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A trauma is usually defined as: Being exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. This can be by experiencing it, witnessing it, learning about it happening to someone you are close to, or repeatedly being exposed to aversive detail of traumatic events (such as emergency services personnel) (DSM5). There may of course, be other things that are experienced as traumatic, that fall outside the diagnostic guidelines. If you have experienced sexual t

What to do if you have been sexually assaulted? If still in a dangerous place, get out if possible, and call police on 111. Tell an adult that you can trust. This can be your mum or dad, a teacher, a friend’s parent, a counsellor or social worker. If unsafe in a public place, go into a shop and ask for help, or ask an adult who looks safe. Phone one of the helplines listed below Tell a friend who seems sensible. Definitely tell somebody safe. You are not going to get in troub

Resources for post-traumatic brain injury / concussion. Where a child has sustained a blow to the head and appears concussed or groggy, it is recommended they be taken to the local Emergency Department for assessment. An assessment tool called the Glasgow Coma Scale is invaluable for clinicians who may later be asked to assess for a brain injury. Emergency Departments rarely if ever use this scale, which is a best practice assessment for use on intake, whilst admitted, and be

Most of us want our children to engage well with school, succeed in passing their exams, and go on to do well in life. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not so straightforward. All sorts of things can get in the way, such as: Anxiety, Depressed mood, Autism, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning disabilities, being deaf or in some other way finding it challenging to be in a classroom, having a physical disability, or an illness that disrupts school attendance. And o

We live in a world that can sometimes be super stressful. Sometimes it can feel like it’s really hard to manage anxieties and stresses. And sometimes all that pent up anxiety can turn into an eating disorder. Sometimes an eating disorder will just creep quietly up on you, after being unwell, or for all sorts of other reasons. But since you are on this page, let’s assume you are wondering… so here’s some info: What’s an eating disorder? Basically it’s having an unhealthy patte

There are all sorts of pressures on children, and even more for adolescents. There may be difficulties with peers at school, academic struggles, anxiety, challenges with teachers or parents, and the pressure of other people’s expectations. Not to mention a range of other possible bad experiences, worries and difficulties. When we feel that the world is getting a bit overwhelming, our mood is likely to be less cheerful than if we feel that the world is a wonderful and awesome

When children are born, they have a huge number of brain cells that initially are not massively interconnected. As children grow and learn, the cells within the brain connect to each other in ways that facilitate the recall of information, storing of knowledge, and understanding of social cues and situations. As part of this process of growth and restructure, periodically the brain undergoes a “pruning process”, whereby brain cells that do not appear to be connected in helpfu

Most people get anxious. Often that’s very useful. Back in cave-dwelling days, being anxious when you went outside could make the difference between being eaten by something with fur and teeth, or having a nice warm rug and dinner for four. The anxious ones survived and ate well, the others were in fact dinner for some wild animal. So our brains are designed to pay attention to threats, and trigger anxious feelings so we are ready to save ourselves. Trouble is, in a modern so

Firstly it is probably useful to say what we mean by the diagnostic terms: 1. Inattention (Attention Deficit). Essentially here we are looking at difficulties in paying attention to detail, making careless mistakes in school work, struggling to sustain attention, or often not able to listen even when being spoken to directly. There may be difficulty following through on instructions, completing work, or organising activity efficiently. The individual may have poor time manage