Emotional abuse includes:

2. Create a behavior-management plan that focuses on positive reinforcement.

3. Increase your self-awareness and trauma competency.

Signs of Struggle with Divorce

For young children, any regression to earlier behaviors, such as wetting the bed, throwing tantrums, or wanting a pacifier, might indicate they need extra support during this time of transition.

How Elementary School Counselors Can Help

Above all, school counselors are called to be active listeners for their students. Create a safe space for them to express their sadness and feelings of loss, anger, shame, or embarrassment. Don’t dismiss their worries about their parents, and listen to their fears, no matter how irrational they may seem. If they feel too scared to express these fears to either parent, consider having a meeting with the parents where the child can safely express these worries. Help the parents communicate to the children that the divorce wasn’t their fault, and that they will never stop loving them.  

Signs of Struggle with Divorce

How Middle School Counselors Can Help

Because older children may feel the pressure to take on more adult responsibilities in the family during a divorce, school counselors can help redirect their focus to taking care of themselves and expressing their emotions. Counselors also can help them try out activities they enjoy and encourage them to simply “be a kid.” By involving parents in the work, school counselors can also make them aware of the pressure their child feels to keep them happy during this difficult time.

Signs of Struggle with Divorce

How High School Counselors Can Help

A school counselor takes a teenager’s perspective and listens to how they make sense of what has happened in their family. An adolescent might take responsibility
External link:open_in_new for what has happened between their parents or feel that they have to care for their younger siblings. They might anticipate having to sacrifice their own plans for the future or feel guilty for wanting to leave home sooner than planned. A counselor may choose to involve the parents to assuage some of these fears. A counselor can also encourage the continued development of a strong sense of self-esteem for the teen and help them see beyond the present toward a hopeful future.

Finally, school counselors can be aware that long after a divorce is over, children may have new questions and concerns as they enter new developmental stages. By having the patience and the foresight to field these emerging issues, counselors can help foster a level of resilience that will serve a child long into their adult life.

Recognise that the child or young person will be dealing with both the impact of trauma as well as traumatic grief. Alter classroom expectations to allow a child to deal with their grief.

Grieving is an individual process and respect needs to be given to the unique experiences and the different ways a child and young person may express their grief. The school may have more than one child from each family, and so there may need consideration given to this.

Caring and connected relationships are important in supporting the child or young person to grieve. It’s critical to recognise the age and stage of the child while remembering that traumatised children/young people may be operating at a younger developmental age which may impact on their understanding of death and reactions to grief.  Ensure that relationships within the school that are safe, supportive and important to the child are maintained and prioritised… making them as available as possible…

Children and young people may have difficulty understanding and articulating their feelings and understanding the feelings of others. Hence, they attempt to understand their experience of loss from their own frame of reference. It is important to actively listen to the child, reassure them that they are loved, care for them and keep them safe. Make time in the school day to reassure, listen and care for these students.

As much as possible children and young people should be able to continue with their regular routines.   At school, focus on providing consistency, predictability and safety.

Allow the child or young person to choose special ways to remember the person who has died. Perhaps they would like to write a poem or draw a picture or make a memory box.

Seek to refer the child or young person and their family if additional support is needed. Traumatic grief treatment integrates trauma and grief-focused interventions to help manage trauma symptoms and typical grief processes.

> Children may have increased fears and worries about separation from family members. 
> Changes in behavior:

> Increased physical complaints (e.g., headaches, stomachaches, aches and pains)
> Changes in school performance.
> Lack of interest in usual activities, including interest in playing with friends
> Regressive behaviors in young children (e.g., baby talk, bedwetting, tantrums)
> Increased chance of high-risk behaviors in adolescents (e.g., drinking, substance abuse, self- injurious behaviors.

Some people experience symptoms of trauma immediately after the triggering event. Initial symptoms may include: 

And less commonly,

Delayed symptoms 

Some people may not experience noticeable symptoms right away and have a delayed response to medical trauma. Delayed symptoms often include: 

General symptoms 

You may experience other signs of medical trauma at any time after a traumatic event or experience. General symptoms of medical trauma include:

Trauma is an individual experience. The magnitude of a traumatic experience’s effect on a person’s life (or whether it has any effect at all) varies. Most people who experience medical trauma, or any other type of trauma, won’t go on to develop PTSD. Unfortunately, some do. In cases of PTSD, symptoms are prolonged and interfere with daily functioning. If you’re experiencing any signs of medical trauma, schedule an appointment to see your healthcare provider. If you’re in crisis, call 911 immediately. 

Anyone can experience medical trauma. It can develop in people of any age, gender, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, and so on. That said, some people, including children, people with lower incomes, and minority groups, may be more likely to have unfavorable medical experiences that may trigger medical trauma or PTSD.

Fortunately, many treatment options exist for people experiencing PTSD and medical trauma. Some people may need medication, but healthcare providers recommend therapy as the first line of defense.

Different therapies can help regulate emotional responses, learn coping skills, and desensitize a person to minimize their body’s response to triggers. 

One form of therapy that can help people with medical trauma is trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT). TF-CBT helps people process their traumas and triggering factors to respond more appropriately and develop better-coping skills.

source: Recognizing Signs of Child Abuse and Neglect; https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2017/04/recognizing-signs-of-child-abuse-and-neglect