed practice:
Trauma-informed programs and services represent the “new generation” of transformed mental health and allied human services organizations and programs who serve people with histories of violence and trauma.
Trauma survivors and consumers in these programs and services are likely to have histories of physical and sexual abuse and other types of trauma-inducing experiences, and this often leads to mental health and other types of co-occurring disorders such as health problems, substance abuse problems, eating disorders, HIV/AIDS issues, and contact with the criminal justice system. When a human service program takes the step to become trauma-informed, every part of its organization, management, and service delivery system is assessed and potentially modified to include a basic understanding of how trauma impacts the life of an individual seeking services. Trauma-informed organizations, programs, and services are based on an understanding of the vulnerabilities or triggers of trauma survivors that traditional service delivery approaches may exacerbate, so that these services and programs can be more supportive and avoid re-traumatization (Retrieved from SAMHSA at http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/nctic/trauma.asp)
In truth, I could be writing about trauma informed play therapy, bibliotherapy, narrative therapy, or any number of approaches that can be applied to trauma intervention. But I am talking about art therapy today because it is a central framework in my practice with traumatized individuals. It also is a particularly effective approach for trauma informed care with all individuals, especially children, because it is sensory, hands-on, and experiential in nature. As physician and neurodevelopment pioneer Bruce Perry has noted, it also can be a normalizing experience for children, one which children in all cultures recognize.
Art therapy, like other creative and expressive arts therapies, has a unique role as an intervention with traumatized children. In fact, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) (Foa et al, 2009) provides a comprehensive summary of the role of the creative art therapies, including art therapy, in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The ISTSS statement underscores the growing interest the relationship between the creative arts therapies and the brain, including how the brain processes traumatic events and the possibilities for reparation through art, music, movement, play, and drama interventions.
In my practice as an art therapist and mental health counselor, most children I have worked with over the years have been chronically abused and neglected. As a result, these children generally have a variety of severe trauma reactions (hyperarousal, avoidance, dissociation, and intrusive memories), learning and psychosocial challenges, and attachment difficulties. In many cases, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral strategies alone cannot address the reactions of children whose cognitive, developmental, and interpersonal skills are compromised by multiple traumatic experiences of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence, and neglect.
Trauma informed art therapy integrates neurodevelopmental knowledge and the sensory qualities of art making in trauma intervention (Malchiodi, in press). In general, a trauma informed approach must take into consideration, but is not limited to, the following 1) how the mind and body respond to traumatic events; 2) recognition that symptoms are adaptive coping strategies rather than pathology; 3) emphasis on cultural sensitivity and empowerment; and 4) helping to move individuals from being not only survivors, but ultimately to becoming “thrivers” through skill building, support networks, and resilience enhancement (Malchiodi, in press).
Because young survivors of trauma may also be without the means to place memories in historical context through language, art therapy combined with neurobiological, somatic, and cognitive-behavioral approaches can assist children in bridging sensory memories and narrative. Trauma informed art therapy is based on the idea that art expression is helpful in reconnecting implicit (sensory) and explicit (declarative) memories of trauma and in the treatment of PTSD (Malchiodi, 2003). In particular, it is an approach that assists children’s capacity to self-regulate affect and modulate the body’s reactions to traumatic experiences in the earliest stages to set the stage for eventual trauma integration and recovery.
Trauma informed care not only involves how we practice, but also relationships between our clients and therapists, parents, family members, caregivers, case workers, teachers, and others; it is important to assessment and evaluation and the environments in which we see children and families, too. Dr. William Steele and I are currently working on providing more detailed information on trauma informed approaches to work with children and adolescents. And in future posts, I’ll be sharing some practical strategies on how to infuse trauma informed art and play interventions into our work as trauma specialists.
Foa, E., Keane, T., Friedman, M., & Cohen, J. (2009). Effective treatment for PTSD: Practice guidelines from the International Society for Trauma Stress Studies. New York: Guilford Press.
Malchiodi, C. (2003). Handbook of art therapy. New York: Guilford Press.
Malchiodi, C. (2008). Creative interventions with traumatized children. New York: Guilford Press.
Malchiodi, C. (in press). Trauma informed art therapy with sexually abused children. In Paris Goodyear-Brown (Ed.), Handbook of Child Sexual Abuse: Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment. New York: Wiley.
Steele, W. & Rader, M. (2002). Structured sensory intervention for traumatized children, adolescents and parents: Strategies to alleviate trauma (SITCAP). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellon Press.
In a recent summary published in Cerebrum from the Dana Foundation, Regina Sullivan offers intriguing research data on how early negative experiences cause developmental changes in the brain, biochemistry, and psychosocial responses. Like many researchers in the area of child abuse and early intervention, she notes that there is wide agreement that providing nurturance, positive interactions, and experiences of safety have a long-lasting impact on children’s brain development.
