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Reply to "How can we screen for relational trauma in health care and school settings?"

This a great question & something that I have thought about as well. I think relational trauma is challenging to quantify for a variety of reasons. The assessors personal views, societal pressures, religious & cultural differences, level of maturity of the parent, parental expectations, attachment style the parent received growing up, mental health issues, addiction problems, personality types of the child & parent clashing, & other concerns can influence how emotionally present a parent is. In addition, some children seem to respond differently to their parents not being emotionally present. I think the best indication is the child themselves. However, even this is tricky because sometimes when parents aren’t emotionally present children become parentified. These children may excel in school & other areas, so the emotional abuse concerns could be missed until they are much older. The kids who are often noticed are mainly the ones who fall below behavioral &/or educational norms. There are a couple of tools that I use to screen for relational trauma. Personal observations from meeting with the child & family, feedback from teachers & school staff, as well as school, DCS, & other records. Assessing how children get along with their siblings, peers, & adults in their lives is also important. I specialize in Play Therapy, specifically Sandtray Therapy. Having a child & parent(s) create a sandtray together provides a great opportunity to observe relational strengths & areas of concern.

 

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