Healing Trauma in Children: A practical guide for foster and kinship carers
Sonia Kennedy
The underlying cause for most of this challenging, disruptive behaviour stems from the child’s experience of early life trauma. Children with traumatic backgrounds have difficulty regulating their emotions. They lack the cortical capacity to efficiently process their thoughts and feelings, making it hard for them to change their behaviour to fit into their new life. Many carers are unprepared for the level of support, intensive focus, and effort these children need. Typical parenting strategies may not work.
That’s why Sonia Kennedy wrote Healing Trauma in Children as a practical guide. Sonia is an Australian clinical social worker who has spent over 20 years working with adults and children treating post-trauma stress reactions, complex PTSD, anxiety and depression in various community settings, including child protection, corrections, and family counselling. She has seen firsthand how hard it is for even experienced and committed foster and kinship carers to cope with the behavioural effects of childhood trauma exhibited by those placed in their loving care.
She knows that foster and kinship carers need easy-to-access answers for everyday issues. Unlike a text heavy on theory, her book allows the reader to access information quickly when needed. Most importantly, it offers detailed strategies for day-to-day emergencies and long-term solutions. It is not about medication; it’s not about behaviour management plans, punishment, judgement, or diagnosis. It is about developing a carer’s awareness, kindness, compassion, patience, strength, and education. Healing Trauma aims to help carers understand trauma and its impact on the vulnerable child they are caring for; to help that child manage their future so the past trauma doesn’t take over and control their life.
Issues covered include:
- Sleep
- Calm down strategies for emotions
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Withdrawal and Sadness
- Social skills
- Attachment
- Family contact
- Toilet issues
- Eating habits
- Lying and stealing
- Sexualised behaviour
- Boundaries and routines
- Diet
- Hygiene
- Healthy relationships
- Self-esteem
- Identity and culture
About the Author
Sonia Kennedy is an Australian clinical social worker with over 20 years of private and public clinical and training experience. She is an accredited mental health clinician and an approved counsellor with Victim Services NSW and has worked with adults, adolescents, children and adults. Sonia has experience in a range of settings, including child protection, corrections, education, and veterans and family counselling. Her professional work experience includes eight years at the Department of Family and Community Services and seventeen years in her own rural-based private practice contracting to a number of government and non-government organisations. She has provided clinical supervision to patient/client care staff and has extensive experience in cancer counselling and support, workplace and relationship issues, traumatic events, grief and loss, sexual assault, and family violence. She has significant experience in treating post-trauma stress reactions, complex PTSD, anxiety and depression. Sonia uses Trauma Informed Therapy, CBT, DBT, Systems Theory, Sensorimotor and Cross-Cultural Psychotherapy to help clients gain symptom relief and improve their general life quality. She also has specialised experience in child development, parent/child attachment and the interface of these experiences on adult health and functioning across the lifespan. Sonia’s clinical focus is on effective, evidence-based practice in psychotherapy and holistic wellbeing.Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vAbout the Author vii
Chapter 1 — An introduction to trauma 3
Types of trauma 5
How trauma impacts a child’s development 6
Chapter 2 — A bit about biology 9
The brain 9
The central nervous system 11
Chapter 3 — A bit about grief and loss 15
Grieving for the family 15
The stages of grief 16
Applying these stages to children 17
Chapter 4 — Sleep 27
Chapter 5 — Calm down strategies for emotions 35
Anger 35
Anxiety 38
Withdrawal and Sadness 40
Chapter 6 — Social skills 43
Chapter 7 — Attachment 51
Chapter 8 — Family contact 59
Chapter 9 — Toilet issues (yeek!) 67
Chapter 10 — Eating habits 75
Chapter 11 — Lying and stealing 79
Chapter 13 — Boundaries and routines — longer term strategies 95
Diet 95
Hygiene 100
Sexualised behaviour 105
Healthy relationships 105
Consequences and planning for healthy changes 109
Chapter 14 — Self-esteem 115
Self-esteem development 115
Identity and culture 122
Chapter 15 — Care for carers 135
Keeping sane — strategies for self-care 135
Vicarious trauma 140
Chapter 16 — Tools of the trade 149
Chapter 17 — Further resources 157
A bit about eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) 157
Websites 159
Glossary of Terms 161