Trauma & Attachment Therapy
Trauma can have a long-lasting impact on how a child’s mind and body develop. If left unaddressed, trauma can lead to chronic overactivation of their survival responses (fight, flight, freeze or collapse) and can impact their development of key skills (such as problem-solving and managing impulses).
Book NowAbout this therapy
Research tells us that healthy attachment to caregivers (known as relational safety) and the brain’s ability to develop new neural pathways (plasticity) mean early adversity can be buffered with the right understanding, nurturance and guidance.
At the Kids Clinic, we support children who have experienced trauma in their life including children in out-of-home care, those who have suffered loss or family violence as well as intergenerational trauma that’s been passed down through families.
Our approach
In our experience, navigating trauma is highly complex, meaning that therapy with kids is often a longer-term strategy. While every session looks different, our approach to supporting with Trauma and Attachment involves:
- Fostering a safe space for children to connect with a trusted adult
- Exploring the child’s unique personal history
- Finding creative ways to support the child in processing complex emotions
- Collaborating with other professionals
- Leveraging EMDR and Schema Therapy to help parents and carers establish healthy attachments with their children
Integrative support
While every session looks different, our approach to supporting kids with trauma and attachment challenges leverages:
- Understanding core emotional needs
- Self-determination
- Attachment-focused family therapy
- Collaborating with schools/teachers
- Strengths-based therapies
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapies
- EMDR for kids
- Schema Therapy for Children & Adolescents
How we’ll monitor your child’s progress
It’s important to us that you feel like your child is moving forward in therapy. This is why we make sure that we have conversations about whether the therapy is working or not. This process of getting your feedback can help your therapist adjust their approach to meet your child’s needs better.
To keep your child moving forward, we’ll use a range of methods to track their progress, such as:
- We’ll regularly check-in on your child’s wellbeing using digital measures
- We’ll use verbal check-ins to reflect on progress with specific behaviours
- We’ll leverage standardised questionnaires at the beginning and end of intervention
- We’ll encourage you to sit in on some sessions to ensure you’re part of the therapy process
- For NDIS clients, we’ll use standardised reporting procedures to ensure we’re working towards your child’s NDIS goals
Book Now
Complete this brief Online Intake Questionnaire (2 mins) to speed up the process for booking your initial appointment at Marsden Health. We will contact you as soon as it’s complete.