Resources
Articles
How Trauma Affects Kids in School, Child Mind Institute
About Child Trauma, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Children and Trauma, American Psychological Association
Podcasts
TRAUMA FOR BREAKFAST WITH STACEY GAGNON
Trauma For Breakfast is a crowded table of wounded children, parents, spouses, caregivers, and weary souls. Together we join in honest conversations about the behaviors and challenges of parenting children with trauma. There’s always room for one more at the table to share in the stories, science, and healing as we learn to better understand and care for each other. We are a table without shame or judgment because life can be hard and lonely and we all know, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Websites
TRAUMA LENS CARE
Trauma Lens Care (TLC) is a place where professionals, parents, and caregivers involved in the lives of children from hard places can find resources, education and support.
Suggested Books
by Bryan Post
Addresses: Lying, Stealing, Self-Mutilation, Aggression, Defiance, Chores, Mealtimes, Hoarding/Gorging, Bedtime, Bath time, Brushing Teeth, Public Humiliation of Parents, Chattering, Clinging, Whining, No Eye Contact, No Touching, Too Much Touching, Poor Social Skills, No Conscience, Learning Difficulties and Sexualized Behaviors including Masturbation, Perpetration and Pet Perversion
BEYOND CONSEQUENCES, LOGIC, AND CONTROL
Heather Forbes & Bryan Post
Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control covers in detail the effects of trauma on the body-mind and how trauma alters children’s behavioral responses. The first four chapters help parents and professionals clearly understand the neurological research behind the basic model given in this book, deemed, ‘The Stress Model.’ While scientifically based in research, it is written in an easy to understand and easy to grasp format for anyone working with or parenting children with severe behaviors.
THE CONNECTED CHILD
Karyn Purvis & David Cross
The adoption of a child is always a joyous moment in the life of a family. Some adoptions, though, present unique challenges. Welcoming these children into your family–and addressing their special needs–requires care, consideration, and compassion.
Written by two research psychologists specializing in adoption and attachment, The Connected Child will help you:
- Build bonds of affection and trust with your adopted child
- Effectively deal with any learning or behavioral disorders
- Discipline your child with love without making him or her feel threatened
GETTING TO CALM
Laura Kastner, Jennifer Wyatt
Getting to Calm is a dream come true for parents of teens: It contains numerous strategies for parenting teens, all based on the central fact that effective parenting begins and ends with staying calm.
THE WHOLE-BRAIN CHILD
Daniel J. Siegel, Tina Payne Bryson
The Whole-Brain Child distills the wisdom of the neurosciences into a series of simple messages that work for everyone, parents and professionals alike. It’s simple and filled with mnemonics to help parents remember the concepts. There are even tools at the end of each chapter to help teach children about their brains.
THE CONNECTED PARENT
Karyn Purvis & Lisa Qualls
Parenting under the best of circumstances can be difficult. And raising children who have come to your home from “hard places,” who have their own set of unique needs, brings even more challenges. You may have discovered that the techniques that worked with your birth children are not working with your adopted or foster child.
Renowned child-development expert Dr. Karyn Purvis gives you practical advice and powerful tools you can use to encourage secure attachment in your family. You will benefit from Karyn’s decades of clinical research and real-world experience. Coauthor Lisa Qualls demonstrates how you can successfully implement these strategies in your home, just as she did in hers.
You will learn how to simplify your approach using scripts, nurture your child, combat chronic fear, teach respect, and develop other valuable tools to facilitate a healing connection with your child.
The Connected Parent will help you lovingly guide your children and bring renewed hope and restoration to your family.
by Bryan Post
Parenting Difficult Adopted, Foster and Diagnosed Children
Bryan Post speaks to parents about the challenges they face when dealing with behaviors that are often present for adopted children. He helps parents understand the impact of early life trauma and the impact of interruptions in the attachment process. Bryan’s straightforward, clear-cut approach has created peace and healing for hundreds of families; families who once operated in fear are now experiencing love
THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE
by Bessel van der Kolk
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
BORN FOR LOVE
by Bruce Perry & Maia Szalavitz
Born for Love is the definitive book on empathy. Renowned psychiatrist Bruce Perry has appeared on Oprah, CNN, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and other programs as an expert in this hot area of neuroscience, and has been cited as such in Newsweek, the New York Times, and The New Yorker (in a story written by Malcolm Gladwell). He and co-writer Maia Szalavitz explore empathy’s startling importance in human evolution and its significance for our children and our society. The authors of The Boy Who was Raised as a Dog present a powerful case that love is essential…and endangered.
THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED AS A DOG
by Bruce Perry & Maia Szalavitz
In this instant classic of developmental psychology, a renowned psychiatrist examines the effect that trauma can have on a child, reveals how PTSD impacts the developing mind, and outlines the path to recovery.