Trauma
An interview: Living in the aftermath of trauma and disconnection
I recently had an intentional discussion with a mom of two middle-school aged kids about fear, trauma, resilience and coping. Her story highlights the negative impact emotionally absent parenting brings. It highlights how important ongoing connection is with children to help them feel emotionally safe and to help them to learn how to deal with…
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The Body keeps the Score
In 2023 I would like to spend a fair amount of blog-space exploring psychological trauma and the impact it has on parenting, relationships and family life. Trauma can be an event, but also a context. A trauma can be once-off (such as a serious car accident), or it can be an ongoing situation (such as…
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Guiding your child through a natural disaster
Generosity and compassion are powerful to move us out of anxiety and into a response that can help others at times like this. Our province of KwaZulu-Natal has had it’s biggest natural disaster since the 1987 floods, which killed over 500 people. This time, its 443 and counting (but statistics vary according to different reports),…
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Trauma, resilience and healing
“I think about trauma as any pattern of activating your stress response system that leads to an alteration in how that system is functioning, and that leads to an over-activity and an over-reactivity.” Dr. Bruce Perry Today I very simply want to recommend a podcast entitled Trauma, Resilience and Healing. It’s a conversation between Brene…
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The trauma hangover
Perhaps this week you have felt “fuzzy” in your mind, quite emotional, unable to make decisions, not quite settled and very, very tired. My good friend calls this a “trauma hangover”. Following the unrest in South Africa two weeks ago, how are you really doing? Have you had a chance to process what has happened…
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