- Parenting
Aaron, age 4, was a chronic poker, hitter, and biter. His favorite targets: his mother and fellow preschoolers. “My child was beating me up,” said Laura, a domestic abuse survivor. “He saw what his father did to me, and he started to behave the same way.” Aaron’s pediatrician sent the child and his mother to JFCS’ Parents Place program. Its Child Trauma Training Institute trains professionals and also directly assists children who have been exposed to severe stress and significant violence, such as domestic abuse.
“The therapist at Parents Place helped Aaron work through his rage at his father and me,” says Laura, “and his aggressive behaviors began to lessen. The therapist was also wonderful to me. I was still very scared, coming out of a violent relationship, and she supported and empowered me to help my son deal with his anger and grief in a less hostile way.”
“It’s important that children who have experienced violence be treated early on for trauma,” says Lesley Sternin, LCSW, Child Trauma Training Institute Director. “Research is showing that brain development may be stunted by exposure to chronic severe trauma. Children never treated lag behind in fundamental ways, and the costs to society can be enormous.”
In additional to providing therapy to Aaron and Laura, JFCS also provided the mother and son refuge at Dream House, a transitional housing program that provides supportive services to women and children who have experienced domestic violence. “Without Parents Place and JFCS, I don’t know what Aaron and I would have done. We’d have been out on the street.”
Contact Parents Place today to learn more about our wide range of therapy services for newborns through adolescents including, occupational therapy, full developmental and sensory assessments, screenings, consultations, and individual and group therapy sessions to meet the needs of children who have experienced severe stress or trauma.
Read a New York Times article about protecting children from toxic stress and trauma >