When
reading and reviewing the material for this week, many thoughts went through my
head. I've heard so much about trauma informed care over the last few years but
I think I just associated that with major events, such as death, fires, etc.
But now-trauma can come in so many forms.
We are living in such an unprecedented time in this Coronavirus
Pandemic. In a way, I am wondering if my own children-and countless others-are
suffering trauma because of it! This past spring, their lives were turned
upside down. They were made to stay indoors for months, taken away from their
friends and activities, and lost any sense of normalcy. My middle child,
Kilian, has really struggled with the lack of consistency the past few months
and that is undoubtedly because of the pandemic. But how do you explain this to
a five-year-old? How do you talk to your child about how they are feeling with
everything going on, when you do not even know how to feel? I think this is one
of the hardest things to grasp with trauma informed care but is the exact
reason as to why educating others about trauma is crucial when working with
families.
But how do we help children and
families work through theses traumatic events? Working on enhancing our education
and knowledge regarding various kinds of trauma and coping mechanisms can be the
main support for providing the families we serve the best therapies we can,
while doing the same for our own families.
Children can have a difficult time expressing their feelings and it is
extremely important that we use positive language and a relaxed setting to help
them work through this. As parents, this can be extremely hard and exhausting
when we feel helpless. Ultimately-communication is a key part of working
through trauma informed care, as well as many other certain issues that face
families today.
By teaching families how to
communicate with one another in an appropriate way will help relieve stress and
encourage the family to work through a difficult time with one another, rather
than creating more issues. Even though I am not at all certain about what’s
happening in the world right now, I still try to talk to my children about
their worries, their concerns, what they think about what’s going on right now.
We are all living in a new era and talking is the first step to accepting this “new
normal” we’re all in!
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