If you are a trauma specialist, you may have heard the terms “compassion fatigue,” “secondary posttraumatic stress” and “vicarious victimization.” Most commonly, practitioners speak of “burnout” and the majority who work with traumatized individuals have experienced one or all of these conditions from time to time.
Compassion fatigue has many faces, but these are some of the more common symptoms in mental health and healthcare professionals:
* Sadness and lack of pleasure in activities that were previously enjoyable
* Emotional and physical exhaustion
* Emotional outbursts
* Unresolved anger and conflicts
* Chronic ailments such as recurrent colds, stomach problems, and headaches
* Preoccupation and difficulty in concentration
* Denial of emotional stress and blaming of others for distress
* Inability to express emotions in a productive manner
* Isolation from others
* Compulsive behaviors (overspending, overeating, and other addictive activities)
* Nightmares, sleep disruption, and intrusive memories of traumatic events
So what do you do when you realize that you may have or be at risk for compassion fatigue? Just how do you keep going when your job includes providing trauma intervention for children, adults, and families on a daily basis? If you do not attend to the symptoms in a timely way, those symptoms eventually refuse to be ignored and emotional crisis occurs.
There are several steps you can take to address compassion fatigue right now. The first step is to reach out to others, including colleagues, to share your feelings and obtain support and validation. The other step begins with you—take the time to build in self-care and personal resilience-enhancement. Join an exercise class, take up yoga or meditation, and focus on a healthy diet. Most of all be kind to yourself, accept that you are not perfect, set good boundaries for work-related activities, and express your needs to others.
Finally, enhance your ability to deal with compassion fatigue through education such as McHenry’s upcoming workshop. One of the most well researched ways of reducing secondary posttraumatic stress reactions is through education. So take the opportunity to increase your awareness through learning and listening to the opportunity to increase your awareness through learning and listening to the stories of other professionals struggling with compassion fatigue’s effects.
Children who have been traumatized exhibit anxious behaviors and often have a lot of “worries.” On June 22, 2011, Dr. William Steele, founder of the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, will present a webinar, “What do parents/guardians really need to know about childhood trauma?” and will address some of the ways to help children and adolescents with trauma symptoms. According to Steele, today’s children and teens are steadily becoming more anxious; recent catastrophic events such as war, economic down turns, violence and natural disasters have possibly contributed to this increase in worried responses.
There may be other more subtle reasons for the persistence of anxiety in this generation of young people. For example, anxiety and depression correlate to our sense of control or lack of control over events in our lives. It is widely accepted that individuals who perceive that they are in charge of their lives are less likely to become worried or sad than those who feel victimized by similar experiences. If you remember your Psychology 101 course, you might recall the standard measure of a sense of control by Julien Rotter in the late 1950s—the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. Internal control represents the beliefs about control that come from the individual and external control represents the beliefs about circumstances outside of the individual’s control. In brief, studies based on this measure have consistently shown that people who score higher in areas of internal control fare better [less anxiety and depression] than those who score higher in external control areas.
So is there evidence that there has been a decline in children’s and adolescents’ sense of internal control in recent years? From what researchers have learned over several decades, yes there has been a decline and at the same time, an increase in anxiety and depression. For example, Jean Twenge and colleagues (2004) studied young people ages 9 through 14 and college students from 1960 to 2002 and discovered that by 2002 the average young person was more externally-oriented when compared to individuals in 1960. This trend paralleled a rise in depression and anxiety during the same time period.
How do you know when anxiety is more than just passing “worry?” Here is a short list of some indicators found in children and adolescents:
When children and adolescents can no longer perform or enjoy activities enjoyed by their peers;
When anxiety is persistent, lasting more than a month;
When anxiety distresses the entire family system [tension and anxiety during activities that normally are enjoyable];
When young people avoid activities that normally require independence or become overly dependent on parents and caretakers;
When there is avoidance of social activities [fears of social scrutiny and criticism];
When there is constant need for reassurance and/or perfection-oriented behaviors;
When there are unexplained physical symptoms like headaches and stomachaches.
Family histories of anxiety may contribute to an increased risk for anxiety disorders in children as do temperament and personality. Of course traumatic events, particularly repeated incidents, may contribute to that risk. Children and adolescents experiencing extreme levels of parental or family stress [divorce, domestic violence, homelessness, etc] are at higher risk for anxiety and depression. In working with families with anxious children, I often initially ask parents the following questions:
On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how bad do you think your child’s problem is?
