Women Making an Impact on CEV: Abigail Gewirtz

This month the Safe Start Center is honoring National Women’s History Month by profiling women who have made an impact on the issue of children’s exposure to violence.

Abigail Gewirtz, Ph.D., L.P. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Social Science at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota.  Her primary interests are in trauma, resilience, and promoting children’s healthy development with two distinct but interrelated research foci: the impact of exposure to traumatic stressors on parenting and child functioning, and the development, testing, and widespread implementation of family-based interventions.

She is Principal Investigator on a National Institute of Drug Abuse-funded randomized controlled trial to develop and test a web-enhanced parenting program for National Guard families with parents returning from deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Dr. Gewirtz also directs Ambit Network, a SAMHSA/National Child Traumatic Stress Network Community Services and Treatment center focusing on the implementation of evidence-based interventions for traumatized school-aged children and their parents.

Why do you feel children’s exposure to violence and traumatic stress is an important issue and how did you get involved?

We now have a really good body of knowledge to show how damaging exposure to violence can be – to all aspects of children’s development, including emotional and behavioral adjustment, and relationships with others. But much less was known 20 years ago, when I was in graduate school. It’s thanks to not just burgeoning research, but also a spike in public awareness about children’s exposure to violence that we know and can do far more to prevent and ameliorate the impact of violence on kids, and their families.

What would you say are a few of the most valuable things you have learned through your work with ADAPT and the Ambit Network?

I keep being reminded how resilient kids are, and how much parents want to help their children through difficult transitions like the military deployment of a parent. I have learned how remarkably committed and hard-working military parents are, and how parents are so motivated to get parenting tools that can be used effectively to help promote kids’ healthy adjustment. Our early findings from our ADAPT military families study indicate that families benefit from simple parenting tools, and that these tools not only help parenting, but also improve parents’ own capacities to regulate emotions.

I also have learned that practitioners are thirsty to learn and implement empirically-supported therapy practices and tools for kids exposed to violence. It is amazing to hear testimonials from therapists, and from families, about how evidence-based trauma therapies have helped them – sometimes after several wrong turns in therapy. The work is pretty humbling, too. It takes a lot of time and resources to train people to deliver research-based practices with fidelity (i.e. to a quality standard). We were proud of our accomplishments in training over 200 Minnesota therapists to deliver evidence-based trauma treatment over the past few years. But, we realized that this number represents not even 2% of licensed mental health professionals in the state! We won’t be out of work any time soon!

Mental Health in Young Children: Why Early Experiences Matter

We’re kicking off Mental Health Month with a discussion about how difficult situations experienced as a child can set people off on a negative path in life. Charles Zeanah, M.D. , Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Tulane University School of Medicine, and other researchers, argue that negative experiences in childhood can change the architecture of a person’s brain, setting them up for mental health problems or other issues in the future.

Below are clips of his talk for the Academic Distinction Fund’s Distinguished Speakers Series last month.

While Dr. Zeanah doesn’t specifically discuss exposure to violence, he does explain that “Adverse early experiences may have long term consequences, affecting not only mental health, but physical health… Genetics supplies the basic blue print for brain development. But experiences that the individual child has adjusts the genetic brain plan of the brain and shapes the architecture of its neuro-circuits.”

Exposure to Violence and the Developing Brain

We grow up not really knowing the specifics of how our brain works. We try to do the simple things to protect it, like eat correctly, drink enough water to keep it and our body hydrated and wear a helmet when on a bicycle.

But there are other influences we have to protect our brain from too. Influences we may not believe can impact the physical makeup of our brains…like exposure to violence.

With physical violence, the first concern to arise with any parent or caregiver may be the physical wounds of a child, not that the violence – or prolonged exposure to any type of violence – might alter their brain, hindering development.

So this week academics and researchers try to spread the word about what our brains need, what harms them, etc. during Brain Awareness Week. In 1996, Brain Awareness Week was founded by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and European Dana Alliance for the Brain to promote the importance, progress and benefits of brain research.

The Ohio School shooting, how we can help

The Chardon High School shooting has rocked the school, families, and the community. The Safe Start Center has a variety of resources that can help parents, teachers, teens, children, and communities cope and find a way to handle this kind of exposure to violence and trauma.

Trauma Informed Care Tip Sheets

http://www.safestartcenter.org/resources/tip-sheets.php

These are resources for anyone working with children, including parents and teachers, on different ways to recognize trauma and the ways you can help.

Safe Start Center free publications for practitioners working with children and families

http://www.safestartcenter.org/about/publications_issue-briefs.php

Please see our issue briefs 1 and 4 that can help you understand children’s exposure to violence and how school officials can identify and talk to students and parents who have been exposed to violence including school shootings.

Tools and Resources

http://www.safestartcenter.org/resources/index.php

This is an overall list of tools and resources that you can explore for further information about violence exposure and prevention.

For further information please visit our main website http://www.safestartcenter.org, or email us at info@safestartcenter.org.

 

Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Affects Development in Young Children

Traumatic Brain Injury and Juvenile Justice

We just wanted to share some information about a recent webinar conducted by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Federal Traumatic Brain Injury program on Dec. 13, 2011. The webinar focused on the growing problems associated with Children and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in the Juvenile Justice System.

