No One Eats Apples in Baja, California It’s a small town by Canadian Standards. The population is only approximately five thousand people. This makes it the size of Nelson, BC or Flin Flon, Manitoba. What makes this town unique is that one third of this population is under the age of 14. The town is Primo Tapia, located along the Baja California, an hour South of Tijuana, Mexico. What makes this town even more exceptional is that the number of …
by Elina Falk, MC., RCC What is he trying to do? Helping your child heal by supporting the intention behind the troubling behaviour. Suzie is always trying to get people’s attention. Jonathan is an escape artist and can open any child-proof lock. Peter is as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. On the face of it, it might not seem that these situations have much in common. But in fact, all these children are likely trying to complete their intention to …
Disconnect to Connect By Angela Murphy How many of us remember the story of Josh and his parents? Once when I was visiting a family, the 12-year old adopted son *Josh, took me to his room to show me his game. Within a 5-minute time span I saw his very real looking character smoke marijuana, pick up a prostitute, run down a police officer, and the boy talked about killing his family next (in the game). By the time I …
Signature Strengths By Dr. Kirk Austin Michael was in trouble again. The school had called Karen, the foster parent, to report his “bullying” behavior on the playground. In speaking to the principal, Karen learned that Michael had been playing aggressively with the other children. As others had reported, Michael would yell at other kids and push them if they refused to let him play in their games. The school personnel were clearly frustrated and hoped that Karen could offer some …
By Kenzi Dirks, M.A., R.C.C. Twelve-year-old Willow sat on the corner of my office couch, handling some Play-Dough from my box of fidget toys. From the outside, no one would suspect that this intelligent and confident pre-teen was used by her biological father for sexual purposes. Having been adopted for almost two years, Willow’s parents felt like she was continuing to “bottle everything up”. She just would not talk about how she was feeling. Furthermore, Willow’s parents were receiving school …
This article supports the quote that, “Every child who winds up doing well has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult.”
Intergenerational Trauma (IGT) refers to the transmission of trauma from one generation to the next. It is the notion that “traumatic experiences endured during childhood or adulthood, might profoundly influence the well-being of their offspring”.
This article offers a practical guide for teachers on how to create a safe classroom in the first few weeks of a new school year.
This article focuses on key insights that staff members working with traumatised children in various settings might find useful. He address’ three components to help ensure that staff provide the essential context these children need to heal and get back on the appropriate developmental path.