On the same scale, how hard is the problem to manage? Are there days when the problem is worse? Give me an example of one or two of those days.
Are there days when the problem is not so bad? Give me an example of one or two of those days if you can.
What do you feel contributes to your child’s anxiety?
Because these questions may not be easily answered, I often ask parents to show me on a visual scale how “big” the problem is and draw images of “good” and “bad” days. Depending on the parent, I might even ask, “what does your anxiety look like when your child is anxious? Can you draw me a picture of that or pick out some magazine photos from these collage materials to show me?”
How is it that some children and adolescents with anxiety do better than others when faced with the same traumatic events? What can parents do to ease their child’s fears while building their resilience in a world that is frightening for adults as well? Dr. Steele will be addressing these and a number of topics related to anxiety in young people along with a variety of practical tips about how to help traumatized youth move from victims to survivors to thrivers. To register, see this webpage and read more about future webinars, too.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC
Reference
Twenge, J. M., Zhang, L., & Im, C. (2004). It’s beyond my control: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of increasing externality in locus of control, 1960-2002. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 308-319.
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.
For more than 20 years, the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children has been developing and providing resources on grief recovery. Decades ago visionary Dr. William Steele foresaw the need to help professionals understand the differences between grief reactions and trauma and how complicated grief is far different from acute grief responses. This seminal work along with TLC’s sensory-based approach to trauma intervention have been central to developing a trauma informed, sensory-based and evidence-based approach to work with children, adolescents, adults, and families.
I want to share some of the many resources you can find on the TLC website, but before I do, I want to highlight an important article by Dr. Steele. Time Magazine (January 24, 2011) recently devoted an issue to the “Tragedy in Tucson.” One of the articles (Good News About Grief) attempted to address the question, “Is grief counseling necessary?” While it is a well-written article with much good information, trauma specialists who deal with grief and loss issues in their work should take a few minutes to read Steele’s response here. Bill explains the grieving process, cultural differences, and resilience factors and dispels the need for interpretation and analysis of grief responses and critical incident debriefing [which can even be harmful]. Be sure to read this important article if you work with traumatized and/or grieving individuals.
Here are some of the many resources on grief and loss you can find through the National Institute for Trauma and Loss:
Download PDFs about debriefing and the differences between grief and trauma reactions;
Take an online course on adolescent grief, resilience and posttraumatic growth, or confronting death issues in schools.
And of course you can make plans to attend the Annual Practitioners Assembly in July 2011 to learn more about TLC’s approach to intervention and network with trauma specialists from around the country.
Today, National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC) training programs are in place in more than 3,000 schools, community-based programs, treatment centers and childcare facilities across North America and internationally. More importantly, they are giving parents, teachers and childcare professionals the early intervention tools and techniques it takes to change trauma-related behaviors and to help traumatized children survive and thrive.
If you haven’t attended a TLC Training and Certification in awhile or you are new to the trauma field, why not join TLC Certified Trainers for a special weekend of learning from February 18 through 20, 2011 in San Antonio, TX. For your convenience, courses begin on Friday morning and end early on Sunday and are a short complimentary hotel shuttle ride from San Antonio International Airport. Whether you want to work on your trauma certification [for more information, click here] or would just like to improve your skills in working with children, this weekend will provide you with practical knowledge and activities that you can apply immediately. There is a school track and a clinical track, plus courses that meet Association for Play Therapy (APT) continuing education requirements; the following courses are scheduled:
Structured Sensory Interventions: From Sensory Memories to Play Therapy— William Steele. This is a practice day. Participants will be engaged in the evidence-based, grief and trauma psycho-educational and play therapy intervention processes used in schools and community settings across the country. Cases, including the mother of a 7-year-old who died of cancer at home, a 12-year-old exposed to repeated domestic violence, a 15-year-old, raped multiple times at a drug house, a spouse’s husband tortured and killed, will be presented along with the remarkable evidence-based reduction of their PTSD and other mental health and cognitive related reactions. Participants in schools or agency settings will feel comfortable using any of TLC’s structured manualized psycho-educational and play therapy trauma intervention programs and tools at the end of this practice-directed training.
