No one wants to think about their teenager dealing with trauma, nor do they want to think about their teen abusing drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, these two events are not only common for teens to experience, but they are also intrinsically linked. Understanding why experiencing a traumatic event places a teen at greater risk for …
3 Ways Traumatic Events in the Lives of Teens Impact Substance Abuse Read More »
Working with youth who’ve experience trauma in their lives can be both a challenging and rewarding endeavor and of course, is a multifaceted process absent of a “one size fits all” approach. One of the questions I often get in my trainings and at conferences is what to actually do when a youth struggling with …
A Critical Intervention For Working With Traumatized Youth Read More »
Becoming a Trauma-Informed Youth Professional takes commitment and dedication. As we prepare for the launch of the new online course Trauma-Informed Care for Professionals Working with Youth at CAS, I can’t help but reflect on some of the seminal teachings that have influenced my work; specifically the foundational texts I’ve read numerous times. To that …
4 “Must Read” Books for Professionals Working with Traumatized Youth Read More »
If you work with youth there’s a good chance you work with trauma. Trauma symptoms or adaptations as I like to call them (i.e., your mind/psyche finds ways to adapt to the difficult/dangerous experience for survival) manifest in many ways, from hyper-vigilance to flashbacks, from trust issues to dissociation, from altered world-views to avoiding specific …
The 4 Essentials of Being a Trauma-Informed Youth Professional Read More »
Creating a trusting environment is one of the most important keys to a successful group; whether it be a therapy group or in the traditional classroom setting (for the rest of this post I’m going to use the term “group” for the sake of non-redundancy. I use this term to refer to both therapy groups …
4 Simple Tips to Creating Safety with Group Agreements Read More »
As I walked into the juvenile hall on a Thursday night to teach a mindfulness class, I contemplated the evening’s agenda. It was 2007 and I worked for the Mind Body Awareness Project as a mindfulness instructor; at the time we had no set curriculum. It was up to us as facilitators to develop our …
As I entered the juvenile hall to teach a Thursday evening meditation class many years ago, I tried to prepare myself for the level of emotion that might arise: it was Thanksgiving Day. In hindsight, I don’t know if I could’ve better prepared myself for that evening. Youth were emotional because they were incarcerated and …
4 Tips for Working with Marginalized Youth During the Holidays Read More »
During a meeting at a refugee assistance organization, a psychologist described a problem she was having with one of her clients. “I think he must be lying about how he got to the U.S.” she said. “I mean, given the rest of his story, how could he possibly have been in Iceland?” The young man …
3 Essential Tips for Working with Limited English Proficiency Youth Read More »
Trauma can be defined as a deeply distressing response to a real or perceived threat to one’s life. Trauma can result from events including, but not limited to, getting physically or sexually assaulted, sudden death of family members or close friends, being emotionally abused or neglected throughout one’s childhood, the result of a catastrophic environmental …
Trauma and the Brain: An Introduction for professionals working with teens Read More »
Group work with teens can be both challenging and extremely rewarding. One of the responsibilities we as facilitators are charged with is mixing up content to curtail boredom—the feeling in youth that can easily snowball into disengagement, detachment, and less buy-in. When facilitating group work, whether it’s therapy-based, skills-based, or even a traditional classroom (yes …
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