Children’s Grief and Loss

Children’s Grief and Loss

Grief and Loss Grief is the acute pain that accompanies loss. Grief reflects what we love and for this reason, it can feel overwhelming and all-encompassing. Any loss can cause grief. We often think about death when we hear the word grief. Still, losses can also include living losses like separations, absences, and departures that…

Toxic Stress

Although some stress is normal and even healthy, toxic stress is not. Children who have experienced a trauma often feel helpless and hopeless and live in a constant state of worry and fear. This toxic stress negatively influences every aspect of the child’s development. Some of the most common experiences among children living with toxic…

Calming Corner

A calming corner (also known as a calm down corner or comfort corner) is a small, designated space located within a classroom. The purpose of a calming corner is to help support self-regulation while keeping students in the classroom if they need a break from instruction time or a group activity. When students experience stress…

The Body Holds the Truth

The Body Holds the Truth

After 17 years of facilitating grief and trauma recovery, I recently experienced something that led me to a completely new understanding of the importance of the work we do at TLC and the programs we have developed and refined. As well as being a trauma counselor, I am also the author of the TLC/STARR Adults in…

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Adapting SITCAP-ART

Adapting SITCAP-ART: The Story of One Program’s Journey in Group Implementation for Transformative Results This paper explores the adaptation of SITCAP-ART to fit needs and aptitudes of at risk adjudicated youth in a particular intensive after care program.  After describing the program, population served, and problems with prior groups, it explores the process this therapist…

Structured Sensory Interventions for Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Parents: SITCAP in Action
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Structured Sensory Interventions for Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Parents: SITCAP in Action

Since 1990, the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC) has pioneered strength-based, resilience-focused interventions with young people. As a core piece of these interventions, the helping adult becomes a witness seeking to understand the deeply painful experiences of traumatized children. How traumatized youth interpret themselves, their interactions with others, and their environment…

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SITCAP-ART Research

This randomized controlled study assessed the efficacy of a structured group therapy for traumatized, adjudicated adolescents in residential treatment. Youth were randomly assigned to a trauma intervention (SITCAP-ART) or to a waitlist/comparison group. The intervention included both sensory and cognitive/behavioral components. Standardized trauma and mental health measures were used. Study participants demonstrated statistically significant reductions…

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reactions

REEXPERIENCING Intrusive thoughts, feelings Traumatic dreams Flashbacks Intense psychological distress triggered by reminders Physiological reactivity PERSISTENT AVOIDANCE Of thoughts, feelings, talking of activities, places, people associated with trauma Inability to recall Numbing, detachment, estrangement Restricted affect Foreshortened future INCREASED AROUSAL Sleep difficulty Irritability, assaultive behavior Difficulty concentrating Difficulty remembering Hypervigilance Startle response PTSD is diagnosed…