Parent–Child Trauma Therapy Essay ⋆ Criminal Justice Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Several hospitals around the country have developed specialized clinics that provide trauma therapy for parent–child dyads to work through the impact of domestic violence on the children. These programs, often called Child Witness to Violence (CWV) projects, work primarily with battered mothers and their children within an adult or child medical center. The best known are the Child Witness to Violence Project at the Boston Medical Center and the Child Trauma Research Project at San Francisco General Hospital.

CWV projects focus their intervention on parent– child pairs, usually involving a battered mother with her child but sometimes working with father–child dyads. These interventions focus on helping the parent interact with his or her child regarding the violence experienced in their lives and to work through a healing process regarding the trauma. Extensive assessments are performed with both the child and parent. The therapy usually involves parent–child meetings where violence and safety in the family’s life are openly discussed. This structure speaks to several key goals that Groves outlines in her book titled Children Who See Too Much. These goals include the following: (a) the importance of supporting a safe and caring relationship between the child and an adult in his or her life, (b) giving children permission to talk about their experiences with violence, and (c) helping families find a safe environment. The work usually begins after the child’s mother has had an opportunity to work through her own healing and to stabilize her family’s life in the aftermath of violence. In San Francisco, mothers and children meet weekly with a therapist for up to a year. Meetings take place at the clinic or in homes.

More recently, these programs have begun to experiment in working with men who batter and their children. Men are included only when it is deemed advantageous to the child’s progress and both mother and child agree. Boston’s project is particularly well coordinated with local battered women’s services.

These projects provide a much needed resource in the voluntary services sector that provides in-depth assessments and trauma therapy. Child welfare, law enforcement, and other public and private agencies often welcome this added resource when it is available.

Bibliography:

Groves, B. M. (1999). Mental health services for children who witness domestic violence. Future of Children, 9, 122–132. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10778005
Lieberman, A. F., & Van Horn, P. (2005). Don’t hit my mommy! A manual for child-parent psychotherapy with young witnesses of family violence. Washington, DC: Zero to Three Press.
Child Witness to Violence Project, Boston Medical Center: http://www.childwitnesstoviolence.org/

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