2024 Summer Course: Working With Children Who Have Experienced Trauma

Understanding how trauma impacts children, how this presents and how professionals can support children who have been impacted

Course Approved By The Department Of Education And Skills

• 10 hours on-demand video material and 10 hours offline learning
• Online tutor moderation
• Downloadable articles and resources
• Access on mobile and desktop
• Department of Education and Skills-Accredited Summer Course Certificate 2023
• Full access to the course

According to Mental Health Ireland (2019), one in every ten children in Ireland suffers from mental health difficulties, particularly anxiety and depression.

Suicide and self-harm rates in Ireland are among the highest in Europe and the numbers are increasing year on year. At the same time, we have longer waiting times for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services so many children and their families have to manage their issues without appropriate intervention. This often leads to mayhem within classrooms where children act out their emotions and interfere with the learning of others, leaving teachers and support staff feeling ill-equipped to manage the situation.

Working with children from the perspective of understanding their experience, no matter what the trauma was, means that teachers can provide a quality of teaching that is unparalleled in terms of contributing to a long-lasting impact. For those in the education sector, tailoring lesson plans to be more empathetic and responsive to the needs of the child means that they will be more engaged and therefore want to learn more. This is an intrinsically valuable tool because research shows how education and knowledge can be a buffer for trauma in children and is likely to lead to better outcomes, despite their background. The leadership within education settings must incorporate a trauma-informed perspective and this has to begin somewhere.

After participants engage in this course, they will be equipped with the knowledge of how to work with and appreciate the complexities of children who have experienced trauma, and they can then share this knowledge. This means that the leadership in their workplace can implement this innovative ethos with all staff, thus improving the lives of so many more children.

This course is ten hours of audio content, visual content and assessment in total, and there are ten hours of recommended reading and resources for you to further develop your own learning.