Creative Play Therapy Crisis Intervention: Promoting Posttraumatic Growth— Lennis Echterling and Anne Stewart. Traditional crisis intervention has focused on distress, deficits and traumatic wounds of survivors. However, recent research on the inherent resilience of people and the importance of play and their attachment relationships has exciting implications to child, family and play therapists responding to traumatic events. The psycho-educational and play therapy techniques presented emphasize personal strengths, enriching personal relationships; feelings of resolve and helping survivors try new coping strategies. The play therapy interventions presented require minimal materials, are developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive and can be implemented in any setting. Out of Ashes, A Coping Heart, Eggactly: Supporting One Another, Colors From Your Emotional World, and Reaching our with LUV will be presented as way to help those in crisis play, make meaning, regulate their emotions and move forward.
Advanced Sensory-Based Interventions: From Sensory Memories to Play Therapy—William Steele and Caelan Kuban. This presentation will engage participants in a variety of advanced psycho-educational, sensory activities to allow for the use of these interventions beyond the core TLC program or for use in those situations where it is not possible to use the full program. Play therapy activities will cover early childhood through adulthood and address the sensory experiences associated with trauma or grief. This is a practice session so participants experience the full value and application of these play therapy activities. Rap It Write, Strike A Pose, Ready…Set…R.E.L.A.X., My Play Island and This Reminds Me Of… are just a few of the sensory activities presented. TLC activities are used in school and agency settings.
After the School Crisis— Glenn Carlton, Jennifer Haddow and Michael Markowitz. Participants will be introduced to the Traumatic Event Crisis Intervention Plan (TECIP) that provides the tools necessary to initiate protocols that offer crisis team members a proven structure to stabilize all involved in recovering from the crisis, mobilize resources, accelerate normalization of routine, and minimize the adverse impact on students and staff by restoring adaptive functioning. The Rapid Assessment Guide Traumatic Event Briefing Process, TECIP, 4×5 Development Flow Chart, the what, when, where, who and how to initiate and navigate through the Roadmap to Recovery will be presented. Lecture, demonstrations, small and large group discussion, and practice make this a “must attend” for school crisis response members. The TECIP Manual will be given to every attendee.
And did you know you can take Children of Trauma with William Steele as an online course from the convenience of your home or office? It’s the prerequisite course for all certification levels and now it’s even easier to get the benefit of this excellent presentation.
Don’t miss out of these opportunities to improve your skills in working with traumatized children, adolescents and families! For more information about the upcoming San Antonio, visit this page to learn more and register.
The details about the shooting rampage that left six people dead, a Congresswoman in critical condition, and another dozen injured are still unfolding. While the focus is on the condition of survivors and sympathy for the victims, the “whys” of this event also are emerging. Although the suspected shooter’s intentions and motives remain unknown, there is speculation that the inflammatory language and violent images permeating the media played some role in the incident. Clarence W. Dupnik, Pima County sheriff, captured the essence of the incident at a news conference saying it was time for all of us to “do a little soul-searching” about the caustic political climate in the US. He observed that talk radio and other media “invite the kind of toxic rhetoric that can lead unstable people to believe this is an acceptable response.”
Having worked in the field of interpersonal violence, particularly domestic violence, discussion of how language and images influence behavior is not a new issue for me. Whether or not violence language played a role in the shooter’s motives is not yet known. But if you work in settings that address interpersonal violence, you are probably very familiar that domestic violence shelters often provide education to both clients and staff about how words communicate violence in our culture (for one example, visit Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Center or Google and search “violent language, domestic violence” for more information). This education not only teaches to how violent language, actions, and image impact families and children, it is also reminds all helping professionals about the importance of empathy in our work, communities, and culture.
InDeep Brain Learning: Pathways to Potential with Challenging Youth, Brendtro, Mitchell, and McCall summarize empathy as follows:
“Empathy is the foundation of moral development and pro-social behavior. The original word began in the German language as Einfuhlung which is literally translated as feeling into. Empathy taps the ability of mirror neurons to display in our own brain the emotions, thoughts, and motives of another. Empathy allows us to share anothers joy and pain and motivates care and concern” (p. 91).
Linguist Noam Chomsky notes that children not only have the ability to learn language, but also that they have the capacity for learning what is called moral grammar. Chomsky’s research underscores that the human brain uses social interaction to develop both language and moral grammar; more importantly, he notes that the quality of an individual’s language and moral values are dependent on verbal and cultural environments. In other words, the same “mirror neurons” in the brain respond to violent verbal and cultural environments as to empathetic words and ecologies. In fact, it was recently noted that empathy and violent tendencies actually overlap within the brain.
