Healing the Wounds of Trauma

Lesson 4 HOW CAN WE HELP CHILDREN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED BAD THINGS?

1. The story of Kevin Seven-year-old Kevin had never known his real father. He had left Kevin’s mother for another woman when Kevin was a baby. Kevin was a good boy who always wanted to help. His mother struggled to support him and his younger sister with minimum-wage retail jobs. She had a series of boyfriends who would often stay overnight and who brought liquor and drugs with them. Sometimes these men would become angry and violent. One night Kevin witnessed a man starting to undress and fondle his little sister. His mom, who was in a drunken stupor, tried clumsily to interfere, but theman beat her off. Kevin rushed inwith both arms flailing to protect his sister and his mom from the large man. The last thing he remembered was a hand hitting him on the right side of his head. His head hit the wall and he fell, unconscious. He remembers coming to and seeing the police taking the man away in handcuffs and then taking his mother away. A woman told him that she would take him and his sister to a new home to live. He couldn’t understand why they couldn’t stay with their mom. The woman they went to live with had another foster child already. She was not very compassionate or understanding. Kevin started wetting the bed nearly every night, something he had not done for a long time. The woman was angry at him and shouted, “You’re too old to wet your bed!” He felt so ashamed. Kevin got into trouble at school for fighting with other boys. He would not respond to his male teacher at all. Chris, the social worker assigned to his case, tried to get Kevin to talk about his feelings, but

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How can we help children who have experienced bad things?