WELLBEING

SPECIAL REPORT: Trauma Recovery

Trauma in children significantly disturbs their sense of safety and normalcy, leading to substantial emotional and behavioural changes. Such disturbances often result from exposure to traumatic events, which may be exacerbated by continuous media coverage. This exposure can trigger stress, anxiety, and trauma, with varying recovery timelines due to the unpredictable nature of trauma's impact. Observing young people grappling with these effects can be highly distressing for parents and caregivers.

It's important to establish a nurturing environment to help restore a child's sense of security to help promote resilience. Active involvement in their recovery is essential, as is recognising the unique, personalised needs of each child in responding to trauma. Depending on their age, children may present with different symptoms, such as regressive behaviours in younger ones or withdrawal and agitation in older children and teens. It is important to monitor and manage the type of information children may access to reduce their emotional distress.

The brain stores traumatic events as powerful emotional memories, influencing behaviour through mechanisms beyond a child's conscious awareness. By providing young people with support and equipping them with coping mechanisms to handle uncertainty, parents and carers can greatly enhance a child's capacity to recover and build long-term emotional resilience.

This Special Report will help you identify a child experiencing trauma and how you can support them to overcome it.

Here is the link to your Special Report https://mckinnonsc.vic.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/special-report-trauma-recovery

We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered by McKinnon Secondary College’s SchoolTV and we always welcome your feedback. 

If you have any concerns about your child, please contact

wellbeing@mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au  for further information or seek medical or professional help. 

Warm Regards,

Patty Etcell

Head of Wellbeing

McKinnon Secondary College