Fosterful
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Young Adult (18-35)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
when Children are removed from their homes by Cps or law enforcement, they often leave in haste and lose everything they have ever known the time after a removal while waiting in a child welfare office can be one of the most frightening and confusing times of their lives. But that's where you come in office. Moms and Dads has found a way to minimize this re traumatization experience when entering foster care in this video will give you tools for caring for a child in their most vulnerable moment. These tools include one, a basic understanding of trauma and how it affects Children. Two games and activities. Office Moms and Dads volunteers can use to help kids begin the healing process. Three guidelines on physical interaction. Let's talk about trauma. The two main categories of trauma are referred to as Big T and Little T. Big T. Traumas are most commonly associated with post traumatic stress disorder. PTSD including serious injury, sexual violence or life threatening experiences little T traumas are highly distressing events that affect individuals on a personal level. Examples include non life threatening injuries, emotional abuse, death of a pet, bullying or harassment and loss of significant relationships. The primary response to trauma and Children is disassociation. It occurs when someone disassociates from part of themselves or from their environment. What you need to know about disassociation. One includes disconnection from one's emotions, body sensations, memories or senses to can help a traumatized individual survive three body sensations and emotions that would have been too overwhelming, become muted or distorted. When trauma is ongoing. Integration of memories becomes difficult for the brain and the brain continues to send signals of dangers, even when it's over. What else happens to the brain and trauma? Well, first, the amygdala takes over and initiates the fight flight or freeze response. The memory of the traumatic event is often fragmented and impaired due to changes in brain chemistry which affects the amygdala and hippocampus. Now that we've covered trauma, let's give some tips on how to speak with empathy to a child. And trauma mode. When you say things like, don't worry, it's not that bad or you'll be okay. What you're actually communicating is please stop, you're making me really uncomfortable. Remember to not try to minimize advise or fix a child's problem. It's best to just sit in the awkward with these Children, letting them express their feelings even though we don't know everything about their cases. It will take practice and good personal self care to create this sort of safe place. If we can show Children who have experienced trauma that their pain and grief is safe to express. We're helping shape a new framework for them to process their trauma instead of being a source of shame in their lives, it can be a catalyst for them to do great things because of their story. Now, let's get to the fun stuff our time with kids who have undergone trauma could be as little as an hour or as long as several days in a row, we cannot expect to fully heal their wounds in this amount of time, but we can model activities that can help them on their journey. Here's where you're busy bag comes in each omd program site should have one of these. If you can't find yours, ask your volunteer coordinator, let's take a look at the activities inside of it. Kinetic sand provides a range of sensory experiences for Children. Social and emotional development can be supported by engaging with the kinetic sand as Children may find it calming and relaxing coloring is a vehicle for self expression. It's also calming and therapeutic for kids, especially as an outlet for unpleasant or confusing emotions. If the child is old enough, try letting her blow the bubbles, blowing bubbles, promotes regulated breathing, increasing a sense of calm and control over one's own body or instead blow bubbles slowly alternating directions between left and right, encouraging your new friend to pop them on each side. This can help activate both sides of the brain and promote self regulation. Glitter jars are a useful mindfulness tool that kids may already be familiar with from their school. If a child has been activated in their fight flight or freeze mode, watching the glitter swirl to the bottom of the jar can give her time to calm down and regain control. The idea behind mindfulness is that we're trying to encourage kids to calm down and pay attention to what is going on in their body and environment regularly practicing mindfulness reduces stress and increases wellness and self control. It's always a good idea to have a small ball on hand when cooped up indoors. Use this ball to play a friendly game of catch or practice rolling the ball back and forth to each other. Children may seek things to touch and feel to calm their nervous system. Fidget toys are often used to provide the right amount of sensory input in a less distracting way. They can help improve concentration and attention to tasks by allowing the brain to filter out the extra sensory information found in the environment around them. By having a fidget toy, A child may be able to better filter out excess sensory information in their surroundings and their own body, which is causing distraction and encouraging the sensory information to be focused on a toy in the hands. This simple game gets everybody moving. It consists of four dice, Three with different yoga poses totaling 18 poses and one instruction dice which includes prompts like breathing, improvising, opening their hearts. Once it's rolled, you'll have to act to our older volunteers, careful to not pull a muscle in the process. Games that require kids to follow a basic set of directions, encourage the prefrontal cortex of the brain to take over this region of the brain is responsible for logical reasoning, problem solving, memory and planning for the future. If you're encountering a child who is stuck in the fight flight or freeze mode controlled by the amygdala area of the brain. Try playing the Simon game yourself and see if they'd like to join the lights and sounds, might just catch their attention, helping them escape this activated state that they've been stuck in. The thrill of watching. You fail at following simple commands will entice them to play and you will be one step closer to engaging, they're calmer, more rational prefrontal cortex. Now that we've explored the contents of your OMG busy bag, let's talk about some other tools you might have in your back pocket anytime kids are asked to follow simple directions in a fun and engaging way it works to stimulate the prefrontal cortex and put the amygdala back in its place so it can be ready for the next emergency. If your electronic Simon game has disappeared from the room, try playing the live action version. We all used to play as kids. It's important to play games that everyone can be successful in. So if one of the kids seems to be struggling with this game, suggest a new one and move on quickly, remember this one, find something in the room and start by saying, I spy with my little eyes something. The Children then take turns asking questions with yes and no answers for clues as to what the object is, Whoever guesses correctly first gets to be the next I spy. This game is extremely useful in getting Children to observe and name their environment skills like naming colors and shapes and using spatial recognition helped create gray matter in their prefrontal cortex. That is vital for healing the traumatized brain. Thanks to generous support from community members like you and our partners at slumber kins, we've sent a box of the Hartley book about family change and stuffed animal to your office liaisons. We've left this calming book to the kids who need it most. So please just ask if you'd like one to stay in the room with you. Lastly, let's cover a very common question from our volunteers. What is an appropriate level of touching? This is a tricky subject. We're not dealing with kids who have necessarily experienced healthy relationships with adult caregivers. We are dealing with kids who have learned to think creatively about how to have their needs met. Here are some ways to give appropriately nurturing care while practicing smart safety protocols. One, we expect all OMG volunteers and staff to exercise appropriate physical boundaries. Understanding that our kids are coming from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and experiences to babies and toddlers require a greater degree of physical contact than older Children. Three, it's okay to ask a child if you can hug them for, you should never feel unsupported during a shift at the child welfare office. Social workers are always available to help and you're assigned social worker will be checking in on you regularly. We know we've covered a lot and our hope is you're feeling more prepared to make a meaningful impact in the life of a foster kid. Thank you for helping these kids feel safe and loved.