Assessment and Intervention with Parents to Stabilize Children Who Have Witnessed Violence

• NCJ Number: 216167
• Journal: Journal of Family Violence Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 209-219
• Author(s): Robert G. Ziegler; Deborah A. Weidner
• Date Published: April 2006
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines the inclusion of parents and family in interventions with children who have been exposed to violence with the need to assess and evaluate the parents’ ability to support and hear the child, thereby assisting and aiding in the child’s recovery.

Abstract

The development of trauma debriefing for children that utilizes the strengths of family relationships needs to be considered in the presentation of children and adolescents referred for trauma debriefing. However, the success of the intervention requires the careful assessment of the parent and the home or holding environment that the parent offers the symptomatic child. The clinical interventions suggest that the review of the parental capacities, using an expanded and revised model drawn from Winnicott’s early work (which describes the early parent-infant relationship when the holding environment is formed), offers clinicians a useful set of tools. These tools help define appropriate therapeutic care for the parent when using a family-based trauma debriefing. Throughout the intervention, the therapist must monitor the level of empathy for the child that the parent maintains, as well as monitoring when it appears that the parent is unable to accept the child’s emotions. Violence within inner-city communities is witnessed by nearly 40 percent of children in the course of their daily lives. The repercussions may include higher rates of learned aggression. As a result, techniques that strengthen families and support children’s recovery need to be considered. In work with parents, Winnicott (1965) found the need for a specific focus on the parental holding environment was necessary. Treatment can then address how to help the parent establish safety, offer an empathic ear to the child, and facilitate the recovery of the child. Case reports are presented describing the child’s individual trauma debriefing and an assessment of the parental environment. Table, figure, and references