Transforming Trauma in Children and Adolescents: An Embodied Approach to Somatic Regulation, Trauma Processing, and Attachment Building

An innovative somatic and attachment-based treatment for working with children and adolescents who suffer from complex trauma and neglect

＂[This] is a ground-breaking new approach to treating traumatized children, based on the combination of keen clinical observation, sensory integration, and a deep understanding of the latest advances in the neuroscience of trauma.＂--Bessel van der Kolk, MD, best-selling author of The Body Keeps the Score

The SMART (Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment) program addresses three key processes that can be derailed by developmental trauma--somatic regulation, trauma processing, and attachment-building--and uses movement and sensation to target the neurological structures that support emotional and behavioral regulation. Transforming Trauma in Children and Adolescents teaches therapists the eight key skills required for SMART mastery and provides seven regulation tools for clients, helping children and adolescents manage their feelings and attend to developmental tasks like making friends, participating at school, learning to play with others, and developing a sense of self that includes--but isn’t defined by--the trauma they’ve experienced. Enriched with case studies and recommended adaptations, the book includes resources for parents and other caregivers who want to provide ongoing supportive care outside the clinical setting.

ELIZABETH WARNER, PSYD, is the lead developer of the Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) complex trauma intervention model and Director of the SMART program, part of the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute. She has worked with children, adolescents and their families of diverse backgrounds in outpatient private practice, residential treatment, schools, and psychiatric inpatient settings, and lectures and trains therapists throughout the US as well as in Canada and Hong Kong. HEATHER FINN, LICSW, is Clinical Director and a practicing psychotherapist at the Trauma Center. She is the lead author of a case study demonstrating the utilization of the SMART model in the Journal of Child Adolescent Therapy. ANNE WESTCOTT is a senior faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute and co-developer of the Trauma Center’s SMART program. She is the coauthor of the Hidden Strengths Series, a set of children’s books inspired by Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, designed to present children’s distress in realistic yet digestible ways. ALEXANDRA COOK, PHD, is the Associate Director of the Trauma Center, where she has worked for over 20 years. She is the co-author of With the Phoenix Rising: Lessons from Ten Resilient Women who Overcame the Trauma of Childhood Sexual Abuse.