I am hugely excited about writing my first blog for T+AFA – I was invited to join the board for this Social Enterprise in the summer and it didn’t take me long to accept. I have worked in mental health nursing, therapy and education for over ten years when I took a long break and did something completely different. I thought it would have taken quite a lot for someone to persuade me to return to the field  – but child and adolescent trauma is an area I feel incredibly passionate about and it is this reason that I find it an easy ‘YES’ to return.

So why am I passionate about this?

For years I worked with various professionals who dealt with children and young people, as well as the children themselves. I found that over and over again the lack of understanding and recognition of trauma and personality caused a much bigger issue longer term than if the professional or child had the right understanding and awareness in the first place.

I then experienced child trauma personally through my eldest daughter Martha, as she experienced the death of her baby sister and went into deep shock for several months. Her journey back to life – full life – took three years and only thanks to the input, advice and support of those who knew about child trauma and how to deal with it. If I had this deeper knowledge and support at the time of our loss, we, as a community around Martha, might have been more able to save her from the deeper and longer term effects. Theraplay is a resource I want to see accessed far and wide – alongside the training and courses we offer. I strongly believe almost any profession dealing with people, should be accessing this and able to shape their understanding. We only need to switch on the evening news to see that we are surrounded by trauma and how we encourage the younger generations to live free, full and fulfilling lives is down to us as an adult community around them, to respond wisely, quickly and effectively in the initial stages of traumatic life events.

So yes, I take on this role and I am excited to get going – thank you for inviting me!