A New Mindset

I have done quite a bit of work in the area of trauma but somewhere along the way managed to completely miss the concepts and design of Trust-Based Relational Intervention. Oddly enough, the overall precepts are simple: A child who has undergone at least one traumatic event may not be capable of being taught compliance with trust the way "normal" children tend to do. This is especially true of children who have undergone multiple or chronic traumas as seen in many children in the foster and adoption lists.

The parts of the brain that need to be active for compliance and self-regulation are borderline inaccessible to these children because they have been in survival - flight, fight, or freeze - mode for years. The current model of discipline doesn't allow for children, teens, and even adults who are caught in early stages of regulation - requiring some if not all assistance in doing so from others - considering any negative behaviours to be willful disobedience instead of survival.

Think of the brain like a series of connected cities. The parts of the brain required for survival are very well connected - lots of back roads and main routes - while the parts of the brain required for executive function and decision making are not so well connected and, in fact, are practically disconnected from one another when the individual perceives danger. They have had to use one survival behaviour or another multiple times through their early development and only know how to use those behaviours when they are experiencing sensory overloads.

Learning self-regulation is difficult past infancy as it is, much less when the executive functions of the brain are inaccessible. This new methodology allows for parents and caregivers to proactively negotiate the brain's natural compliance systems while also building trust.

This new treatment methodology is comprehensive, taking much time to learn and execute, but is worth the effort. Typically this treatment is for parents involved in the foster and adoption systems but is easily integrated into most settings. I will post more information as it is summarized.