Trauma Informed Practices for Guiding Youth – Interview
Kids today are living in trauma and adversity. We need to provide guidance, tools and support for our youth to help them feel good about themselves. If we don’t, “the village it takes to raise a child” is broke!
All too often parents, teachers, or leader sof youth, don’t want to get involved in the trauma drama and do nothing. This is a sign of the lack of trauma informed training.
Here’s what the adults in the room need to know…
When we can interact with young people and give them positive experiences, protective factors, and learning opportunities to build resiliency skills, we can turn these kids lives around. Help them feel important and that they matter.
Why Supporting Youth is Important
Adults need to support youth today more than ever because of the numbers. These are shocking, unacceptable and there are things we can do about it.
One in every five kids have major episode of depression before they leave high school.
One in ever six kids attempt suicide.
Advice for Parents, Teachers and Leaders of Youth
You now know why your role with youth is so important in guiding youth. You cannot not get involved.
There are specific things you can do:
Learn the trauma informed practices that address building their self-esteem. Help them build resilience. In my book, I offer positive guidance and 14 strategies to helping youth. The inital goal of these strategies are to send the message that you trust them and that they matter.
The approaches include:
- Ask youth for their take or approach instead of telling youth what to do or not to do.
- Teach kids how to be mindful.
- Work through their feelings – Help them to identify the feeling with a word. Have them ask themselves: “Where do you feel it? Does it live in your body?” Then they can be guided to ask themselves, “What is it that you need? What is an appropriate way to get your need met?”
Bottom line, youth need the guidance that takes them through a process that helps them think and build their emotional intelligence.
Parents, teachers, and leaders of youth need to always be asking themselves: Am I filling their bucket with protective factors and resiliency skills or with adversity?
Watch Dr. Kim’s interview on Diane Halfman‘s “Live Your Spa Life!” show where she gives an overview of the importance of guiding youth to find their purpose and develop meaningful lives to get through their most challenging early years so they can thrive through their teens and beyond.
