Living Alongside A Child's Recovery: Therapeutic Parenting With Traumatized Children

Children who have experienced trauma require a nurturing environment, and conventional parenting skills are frequently inappropriate for dealing with a child whose emotional development is frozen and who lacks any self-confidence. Therapeutic parenting is a psychology-driven model of parenting tailored for traumatized children, providing a safe, secure environment in which the traumatized child will have the best opportunity to recover. Living Alongside a Child's Recovery asserts that a good understanding of child development and attachment theory is essential to effective parenting of a traumatized child, and the book details the roots of trauma as well as the impact this has on a child's ability to maintain normal family bonds, whether with birth parents, foster parents or with carers in a residential setting. It also explains the practicalities of carrying out effective therapeutic parenting, including how to design a therapeutic physical environment, the importance of routine and structure, the need for safety and security in the home, how to approach issues of hygiene, managing play and organizing mealtimes. The authors examine individual and group work settings, and also explore transitions and how to manage a move to another placement while at the same time ensuring that the child's needs are prioritized. This book forms part of an integrated approach and is an ideal accompaniment to The Child's Own Story: Life Story Work with Traumatized Children by Richard Rose and Terry Philpot and Reaching the Vulnerable Child: Therapy With Traumatized Children by Janie Rymaszewska and Terry Philpot, both also featured in the Delivering Recovery series.