Author Patricia Wilcox has written the essential guide to trauma-informed care with at-risk youth. Wilcox provides a foundational understanding of trauma’s impact on the developing brain, then details its implications for treatment, the promotion of pro-social behaviors, and improving the culture among clients and staff. Incorporating the key concepts of compassionate understanding, validation, skill teaching, and the primacy of trustworthy relationships for healing trauma and rebuilding connections in the child’s brain, Wilcox tackles some of the most difficult challenges in treatment settings with practical approaches grounded in theory and research. This book is an invaluable resource for parents, social workers, childcare staff, therapists, agency administrators, and anyone who cares about how kids are treated when they need skillful, trauma-informed care.
Comments by Trauma Professionals
“This remarkable and inspiring book has the potential to radically change child mental health treatment (and parenting) for children with challenging behaviors and histories of trauma. Integrating current research with practicality, compassion, and ethics, Wilcox presents a compelling case for ‘Trauma-Informed Treatment: The Restorative Approach’ as a best practice in trauma-informed child treatment.”
–Karen W. Saakvitne, PhD, author, Risking Connection
“Thank you again for sharing your experience so clearly in your book! It is not often that I read a book that is both extremely informative and extremely inspiring at the same time!”
–Russ Carlton, LPC, LMFT/Clinical Administrator, Grafton Integrated Health Network
“Pat Wilcox has written a book full of compassion and common sense. She integrates the restorative approach with a trauma-informed one, enriching both in the process. Her vast experience with children, youth, and their families is fully apparent here, as is her creative way of thinking about and working with them. Pat tells important stories about young people and their traumas, about their responses to being traumatized, and about how a particular kind of setting with a particular set of staff behaviors might be most helpful. Her bulleted lists of ideas are priceless and the volume’s valuable appendices are an additional highlight. Pat’s deep caring for children and youth, their families, and the staff who serve them is evident throughout this important, new work.”
Roger D. Fallot, Ph.D. Director of Research and Evaluation; Community Connections; Washington, DC
“Trauma-Informed Care: The Restorative Approach is a solid contribution to clinical work with children and youth in congregate care and their families. Patricia Wilcox offers a smart relational approach grounded in trauma theory and brain-behavior research. She presents the theoretical basis for the restorative approach, describes the approach clearly and succinctly, and illustrates its application lavishly with clinical examples. Her style is conversational and collaborative. Wilcox’s vast experience with this population shines through in both the examples and the comfortable way she raises and addresses potential objections to using the restorative approach. It is a must-read for trainees and workers new to this field and a wonderful resource for administrators, families, policy makers, and staff at all levels of experience. . It is a must-read for trainees and workers new to this field and a wonderful resource for administrators, families, policy makers, and staff at all levels of experience. Anyone who works with this population or who is treating or raising kids can benefit from reading this fine volume.”
Laurie Anne Pearlman, Ph.D. Co-author, Risking Connection: A Training Curriculum for Working with Survivors of Childhood Abuse
Table of Contents
Chapter One: From Theory into Practice: The Importance of Trauma Informed Care
Chapter Two: The Restorative Approach: a Trauma-Informed Treatment System
Chapter Three: Stories from Everyday Life in Trauma Informed Care
Chapter Four: Changing the Definitions of Behaviors
Chapter Five: Dilemmas of Trauma Informed Care
Chapter Six: When Children Hurt Others
Chapter Seven: The Role of the Clinician in Trauma Informed Care
Chapter Eight: Trauma Informed Care for the Family
Chapter Nine: Trauma Informed Foster Care
Chapter Ten: Complimentary Therapies
Chapter Eleven: The Trauma Informed Agency
Chapter Twelve: Cultivating a Trauma Sensitive Staff
Chapter Thirteen: Transformation Process
Chapter 14 Sustainability
Chapter Fifteen: Evaluating Trauma Informed Care
Appendices
Valuable Tools Included in the Book
Exercise: Taking Responsibility
How to Assign a Restorative Task
Task Planning Worksheet
Creating Restorative Healing Tasks
Examples of Tasks for Healing
Restorative Tasks for Making Amends
Outline for Case Presentation
Complementary Therapies for Trauma-Informed Programs
Sample ICPMP
Goals for Trauma-Informed Treatment Planning
Sample Handout: The Restorative Approach for Parents and Guardians
Sample Family Crisis Prevention and Management Plan
Team Self-Evaluation: Effective Services for Survivor Parents
Assessing Trauma-Informed Foster Homes
Guidelines for Trauma-Informed Behavior Management in the Home
Scenarios and Questions for Hiring Interviews
Trauma-Informed Care in Youth-Serving Settings: Agency Self-Assessment
Theory of Change Exercise for Staff
Sample Behavior-Management Policy
Sample Satisfaction Surveys, Family and Child
Indicators of Trauma-Informed Care: Staff Behaviors in the Milieu
Trauma-Informed Care Belief Measure