What Comes After the Trauma of Separation?

The articles and photos about families being separated at the border are everywhere. Children are crying. Parents are anguished. The situation is dire. But suppose all the children were reunited with their parents tomorrow? What would happen then?

At The Tree House, we heal children who have been through terrible trauma every day. In our work with the Transitional Trauma Therapy (T3) program, we have learned a great deal about how to care for children who have been removed from their family of origin. A safe place to live must include supportive services to ease the child’s adjustment to a new setting. We know that children do not have to be irreparably damaged by terrible adversity. Effective treatments are available for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related disorders, as long as the children are able to get the help they will need. 

Unless you are extremely well-versed in the field of psychology, you are probably not aware that:

• Younger children are more impacted from a forced separation from their caregiver.  They are also very resilient and with help can overcome such traumatic events.
• Some children suffering from trauma will look as though they have Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because when their brains should have been developing executive functioning skills, their brains were in survival mode.
• Some children will have trouble with academic learning. Imagine going through orientation for a new job the same day you witnessed a car crash with terrible injuries. You probably wouldn't retain too much. For kids experiencing ongoing trauma and/or ongoing symptoms from a previous trauma, lots of key foundational pieces will be missing.
• Some children will be thought to be on the Autism Spectrum for the same reason, but in reality they missed out on key aspects of social learning due to trauma.
• Some children will have behavior problems. Adults with emotional awareness and vocabulary can say, "I'm extremely worried about what's going to happen to me and my family." Nonverbal children, and verbal children who have not been taught how to do this, cannot. Their emotional dysregulation comes out as behavioral dysregulation. They will be given diagnoses like Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Bipolar Disorder by professionals who don't understand trauma.
• The children will have increased risk of medical conditions, and will die as many as 10 years earlier than their peers with fewer Adverse Childhood Experiences.

The list goes on. Some of these consequences are treatable with the right kind of treatment. Unfortunately, this is hard to come by. But you may be surprised to hear what the biggest protective factor against the long-term effects of trauma is in children. This is also what all effective child trauma treatments require to work best:

A SUPPORTIVE CAREGIVER.

Support your children. Support the children around you. You may be their best hope.

The 2018 Tree House Tour de Cookie:
Another Outstanding Year!

Have you heard?  

This year's Tree House Tour de Cookie was amazing! The rains held off, the participants were happy, and we all had a great day together! In addition to spreading awareness about The Tree House, because of YOU we raised over $47,000! This money will be used to provide services to the children of Montgomery County every day.

We thank all of you who participated in any way. We couldn't have done it without you!

We are so happy that you spent the day with us
and we hope to see you and your friends again next year!

Speaking of next year, mark this on your calendars:

And yes, we will be back at  Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus again!
We send a big thank you to our Johns Hopkins friends
for their support of our event year after year.

Haven't seen this year's event photos yet? Click here to see them.

Staff Spotlight: An Ongoing Series
Pamela Bravo, LGSW, Victim Advocate