When abuse goes undetected or is allowed to continue to impact children’s development, Sullivan cites that approximately 80 percent of abused individuals are diagnosed with a major psychiatric disorder by adolescence. Additionally, brain scans brains of individuals who have experienced abuse during childhood show abnormalities in areas of cognition and emotion. But something even more intriguing is also detectable in the brain function of children who are abused and maltreated. Changes in neurodevelopmental areas go even deeper than just brain function; abuse literally can change one’s genes.
Simply put, the influence by environmental and social factors on our genes is a field of study known as epigenetics. In brief, when an epigenetic change occurs, the biochemistry of how the gene is expressed is altered. In the case of child abuse, how gene expression is changed by abuse may tell us why many of the effects of child abuse do not appear until adolescence and why many maltreated individuals eventually become abusers themselves. Sullivan cites an intriguing study of the brains of individuals who committed suicide to underscore the profound influence of abuse and just how it may alter genetic expression. Of the individuals who committed suicide and who were the subjects of this particular study, some had been abused early in life and others had not. The brains of those who were abused showed significant genetic changes in the hippocampus function that could predispose them to life-long stress responses; those who were not abused, but had died from suicide, did not show similar changes. Individuals who died of natural causes also did not show changes to the hippocampus.
This finding may imply that abuse causes severe alterations in the hippocampus in those who have experienced abuse in childhood; these alteration are not found in others, even those individuals who may have conditions such as depression or anxiety that predispose them to suicide. And while these changes occur early in life, their presence may not be observed behaviorally until later in life, making early detection and intervention for abuse all that much more critical. Because of the nature of epigenetic changes, Sullivan speculates that these alterations may be present for at least two generations, a possible partial explanation for the intergenerational cycle of abuse that trauma specialists see in their work with abuse and domestic violence.
Despite the profound impact of child abuse, we know that we can counter the effects through early intervention and identification of maltreatment and provision of caregiving and conditions that provide positive social interaction and stimulation. As trauma specialists, it is undeniable that we face difficult challenges in our work with abused children and the impact of maltreatment over the lifespan. Fortunately, emerging research is continues to inform us on how to better meet these challenges on behalf of children and how to improve our efforts as trauma informed practitioners.
P. O. McGowan, A. Sasaki, A. C. D’Alessio, S. Dymov, B. Labonté, M. Szyf, G. Turecki, and M. J. Meaney, “Epigenetic Regulation of the Glucocorticoid Receptor in Human Brain Associates with Childhood Abuse. Nature Neuroscience 12, no. 3 (2009): 342–348.
Has someone ever rescued you? When I say ‘”rescue,” I don’t mean rescue in the sense of “save the day” or “self-sacrifice.” I mean rescue in the sense of changing, or even saving, a life. As trauma specialists, that is what we ultimately hope to achieve with the children we see. Our central goal and intention in trauma work is to engage in actions that redirect, repair, and restore children’s lives.
Most of us in helping professions probably experienced one or more life-changing events that altered the course of our lives for the better. It’s those people in our lives who affected us in deeply positive ways at critical moments are also those who profoundly impacted our worldview and set us on the life-long path to pay it forward to others. Emmanuel Jal is a very dramatic example of an individual whose life changed in an instant when someone liberated him from a world of violence, trauma, and war. Jal is now a renowned musician and a former child soldier; his life is a tale of redemption, but mostly it’s about salvation and a pivotal moment in his life when he was rescued by British aid worker, Emma McCune. Here is Jal’s story, as he tells it in his own words:
My Name is Emmanuel Jal, and I was born in war torn Sudan.
I do not know when I was born, but I believe I took my first breath of oxygen sometime in the early 80s.
My country has been at war for over a decade. I am from southern Sudan where the people are tall and beautiful with smooth skin similar in colour and texture to that of roasted beans.
At the age of seven I, along with thousands of other children was taken from Sudan to Ethiopia, to learn to read and write. Ethiopia at that time was like a city run by children; there were over 30,000 of us in total. During my time there, I learned 8 languages, but as time passed we learned that we had in fact been bought there to be trained as child soldiers. I escaped from the growing army when people started to lose their vision and started fighting one another. Our common enemy being our Sudanese people from the north. Unfortunately I did not reach home because a number of serious events occurred as we embarked on the long journey home.
I ended up in a town called Waat. It was here that I met aid worker Emma McCune. She rescued me, by disarming me and smuggling me into Kenya. Whilst in Kenya Emma put me into school and adopted me. Emma said, “OK, I’ll take you to school.” That’s what I’d been praying for. She smuggled me onto a flight to Nairobi. I hid among the bags and when we got to Nairobi it was difficult and strange — a different world. But I adjusted to it.
