Trauma Therapy in St. Louis
Trauma can look like:
Divorce
Experiencing a medical illness, injury, or major surgery
Death of a family member
Witnessing or experiencing violence
Living in an area that feels unsafe
Experiencing neglect or abuse
Experiencing a natural disaster
So much more!
Helping children experience joy and healing
Often when people think about trauma they think about car accidents, or physical abuse, but trauma can include any experience that overwhelms a child’s nervous system and their ability to cope. Often parents wonder if their child’s experience “counts” as trauma because it isn’t a clearly defined event.
At Bud to Bloom Play Therapy we understand that there are many life experiences that can be traumatic for a child, and use approaches that can help support healing from these experiences.
Your child might:
struggle to express their emotions in safe and healthy ways
be anxious or hypervigilant in new places, or with new people
show a regression in behavior- suddenly wetting the bed, or sucking their thumb again
feel distrustful of others, especially when close relationships are desired
fear rejection from family or friends
lie or misrepresent the truth in an attempt to maintain connections
As a parent you might find yourself:
unsure of how to talk about happened
confused about the “right” way to respond to your child’s behaviors because you have received so much conflicting information
worried about how their traumatic past will impact the rest of their life
ashamed because you feel like the child’s trauma is your fault
unsure about how to best support your child’s healing
At Bud to Bloom Play Therapy we help by:
using play to help children process their trauma
using play to help kids learn how to respond to limits and boundaries
meeting directly with you to help you understand how trauma impacts the brain and development and how you can support healthy development
coaching parents about how to understand their child’s behavior and how to respond to it
using play to foster connection and trust between parents and children
teaching and practicing coping strategies to manage big emotions