As the details of the shooting in Tucson unfold, more questions than answers will likely emerge, just as they have after violent episodes like the Oklahoma City bombing and shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech. Undoubtedly, mental illness played a role in these and many similar scenarios; it’s also impossible to say that some of these incidents could have been easily prevented for that reason. But what is possible, as Dupnik noted, is to accept that our words and actions do have profound and far-reaching consequences within our families, communities and cultures; what we say and do can make a difference in the lives of those we encounter. Children can only flourish and become positive, productive adults in environments where empathy is the core value and violence, in all its forms, is unacceptable.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC
References
Brendtro, L., Mitchell, M., & McCall, H. (2009). Deep brain learning: Pathways to potential with challenging youth. Albion, MI: Starr Commonwealth.
Hauser, M. (2006). Moral minds: How nature designed our universal sense of right and wrong. New York: Harper Collins.
Chomsky, N. (2008). The essential Chomsky. New York: New Press.
The theme of the last few posts to Trauma & Children has focused on the subject of bullying. While the need to address and confront the endemic nature of bullying among children and teens and throughout society is critical, it is also important that we all begin to help our young clients to learn the value and practice of compassion. Compassion is defined as the quality of understanding and empathy for the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it. In many ways, it’s a longer-term and possibly more long-lasting solution to the violent and abusive nature of bullies and bullying.
Many of you who read this blog work with children and adolescents who are challenged daily by the impact of traumatic events including chronic abuse and neglect, foster care, divorce, poverty and homelessness, and loss of a loved one. Despite these challenges, all children are also born with a helpful, altruistic nature according to researcher and developmental psychologist Michael Tomasello of Stanford University. Tomasello studies the behavior of young children ages 12 months to two years and compares their behaviors to that of apes in similar experimental situations. Remarkably, he has been able to demonstrate that even the youngest children have a natural tendency toward cooperation and to helping others. In contrast, Tomasello found that chimpanzees tend to act in ways that increase their own personal again.
Unfortunately, as children get older, the impact of other people and environment begin to take hold and behavior may become less altruistic. But with positive guidance and encouragement, children can learn compassion for others and how to engage in a life directed toward selflessness. While not everyone agrees with Tomasello’s findings, his work brings to light the possibility that encouraging altruism in children can have wide-ranging affects not only on their relationships with others, but also for society in general.
In response to the growing need to facilitate altruism in children, the American Psychological Association (APA) offers these suggestions for developing compassion:
Give children books that promote compassionate behavior. Look for books about ordinary characters who perform acts of caring and concern (for advice on specific books, contact the Self-Esteem Shop for recommendations).
It is widely accepted that children tend to imitate behavior they see on television. Advise parents or caretakers to limit children’s viewing of violent programs and encourage them to watch shows demonstrate caring and helping.
Discuss the content of television programs and movies with children. Ask them to think about what they saw and to consider other approaches the characters might have taken.
Find out who children admire and why; again, books and movies that highlight altruistic, compassionate individuals are helpful resources. Expose children to the stories about people such as the Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King who are known for their compassion and altruistic values.
Get children involved in community activities where they can volunteer to help others. Don’t underestimate that children who are challenged by their own emotional distress; they can learn to help others through simple ways such as making crafts to give to others or participating in a charitable activity like a food drive at a church or other organization. With your support, helping these children develop compassion can be a turning point for the development of resilience and reduction of trauma reactions.
In light of the problem of bullying and its impact on children’s lives, teaching compassion may be more relevant than ever. If you work with children, you may be one of their most important role models, sometimes even more important than parents or caretakers who may be overwhelmed or unavailable. If we try to live our lives as examples of altruism, we might be able to demonstrate to the children we encounter that all people should be treated with respect and dignity. In doing so, we also might be able to make a difference in a child’s life through modeling compassion–and that’s my New Year’s resolution for 2011.
Be well,
Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC References
Tomasello, M. (2009). Why we cooperate. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
If you are a trauma specialist, you may have heard the terms “compassion fatigue,” “secondary posttraumatic stress” and “vicarious victimization.” Most commonly, practitioners speak of “burnout” and the majority who work with traumatized individuals have experienced one or all of these conditions from time to time.
traumainformedtherapy 