Children's Mental Health

Why is trauma-informed care important to you? Trauma has been shown to impact an individual’s brain development, subsequently altering emotional and cognitive development. In order to effectively engage with and treat clients who have experienced trauma of some kind, it’s important for us as providers to understand how trauma can change the way a person thinks, reacts, and operates.

Trauma-informed care is a growingly common buzzword in the health, education, and social services industries as we learn more about how past experiences can impact a person’s brain development and life functioning throughout their lives. The goal of trauma-informed care is to help an individual move past their trauma with interventions that work for their brain, allowing for lifelong success managing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

I am 14 years old and my close group of friends includes both boys and girls. It seems like the girls in our group are sad and down a lot while us boys don’t seem to worry about stuff too much. I am just wondering if there is a reason for this and what I can do to support the girls?

Our 12-year-old son has a hard time admitting his mistakes and if we try to point things out to him, it can sometimes lead to a meltdown. He has been like this since he was very young. He also struggles with not apologizing when he does do something wrong. Should we be worried about this or is there something we should do?

My son is in the 5th grade and I am really starting to worry about his school performance. Since online learning started, I’ve noticed he repeatedly misinterprets directions and isn’t passing his tests or completing assignments correctly.

We are quick to judge parents, even when we don’t know the backstory. In residential treatment, we work hard to recognize the parent’s effort in trying to find help for their child, no matter how they show up throughout the treatment process.

It is very important for the caregiver to be involved in their child's therapy. As the caregiver you provide the most treatment, your therapist needs your input, and the therapists are here to support you.

The Cornerstone Café serves as a vocational program of Nexus-Onarga Family Healing where youth in residence build real-world skills by applying, interviewing, training and working at the café.

Our 14-year-old son is out of control. He is very aggressive toward family members and we fear for our safety. We have tried family therapy and we have had counselors come to our home and work with him. It helps for a little while and then his aggression returns. We are thinking about having him placed in a residential treatment program. Is this the right decision and how do we go about getting him admitted?

We know more about childhood trauma and its effect on the developing child than we ever have before. The resiliency of the developing brain provides an opportunity for us to intervene and provide healthy, safe, and nurturing experiences that grow the brain and help heal.