The overall goals of the webinar were to

• Develop an understanding of the issues experienced by juveniles with TBI, including under-identification, symptoms, limited access to treatment, and recidivism;
• Become acquainted with approaches to identification and treatment, including the critical role of partnerships; and
• Review preliminary data showing impact of interventions and consider next steps.

Human Trafficking: Global Phenomena. Domestic Concern.

Human Trafficking: Global Phenomena. Domestic Concern.

Over the last several years, the topic of human trafficking – or modern day slavery as many advocates call it – has captured the attention and pulled on the heart strings of the American public. U.S. citizens became indignant as they realized that slavery, something they thought fixed a century ago, was still growing in the world. Since then, countless organizations, advocacy campaigns, and fundraisers have been created to help the victims of global trafficking, especially the women and girls trafficked in our country.

Unfortunately, many people still don’t know that these same horror stories happen in their state, their county, their city. Recent reports cite that American born girls and boys are just as likely to be trafficked domestically as immigrant children. Amy Fine Collin recently wrote a story for Vanity Fair on domestic sex trafficking about two trafficked American girls, Gwen and Alicia, and the police officers, lawyers, social workers, and doctors who helped free them. “A pound of heroin or an AK-47 can be retailed once, but a young girl can be sold 10 to 15 times a day—and a “righteous” pimp confiscates 100 percent of her earnings,” Collin writes. This is an American reality, one that unfortunately is targeting younger and younger children.

New Article: Breaking the Silence Trauma-informed Behavioral Healthcare

A great new article by, authors Susan Ko and Kelly Decker, “Helping Children Cast Off the Shackles of Trauma in the National Council Magazine (2011, Issue 2),” discusses how important it is for systems serving children to be trauma-informed.

It focuses on several topics:

1. Discussing trauma-focused, child serving systems
2. Developing skills for identifying and triaging traumatized children
3. Providing resources and training of staff and administrators
4. Creating a focus on Cross-System collaboration

They conclude that a trauma-informed system is a powerful way to raise the standard of care and increase access to services for traumatized children and youth.

Access it here:

http://www.gmhcn.org/files/NC_Mag_Trauma_Web-Email.pdf

Quick note! Check out the Child Trauma Webinar Series!

 

Child Trauma Webinar Series

The Zero to Six Child Welfare Series is currently underway on the Learning Center for Child and Adolescent Trauma website.

See all of the available presentations here: http://learn.nctsn.org/file.php/1/pdf/NCTSN_Zero_to_Six_Child_Welfare_Speaker_Series.pdf

This is a great opportunity for clinicians and anyone else in the field of traumatic stress to learn more!

Children exposed to violence is a global epidemic

Tanzania report reveals extent of violence against children

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/aug/09/tanzania-violence-against-children

This post from the UK Guardian Poverty Matters Blog, discusses a new breakthrough study conducted in Tanzania and put out by the Muhimbili University in Dar es Salaam and the CDC. Study findings note that close to 75% of all children had been exposed to some type of violence before reaching adulthood. In addition, the researchers note that reports show that violence exposure in childhood can cause numerous social and emotional problems for the rest of the child’s development.

The outcomes of the Tanzanian study also parallel the findings of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NATSCEV) and The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study which also reiterate that children coming into contact with violence and trauma may experience long-term detrimental  effects, sometimes in spite of their natural resilience. The NATSCEV in particular notes that, “All too often, however, children who are exposed to violence undergo lasting physical, mental, and emotional harm. They suffer from difficulties with attachment, regressive behavior, anxiety and depression, and aggression and conduct problems. They may be more prone to dating violence, delinquency, further victimization, and involvement with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems” (NATSCEV 2).

Finally, several nations are working to address children’s exposure to violence through studies and legislation. In early 2008, Swaziland was the first African country to conduct a survey of the level of violence exposure of women and children. More recently, in June 2011, in Australia a study was released reiterating that the idea, that children exposed to domestic violence are experiencing a form of child abuse, is becoming a more widely accepted thought. Also, early this month Tanzania committed itself to strengthening laws against violence exposure.

Witnessing or directly experiencing violence, especially children, is becoming a widely recognized problem on the international level. Cultural and emotional barriers exist all over the world which inhibit the recognition and treatment of the effects of this exposure, particularly the mental and emotional health of the survivor. This new study demonstrates the ongoing breakdown of the taboos that surround discussion and treatment of this issue. Such progress is the first step in increasing awareness and supporting prevention, and creating a more trauma-informed global society.

Other Related Studies and Links:

Safe Start Center

Research Studies and Reports

http://www.safestartcenter.org/research/research-studies-reports.php

UNICEF United Republic of Tanzania

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/tanzania.html

 Violence Against Children: United Nations Secretary-General’s Study

http://www.unviolencestudy.org/

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Violence Against Children and Young Women in Swaziland

A Brief from UNICEF Swaziland

http://www.unicef.org/swaziland/sz_media_Ten_Things_2.pdf

 

 

Update!

Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Violence Against Children Praises Tanzania’s work pioneering work in data and research on violence against children!

http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/story/2011-09-20_384