Trauma Therapy for Kids & Teens

You know (or suspect) your child went through something terrible and you’re worried. They’re acting different and you just aren’t sure how to help.

Life’s challenges can feel dark, heavy, or even impossible to deal with. And when you’re a child? Those challenges are flat out confusing.

As a parent, you don’t want to think about the impact what happened had on your child. However, when you look closely you have to admit that it DID have an impact. Perhaps you see your child or teenager stuck in the same painful patterns whether that’s negative self talk, “acting out,” self harm, difficulty in school or any number of things.

You want to just move on, pretend the trauma didn’t happen to your family and just see your child enjoying life again. But you know, something needs to change to get to that place.

Childhood Trauma: What counts?

Some parents second guess, was what my child went through really that traumatic? Will it really make that big of a difference? Can’t we just ignore it and move on?

Research has decisively shown that negative experiences that feel overwhelming to a child often have a long lasting impact on a child. Sometimes these are things like molestation, witnessing violence, the sudden death of a loved one, a car wreck, a serious injury or illness or a house fire. Other times, they’re things that maybe you don’t even think of as being traumatic. For example, not having their needs met, witnessing someone hurting a caregiver, having a parent in jail, feeling unloved or having a parent who is an alcoholic are all example of Adverse Childhood Experiences that we know increase a child’s risk of depression, health problems, social problems and so much more.

So, the short answer is that anything your child experiences as overwhelming “counts” as a trauma.

But does my child need trauma therapy?

Not every child who has experienced an adverse childhood event may need trauma therapy. However, many do. Every child experiences trauma a bit differently. It may help to read this blog post about common reactions children have to trauma.

Some symptoms of PTSD in children include:

• Nightmares or sleep problems

• Lack of excitement or joy

• Change in personality

• Being irritable frequently

• Seeming on edge, afraid or sad a lot

• Feeling like they’re reliving the event over and over again

• Negative self talk

• Being easily startled

• Acting helpless or withdrawn

If your child is experiencing any of these, it’s probably time to at least come in for a consultation. When in doubt, it doesn’t hurt to speak to a child therapist about your concerns to assess if your child is indeed struggling with PTSD or some trauma symptoms.

Trauma Therapy Can Help Your Child Heal

The good news is that it is possible for your child to feel better again. Imagine a life where your child could…

• Really feel joy, excitement and happiness again

• Feel safe & stop worrying all the time

• Have tools to control anxious thoughts

• Be hopeful

Trauma therapy can help your child find healing so they can get back to being a kid or teen. Furthermore, it will help them process the trauma now so they’re less at risk of some of the negative impacts of trauma later in life.

Trauma therapy helps your child (and you as the parent) get practical tools to learn ways to cope with difficult life stuff. You child’s therapist will help them rise above the challenges they’ve faced and start moving toward a life with less suffering and more happiness.

Even if your child is not usually comfortable opening up to people, our therapists may be able to help. We’ve helped children and teenagers who have endured a traumatic event process what happened and how the event is currently impacting their life. Through therapy, hey learn skills to help them tolerate trauma reminders which helps them feel less anxious and depressed.

What should I expect when I bring my child to trauma therapy?

It’s normal for children and parents to feel a little anxious about starting on this journey. Your therapist will do everything in our power to help put you and your child at ease. We’ll begin with a full assessment. This will include asking you some questions as the parent and then interacting with your child. For some kids, this assessment process takes several sessions as the therapist gets to know your child.

Then, we’ll develop a treatment plan. Your therapist can show you your full treatment plan or may just give you an overview of how they plan to help your child and family. Then, you’ll get down to work.

Evidence based trauma therapies for children

At Aspire Counseling, we believe your child deserve to feel like a child again. We know they deserve therapy that works. Therefore, we want to use only the most effective trauma therapy techniques. The good news is that in recent years, the therapy field has learned more about the effect of trauma on children and how to help them recover.

Research shows that the very best trauma treatment for younger children and often teenagers as well is Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or TF-CBT. Therefore, most children who come through Aspire Counseling showing symptoms of PTSD or recovering after a traumatic experience will participate in TF-CBT. One of our child trauma therapists has written a blog post about TF-CBT. We highly recommend reading that so you know what to expect and can ask questions.

Older teenagers often use TF-CBT but may also benefit from other forms of trauma therapy. For example, some teens may use EMDR.

Your child is unique, so their trauma therapy will be as well

Whichever evidence based counseling method we use, it will be carefully chosen based on your child’s needs. Then, we’ll individualize the care to fit your child specifically. No two children are exactly the same. Therefore, no two children’s trauma therapy looks exactly the same.