Buildling Resiliency in Children
Childhood should be the safest time of our lives. While we are doing the hard work of growing, developing, and learning, we should be able to play, have fun, feel loved, and be safe with no worries about food, clothing, and shelter. Unfortunately, this is not the situation for many of our children of today. Millions of children in the United States alone, experience some kind of traumatic event each year. These traumatic events take many forms. The events could be related to abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, car accidents, death of a friend or family member, natural disasters, or a whole host of other possibilities. Just what does the impact of trauma look like for a child? This varies greatly based on each individual child. Factors that influence the symptoms include: the magnitude of trauma, how much of a threat does the child perceive the crisis event to be, previous trauma experienced, family stability, mental health of the child and immediate family members, and social sup...