Child Traumatic Grief Series
Supporting Military Children with Traumatic Grief
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 @ 9:00 am PT/ 12:00 pm ET
Presenters: Judith Cohen, MD, Allegheny Health Network; Robin Goodman, PhD ATR-BC, A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Bereavement Center; Zaneta Gilano, LMSW, CT, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS); Carole, family member
During both peace and conflict, children with parents in the military face unique military related stressors. Military children may develop childhood traumatic grief following the death of a caregiver from combat or non-combat situations. This presentation will provide an overview of issues specific to military culture and family life, describe two models for treating military children with traumatic grief, and will highlight a military consumer voice.
Developmental Trauma Disorder: Identifying Critical Moments and Healing Complex Trauma Series
Guiding Youth through Loss and Betrayal
Date/Time: Thursday, February 15 at 1:00 PM ET/ 10:00 AM PT
Mark your calendars for the next Developmental Trauma Disorder Training Webinar coming in February. And in case you missed it, watch the first two clinical training webinars here:
New Resources for Military Families:
Sesame Street for Military Families
Sesame Street for Military Families has released new content! Visit the link below to find interactive games, videos, and printable activities for military families to do with their preschool children. Topics include staying healthy together, creating fun and meaningful birthday traditions, encouraging children’s self-expression, making changes more comfortable, and so much more!
New Guide for Parents and Caregivers:
Talking to Your Child About a Suicide Death
The death of a loved one is the most difficult life event that many children ever experience. A death due to suicide can be especially hard to face. Parents and caregivers may feel overwhelmed as they try to decide what to tell their children about a suicide death while struggling with their own grief over how the person died. This new guide includes tips for caregivers in preparing to tell their children about a suicide death and helping children to grieve in healthy ways.
Talking to Your Child About a Suicide Death
Upcoming Webinar:
Human Trafficking and the Opioid Crisis
During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Center (NHTTAC) will host a 90-minute webinar that highlights emerging trends, case studies, and research on human trafficking and substance use with a specific focus on the opioid crisis. Presenters Elizabeth Hopper (Project Director of REACH, the Trauma Center at the Justice Resource Institute), Audrey Morrissey (Associate Director of My Life My Choice), and Ginny Sprang (Professor, College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky) will discuss (1) the role of substance use for individuals at risk of, currently experiencing, or recovering from trafficking; (2) trauma-informed approaches from provider, client-based, and research perspectives to understand contributing factors to vulnerability; and (3) promising practices and treatment options that address the underlying issues that put victims and survivors at risk.
Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2018 Time: 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET
New Resource:
Network members Virginia Strand and Ginny Sprang have edited a comprehensive reference, Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems (Springer 2018), which offers a framework for introducing and sustaining trauma-responsive services and culture in child welfare systems. Organized around concepts of safety, permanency, and well-being, chapters describe innovations in child protection, violence prevention, foster care, and adoption services to reduce immediate effects of trauma on children and improve long-term development and maturation. Foundations and interventions for practice include collaborations with families and community entities, cultural competency, trauma-responsive assessment and treatment, promoting trauma-informed parenting and, when appropriate, working toward reunification of families. The book’s chapters on agency culture address staffing, supervisory, and training issues; planning and implementation; and developing a competent, committed, and sturdy workforce.
Topics covered include the following: (1) trauma-informed family engagement with resistant clients; (2) introducing evidence-based trauma treatment in preventive services; (3) working with resource parents for trauma-informed foster care; (4) use of implementation science principles in program development for sustainability; (5) trauma-informed and secondary traumatic stress-informed organizational readiness assessments; and (6) caseworker training for trauma practice and building worker resiliency.
New Article:
R. Rodriguez-Rey, J. Alonso-Tapia, N. Kassam-Adams, and H. Garrido-Hernansaiz are authors of the article The Factor Structure of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory in Parents of Critically Ill Children, published in 2016 in the Spanish journal Psicothema (Volume 28, Issue 4) and available in English and Spanish at the link below. The study analyzed the factor structure of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) in a sample of parents whose children had survived a critical hospitalization, in order to consider the structural validity of the PTGI scores for this population and to report our understanding of posttraumatic growth (PTG) as a construct. PTG was conceptualized as consisting of changes in three broad dimensions: self, interpersonal relationships, and philosophy of life. Authors studied 143 parents who completed the PTGI six months after their child’s discharge from pediatric intensive care. The PTGI scores’ factor structure was studied through confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of different models supported in prior research, followed by an exploratory principal component analysis (PCA). While prior models tested through CFA did not provide an acceptable fit for the data, through exploratory PCA, three components emerged that explained 73.41% of the variance: personal growth, interpersonal growth, and transpersonal growth. Subsequent CFAs on this three-factor model showed that a bifactor model had the best fit. Authors concluded that the three dimensions initially theorized appear to be robust, which supports the structural validity of its scores.
New Article:
C. D. Santiago, A. K. Fuller, J. M. Lennon, and S. H. Kataoka had their article Parent Perspectives from Participating in A Family Component For CBITS: Acceptability of A Culturally Informed School-Based Program published in 2016 inPsychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy (Volume 8, Issue 3). They explored parents’ responses to a family component developed as an addition to the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS). The family component was developed to improve engagement and participation in CBITS and to support parents’ skill-building. To evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of the family component from the perspective of parents who participated, qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 low-income, Latino parents (80% female; 80% immigrants; average age = 38.07). Researchers found that parents (1) agreed that there was a need for programs like CBITS; (2) expressed a firm belief in the importance of parental involvement with their children and schools; and (3) reported a high level of satisfaction with the family component, indicating that it was beneficial to them, culturally relevant, and that they would recommend it to others. Parents noted some logistical barriers to participation and areas for improvement. Overall, the results of the study indicate that CBITS + Family is an appropriate, acceptable, and feasible intervention for Latino families. Supplemental data from children whose parents participated in the program provided further support for the value of the family component. Authors also discussed clinical implications for implementing culturally sensitive, school-based interventions.
New Article:
Michelle Sherman, Jenna Gress Smith, Kristy Straits-Troster, Jessica Larsen, and Abigail Gewirtz are the authors of Veterans’ Perceptions of the Impact of PTSD on Their Parenting and Children published in Psychological Services (Volume 13, Issue 4) in 2016. Although considerable research has examined the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on couples and partners, relatively little is known about how it can affect parenting, children, and the parent-child relationship. While adverse effects of parental PTSD on child functioning have been documented, the processes by which these outcomes occur are unknown. Additionally, parents’ perspectives on how their PTSD affects parenting and children have yet to be studied. This 3-site, mixed methods exploratory study included 19 veteran parents who had a diagnosis of PTSD. Participants were recruited from Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. Veterans participated in focus groups or individual interviews and completed questionnaires, responding to questions about the effects of PTSD on their functioning as parents. Two sets of themes emerged from the qualitative inquiry: (1) Veterans reported parenting difficulties that were associated with three PTSD symptom clusters, including avoidance, alterations in arousal and reactivity, and negative alterations of cognitions and mood; and (2) Veterans described both emotional (e.g., hurt, confusion, frustration, fear) and behavioral (e.g., withdrawal, mimicking parents’ behavior) reactions in their children. Veterans also shared numerous ways in which their children provided practical and emotional support. Authors offer implications of these findings for future research, program development, and clinical care, including a free online parenting resource for veterans with PTSD based on this research.
Plymouth Beyond the Yellow Ribbon 