A Professional's Guide to Working with Vulnerable and Traumatised Children

This book presents "The Circle of Safety and Reconnection", a compassionate reflection model on working with vulnerable and traumatised children and young people in a nurturing way, providing hope for post-traumatic healing and growth.The Circle is a holistic and comprehensive framework for professionals working to create safety for children against violence and abuse. It takes into consideration a child’s individual, intergenerational, and collective trauma by assessing their risk and protection factors, and different tools to regulate the nervous system and promote healing. A step-by-step guide, populated with practice examples and exercises to walk the reader through using and adapting the model in practice, the book discusses the nature, signs, ways, and reasons of trauma, and the different ways of healing these wounds outside the therapeutic context. Additionally, as this field is high-risk for secondary traumatisation, stress, burnout and compassion fatigue, the author has dedicated a chapter focusing solely on the building of resilience in professionals.This text is written for all professionals working in the field including therapists and psychologists, social workers, educators, foster parents, nurses, day care workers, and students.