In this blog, Dawn D’Amico speaks about her inspiration for writing Conversation-Starters for Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma and about her work helping children and adolescents heal after trauma. Dawn is the author of 101 Mindful Arts-Based Activities to Get Children and Adolescents Talking and Conversation-Starters for Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma.
Conversation-Starters for Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma is the second book which I have written to help practitioners, teachers, school psychologists, social workers and really anyone who comes into contact with children and adolescents who have been traumatized.
I was inspired to write this book after 26 years of work in trauma to recognize and support the individual children and adolescents and to support those professionals who work with them. I received wide acceptance with the first book including the book being used district wide for the Milwaukee Public Schools, the book was placed as a resource for the Missouri Department of Education as well as used internationally in the Court System in Australia and at Haydon Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania.
Working with trauma is one of the most arduous yet most fulfilling work especially when we see the children and adolescents recovering. This book will provide you with inspiring, creative and fun ways to use materials and to make the work a little lighter for everyone using it. Finally, the book is green and uses found and recycled items whenever possible.
Conversation-Starters for Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma is now available! Click here to learn more.
Helping children and adolescents who have experienced trauma to feel safe and confident enough to talk, let alone engage in therapeutic work, can be full of challenges – for children and for adults. Conversation-Starters For Working with Children and Adolescents After Trauma aims to make this process easier for practitioners, by offering gentle, playful techniques to help children who are closed or withdrawn to start to open up.
With over 80 activities tailored to different styles of communication, all requiring minimal preparation, this flexible resource provides an activity for every situation. From helping a child identify fun things around them to helping them to learn how to control unwanted thoughts, or to understand how feeling states can move from darkness to light, you will wish that you had known about these techniques sooner. Simply choose whether you would like to focus on helping a child with a coping or positive thinking activity, gather the everyday tools you need, and you are all set. Each of the activities can be used in both individual and group formats, and case studies throughout the book serve as a helpful guide on how the activities work in practice.
This book is the ultimate toolkit for use with children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17. It is ideal for practitioners working with children who have experienced trauma, physical or sexual abuse, or severe neglect. Those working with children who are experiencing acute depression, anxiety and behavioural difficulties will also find it useful.
Dawn’s first book, 101 Mindful Arts-Based Activities to Get Children and Adolescents Talking, offers a compendium of therapeutic activities that will help children who have endured painful abuse to open up, so that they can learn to express their feelings and therapy can be directed towards their individual needs. Click here to learn more.
Dawn D’Amico is a psychotherapist who has 22 years of experience working with children affected by various types of trauma in different settings including in private practice, hospitals, and children’s homes and refugee camps. She has worked internationally in Asia and Africa as well as served as a graduate faculty member at the University of WI. She lives in Wisconsin, USA.