Supporting children who disclose trauma – part two

David Tully is the Practice Manager at Relationships Australia, South Australia. He has 25 years of experience working with children and families who’ve been impacted by sexual abuse and physical trauma.

In the second episode of this two-part series (listen to part one first), David talks about the role of therapy in helping children to develop and understand their identity in the context of trauma or abuse. He describes the importance of helping children to discover new identities, built from their stories of protest, resistance and resilience. These identities help counteract the stories of failure that so many children carry with them after experiences of trauma or abuse.

David describes some of the labels that are often given to children who have experienced trauma, and how therapy can help to dispute these labels. He discusses interventions that provide children with the context they need to challenge their negative identities and self-blame. He also shares some insights from his work with men who perpetrate violence, and his work with children who have been affected by men’s violence.

In this episode you will learn:  

• how to help children incorporate their stories into a contextual framework that acknowledges power (3:36) 
• ways to work with men who perpetrate violence that focus on what their child is seeing, hearing and experiencing (8:08) 
• the importance of understanding the relational context of trauma (12:00) 
• why it’s important to honour the significance of children’s stories of protest and resilience (14:22) 
• the important messages David provides to practitioners whom he supervises and mentors (18:00) 

Further information and resources:

Supporting children who disclose trauma – part one (podcast)

Supporting children who disclose trauma – online course