Unfortunately a year after I was rescued Emma was killed in a fatal car accident. After this tragedy things became increasingly difficult for me. I turned to music as a method of therapy and started singing in church. I discovered I had a talent for music at the age of 20. [ from Jal’s Facebook page]
If you have time, take a few minutes to watch a film of Jal’s 2009 talk for TED and listen to his tribute to Emma McCune:
My childhood was by no means as dramatic or crisis-oriented as that of Emmanuel Jal, but it had its challenges. My family life was stable, but it was not a childhood of privilege or without stress. I grew up one street over from public housing; if you have read the book Riding in Cars with Boys, you have read about the actual neighborhood in which I lived and struggles of those who grew up in that neighborhood. I was fortunate to have parents who did their best to help me feel safe. Luckily, I also encountered a number of individuals who recognized my potential at critical moments during my school-age years. One was sixth grade teacher Mr. Harrington who taught me to have a voice and the courage to express myself. Another was a high school teacher Mr. Granucci who saw in me the potential to go to college, something that rarely happened for most teenagers in my neighborhood. Mr. Granucci literally sprung me from high school detention hall [yes, I did time in detention] and convinced me I could tackle subjects like calculus and Latin. I bless Mr Harrington and Mr. Granucci for believing in me—by the end of high school, I graduated fifth in my class of over 500 students.
Emmanuel Jal was a child soldier, immersed in war and terror, but his story is not too different than some of stories we encounter with children we see who survive violent homes or neighborhoods on a daily basis, even in the US. But more importantly, we all have had to survive something in life and we all have been rescued, one way or another. So, who rescued you? You are here today because someone cared, even in some small way. And you may have made a commitment to help others because that someone made the same commitment to help you at a critical moment and ultimately changed your life. Just like Emma McCune did for Emmanuel Jal– and it made all the difference.
In a recent commentary “What Makes Sense?” in the June 2010 TLC Practitioner, Bill Steele remarks, “the full utilization of one’s capacity to learn is predicated upon being in an environment where one feels above all safe and valued.” He goes on to say that feeling safe includes the following: being connected to adults who believe in us and who take the time to become our mentors and guides; exposure to multiple opportunities to engage in meaningful activities; and experiencing environments that encourage our potential to learn and grow.
Feeling personally responsible for our homes, schools, neighborhoods, and communities and those who live in them is another important experience– one that fosters empathy. Not surprisingly, many children who are traumatized by abuse, neglect, loss, or separation from a parent feel disconnected from those around them and often lose their capacity for empathy or concern for both people and their environment. As Steele observes, dignity comes from learning to care about others and how one’s actions impact everyone – and everything – around us.
The capacity to develop empathy is thought to be innate and is commonly seen in children who grow up with strong attachment to an adult and in healthy, safe homes and neighborhoods. We see examples of empathic behavior early in a child’s life when he or she brings a toy or blanket to another child who is in distress or cries in response to the discomfort of another person. Not surprisingly, the environment in which one is raised makes a difference in whether or not empathy develops.
So how do we help children develop empathy and concern for others and for their environments? First, early intervention is key; as most helping professionals know, it is essential that young children have a secure attachment to another person and exposure to empathy from others. Young children who are abused or neglected are particularly vulnerable because in place of positive attachment, these individuals experience misery, abandonment, and punishment that create distrust for others and the environment. Understandably, they also rarely experience empathy.
As children get older, they also need experiences that teach them how to go beyond themselves and learn to care for and about others. In brief, anything that helps children learn to respond effectively to the emotions and circumstances of others can enhance and strengthen empathy. If you attended the opening session of the recent 5th Annual National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children Assembly of Practitioners in July 2010, you learned at least one intervention to help begin the process of developing empathy with children. Participants were given small rubber ducks and asked to use some simple art materials [colored tissue paper, feathers, chenille stems, paper plates, scissors, and glue] to “create a safe place for your duck” [some photos of this intervention are included with this blog]. This is an activity I have used many times with children to not only explore what a safe environment is, but also to help them learn how to take care of someone needs outside their own.
Caretaking the rubber duck [or similar toy animal] is a way for a child to explore personal needs for safety, love, and respect and capitalizes on art therapy and play therapy as sensory methods to provide the child with an experience of empathy for another entity. For children who have experienced chronic trauma, it’s not enough to just talk about empathy; children must practice what empathy is through activities that teach self-care and care for others.
When children (and adults) lack empathy, the consequences are serious not only for the individual, but also for family, schools, neighborhoods, and communities. Children without the ability to feel empathy not only suffer isolation, frustration, and anger, they may be anti-social or become capable of violence, even murder. More often, they act without regard for the health, well-being, and feelings of peers, parents, siblings, and everyone they encounter. As helping professionals, we have the unique opportunity to help traumatized children replace worry with calm, fear with safety, and punishment with nurturing—and by doing so, introduce the experience of empathy and the sensory experience of just why helping others matters.
The statistics on homelessness in the United States are astounding. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) (2011), more than 1.3 million children are homeless at some time each year and on the average day, at least 800,000 Americans, including 200,000 children are without a home. These individuals have also encountered trauma before becoming homeless and homelessness itself can exacerbate or re-traumatize children and adults. Ultimately, it is an experience that has powerful effects not only on individuals and families, but also on our neighborhoods and communities.
traumainformedtherapy 