Trauma Therapy

Have you ever wondered if your child or teenager is suffering from the effects of trauma?

 

Traumatic events are events that are distressing and/or disturbing to the child or adolescent who experiences them. An event that is traumatic to one child or teen may not be traumatic to another – trauma is unique to the individual. Children and adolescents can experience trauma due to divorce, loss, being bullied, painful experiences, and numerous other experiences. A child does not have to have a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to be suffering from the effects of trauma.

The chart below details some of the symptoms your child or teenager may be experiencing due to trauma.

Preschool Children

  • Feel helpless and uncertain

  • Fear of being separated from their parent/caregiver

  • Cry and/or scream a lot

  • Eat poorly and lose weight

  • Return to bedwetting

  • Return to using baby talk

  • Develop new fears

  • Have nightmares

  • Recreate trauma through play

  • Are not developing to the next growth stage

  • Have changes in behavior

  • Ask questions about death

Elementary School Children

  • Become anxious and fearful

  • Worry about their own or others’ safety

  • Become clingy with a teacher or a parent

  • Feel guilt or shame

  • Tell others about the traumatic event again and again

  • Become upset if they get a small bump or bruise

  • Have a hard time concentrating

  • Experience numbness

  • Have fears the event will happen again

  • Have difficulties sleeping

  • Show changes in school performance

  • Become easily startled

Middle and High School Children

  • Feel depressed and alone

  • Discuss the traumatic events in detail

  • Develop eating disorders and self-harming behaviors like cutting

  • Start using or abusing alcohol or drugs

  • Become sexually active

  • Feel like they’re going crazy

  • Feel different from everyone else

  • Take too many risks

  • Have sleep disturbances

  • Don’t want to go to places that remind them of the event

  • Say they have no feeling about the event

  • Show changes in behavior

From National Child Traumatic Stress Webpage Understanding Trauma — www.nctsn.org

The World Health Organization estimates that over 300 million people worldwide suffer from some form of trauma. The Aversive Childhood Experience Study (ACES) found that not only have a significant number of Americans suffered from trauma but also that they are vulnerable to the effects of that trauma long past when the event occurred.

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Does this sound like your child?

When your child or teenager is exposed to an event or several events which are traumatic for them, it swamps their ability to use coping skills and to think. They experience sadness, anger, shame, fear, and hopelessness. They become irritable, avoid certain situations, develop stomachaches and headaches, and don’t feel safe. They have emotional outbursts, are withdrawn, have nightmares, act younger than their age, act out the distressing traumatic event during play, and/or react with fear to situations which are safe. If your child or teenager is experiencing or showing any of these symptoms they may be reacting to trauma.

Your child or teen’s emotions and reactions are normal for someone who has experienced trauma! Their autonomic nervous system is stuck in survival mode and it prevents them from thinking through their reactions.

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How can Invictus Counseling help?

I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and have specific training in addressing trauma. I use a fusion of Forward-Facing Trauma Therapy and the Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) framework. ARC is specific to trauma therapy with children and adolescents and focuses on attachment, regulation, competence, and community. I work with children and teens to increase their sense of safety, self-worth, and ability to navigate situations and their emotions. Many of the strategies I use are aimed at increasing your child or teenager’s ability to recognize their body’s reaction and to identify their emotions.

Together your child or teen and I will construct narratives to reduce their trauma reactions, I will help them and you the parent to understand their trauma and grief reactions using psycho-educational materials. An important component of the process will be creating routines and increasing the use of effective parenting and behavior management skills to improve your relationship with your child or teens and theirs with you.

If you think your child or adolescent may be suffering from symptoms of trauma, call me today for a free 20-minute consultation.