Trauma

Your child is sad, has stomach aches or nightmares. Your child has experienced or witnessed something serious, such as an accident or violence. Your child often thinks about it, even if he or she doesn’t want to. Your child is not able to get these thoughts out of their mind. Your child finds it difficult to talk about it and the traumatic event is relived over and over again. Your child may avoid going to certain places in order not having to be at the scene where the traumatic experience happened. Your child continues to get very sad whenever they think about what happened. Your child may have trouble sleeping, can’t stay focused at school, or seems easily scared or angered. 

There are two types of trauma:

- Something bad has happened once, which your child did not see coming. An example is experiencing a car accident. 

- Something has happened more often and your child is aware that it can happen again. For example (sexual) abuse or domestic violence. 

Not everyone who experiences something bad will suffer from it. Out of all children who experience something bad, one in four will suffer from the trauma. 

The training provided within the Kinderpraktijk is intended for children who are 6 years or older. The method which will be used depends on the nature of the trauma, the degree of the impact on daily life and (the age of) the child itself. Methods which can be used are: writing therapy, EMDR, and specific treatment protocols. All methods used are based on cognitive behavioural therapy. 

The treatments take place individually. Each treatment takes 45 minutes.