| Description |
People often ask, isn’t trauma work hard? How can you listen to stories about violence, abuse, little children who have faced so much adversity before the age of 6 without breaking down? While those of us who do this work acknowledge that the work affects the worker, it is essential that we share the more complete, complex story of what we do.
While we do bear witness to pain and shame, the stories that are written into our bodies and hearts are full of love and connection. We partner with parents who are breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma and are providing safety for children when they often grew up without this experience. We support families who are ensuring that their children are not alone with their difficult experiences, and we jointly help them make meaning of traumatic experiences so that they do not define them. We work alongside daycare providers, teachers, and other community members, and their stories show us that we are truly part of a network of grown-ups dedicated to helping young children heal and thrive.
This workshop presents stories and pictures from over 30 years of work in the field of trauma. Over the years, as our team developed, empirically validated, and disseminated Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), an evidence-based treatment for young children who have experienced trauma, the children and their caregivers have taught us invaluable lessons about what young children know, what they remember, and what they need to make meaning of traumatic experiences and return to a healthy developmental trajectory. Their stories show us how we can find hope in hard places. They paint a picture of what is possible, illustrate key lessons we need everyone to understand about early childhood trauma, and help us recognize the wisdom of young children.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will be able to:
• Define the concept of a “short sadness span” and understand how it may impact the way young children respond to traumatic events.
• Name at least 2 core trauma concepts and understand how they apply to children under age 6 and to cross systems work.
• Share at least two ways that play can help families transform traumatic experiences.
• List two ways that young children may process their traumatic experiences differently than older children
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