Child maltreatment continues to be a devastating and pervasive problem in the United States. Most children are referred to protective services for neglect. Methods of possible intervention and treatment from a community and family systems approach to maltreatment, rather than societal castigation, is of the utmost importance.
Neglect is often an unintended consequence of poverty, limited resources and lack of family support. One could go further and find that adverse environments are inter-generational breeding grounds of trauma and fear, where neglect is cyclically mixed with love and acceptance of “this is the best we can do with what we’ve got.” What may compound the trauma is the judgement and punishment of behaviors and trauma responses and the limits to societal acceptance to aberrations of rational decision making and self-control.
So how do we go from, “What the heck is wrong with you?” to “I hear you are in pain. What, in this moment, could I do to help?” In that moment, you may be asked to go away. Your stare, even if it is compassionate, may be too exposing. Providing every resource that helped you or your friend may not have anything to do with what they want or need, and you are left feeling like they are still the problem. Yet, there is more here to learn…about connecting, hearing, and healing.
Positive and Adverse Childhood Experience training and trauma-informed approaches, not only to mental health and addiction services, but also to supportive parenting resources and basic needs, is as ground-breaking as it is intuitive. Dr. Gabor Maté provides additional insight in the documentary film surrounding origins of trauma at: https://thewisdomoftrauma.com/
We got this…together.
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