Akamas
Experience Learning
THE NEEDS OF LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
Content and Structure
MODULE 1
The need for stabilisation
Why looked after children should be regarded as traumatised
- All looked after children have lived through overwhelming stress: the family is the source of survival for children, and separation is traumatic
- Some looked after children have unmet needs: secure attachment enables children to manage stress, and children with unmet needs are more vulnerable to traumatic stress disorders
- Some looked after children have been abused
Traumatic stress as critical systemic loss of stability
- The impact of overwhelming stress: how human beings survive threatening events
- Changes in blood supply to brain and body destabilising the organic system
- Changes in behaviour destabilising the social system
Effects of traumatic stress in childhood on brain, body and behaviour
- Diminished ability to self-regulate: stress; mood; impulse; shame
- Altered emotional functioning: language for feelings; loss of emotional well-being; loss of capacity to experience joy in living; extreme reactions of terror or rage
- Physical impact of trauma: psychosomatic conditions; somatisation of emotional experience
- Social impact of trauma: loss of empathy; reduced motivation to be sociable; lack of ability to make sense of social relationships; being frightened of others; being frightening to others
Factors that contribute to preparing children and young people for the transition to adult life
- Secure base: assessing security and the quality of attachments.
- Education: assessing educational development, attainment and opportunities.
- Friendships: assessing sociability and social support.
- Talents and interests: assessing existing activities and opportunities for development.
- Positive values: assessing moral reasoning, understanding other perspectives and caring for others.
- Social competencies: assessing autonomy, self- control, temperament, self-efficacy and attention.
Stabilisation as the first phase of recovery from disorder
- Safety: helping children and young people to feel safe enough
- Learning about trauma: the importance of teaching children and young people the facts about human responses to extreme events
- Learning or relearning words for feelings: emotional literacy as a step to recovery
Identifying organisational or systemic blocks to promoting stabilisation for traumatised children
- Reflection on practice
Planning and implementing a strategic intervention
- Describing and analysing the observed behaviour of the child or young person
- Describing the organisational or systemic context for working with the child
- Identifying the particular organisational or systemic blocks to stabilisation
Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of actions taken
- Reflective practice models
MODULE 2
The need for integration
The disintegrative impact of traumatic experience
- Shattered assumptions: loss of core cognitive schemas after traumatic stress
- Disintegration of self-regulation leading to disintegration of personal identity
- Disintegration of social structures leading to disintegration of social identity
The impact of traumatic stress disorders on cognitive functioning
- Changes in the ability to create language and meaning
- Diminished or altered memory function: amnesia; hypermnesia; loss of short term memory capacity
- Physiological changes affecting learning: reduced attention span; reduced concentration; increased distractibility; visual and auditory processing disorders
Integration as the second phase of recovery from disorder
- Physiological self-management: gaining or regaining the ability to self-regulate
- Emotional processing: using emotional literacy to make sense of everyday life; making best use of therapeutic interventions
- Cognitive restructuring: enabling children and young people to let go of trauma-based thinking patterns
Identifying organisational or systemic blocks to promoting integration for traumatised children
- Reflection on practice
Planning and implementing a strategic intervention
- Describing and analysing the observed behaviour of the child or young person
- Describing the organisational or systemic context for working with the child
- Identifying the particular organisational or systemic blocks to integration
- Identifying possible actions to promote integration
Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of actions taken
- Reflective practice models
MODULE 3
The need for adaptation
Trauma and transformation
- The possibility that recovery from trauma may lead to added strength and resilience
- The power of traumatic identity: why children and young people may resist recovery
Post traumatic disorders as a social phenomenon
- The human ecology of trauma: traumatic events, and post traumatic disorders, occur in a social setting
- The destructive spiral of post traumatic disorders: fear and rage in the context of the social network
Adaptation as the third phase of recovery from disorder
- Establishing social connectedness: enabling traumatised children and young people to connect safely to a secure social network
- Building self-esteem: overcoming the effects of traumatic identity to enable children and young people to develop a sense of self-worth and achievement
- Recovering joy in living: enabling traumatised children and young people to enjoy life, and to build the capacity to hold memories of pleasant experiences
Identifying organisational or systemic blocks to promoting adaptation for traumatised children
- Reflection on practice
Planning and implementing a strategic intervention
- Describing and analysing the observed behaviour of the child or young person
- Describing the organisational or systemic context for working with the child
- Identifying the particular organisational or systemic blocks to adaptation
Evaluating the impact and effectiveness of actions taken
- Reflection practice models
Level: 5
