Childhood Trauma and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Part One
This blog explores what is trauma and what are children experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
In light of the current pandemic and uncertainty around COVID-19, social isolation as a result of lock down; we want to discuss recent research by the Childhood Trust (June 2020). Understandably, it has shown that the COVID-19 Pandemic is having adverse effects on children and young people’s mental health. It has stated the following alarming points in regards to children’s health and well-being:
· Children who have an abuser within their household are now in lock down with them, they have no refuge of school and there is an increasing worry of the long-term effect of this as number of referrals drop and early intervention. Simply we have left our vulnerable children more vulnerable and isolated from support networks.
· Alcohol sales in the pandemic have increased by 21% since March and the beginning of lock down. 2.6 million children are living with a hazardous drinker and 705,000 are living with a dependent drinker. This raises alarming concerns around the adverse effects of this increase to our children, the impact of the increased exposure to witnessing drinking patterns and the increase of experience domestic abuse (25-50% of cases involve an abuser drinking).
· There are staggering concerns about those from more disadvantaged backgrounds who may not have access to resources that are needed for remote learning. Therefore, there is an increasing gap, which is called education loss. This could create many problems for children to overcome in order to keep up or close the gap.
· Disclosure of abuse numbers have decreased meaning that many children are dealing with this alone!
· A study of 2000 young people with a history of mental health problems showed 32% agreed that the pandemic had made their mental health a lot worse, while a staggering 51% said as a result their mental health a little worse. This means that 83% of participants have had their mental health affected in a negative way due to the Coronavirus.
· Due to a reduction in services during lock down to support care in the community and health needs, young carers have seen their role in caring increase, this along with it has increased anxiety in this group of children and being a young carer exposes them as more likely to have mental health problems due to the burden of responsibilities they have.
· Mental health support for children being digital and virtual has created many barriers for children such as privacy, increased demand, or ability to participate due to lack of technology. Thus, some children’s care has not continued.
· 2 million children are believed to have experienced hunger since March 23rd 2020!
· Many children live in flats or houses with no access to an outdoor garden, this has had a direct effect on their physical, emotional and social well-being.
(Above information taking from the Childhood Trust, June 2020).
So, with the likelihood that some children their will be trauma and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with lasting effects up to 9 years after the end of the pandemic (Childhood Trust, June 2020). To put it quite bluntly some of our children are having a horrific time! Additionally, some children not attending school to them the experience will be almost like a bereavement over the past few months. I know personally after speaking to several parents/carers the impact that the pandemic and lock down has had on their children’s behaviour, mental health, well-being, routines, sense of purpose and has altered the understanding of the world around them.
We feel it is important to consider what the terms trauma and PTSD mean. Goldsmith and Turow (2017, p.37) states that, “A common definition of trauma is an overwhelming event or situation that we experience as potentially harmful, that exceeds our coping capacities at the time, and has lasting negative effects.” When we think of trauma we instantly think of the most horrific events such as war or extreme physical violence; but traumatic events are also things such as bullying or losing a job; and scientific evidence shows that traumatic relations are just as strong for these events as the big stuff we think of (Goldsmith Turow, 2017). In fact, when you think about trauma in these terms then we realise that actually in our life time we actually experience many different traumatic events.
It is worth noting that there are a variety of factors that will influence the impact of trauma and no two people will respond the same. For example, something that may become a traumatic experience for me, someone with a different, character, personality, social background, beliefs, economic status, other life experiences and so on; may have developed more of a resilience to the situation and it might not affect them in an adverse way. For that very reason everyone’s response to trauma will be different from a subtle response to a life-changing response to a situation. (SAMSA 2014).
PTSD is slightly more complex than our responses to trauma and often has a long-lasting effect. PTSD is a mental health condition that is classed as an anxiety disorder, which develops from people’s experiences of traumatic events or situations. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people who experience trauma are likely to develop PTSD. (NHS UK, 2018).
In our next blog we will explore how trauma affects development and learning but also the lifelong impacts that trauma has on children. In our third blog we are going to support children in processing the trauma they have experienced.
References:
The Childhood Trust (2020) Children in Lockdown: The Consequences of the Coronavirus for Children Living in Poverty. [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:
Goldsmith Turow, R. (2017) mindfulness skills for trauma and ptsd: practices for recovery and resilience. London: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.
NHS UK (2018) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/
SAMSA (2014) A Treatment Improved Protocal: Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioural Health Services [accessed on 28/07/2020] Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207201/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK207201.pdf
The Nature Challenge
It all begins with an idea.
Since beginning my forest school training, I have become very interested in the role that nature has to well-being. In fact, I have probably become a bit obsessed over it, I completely utterly fascinated by all of the benefits of nature and some of the research that is being produced and discussed. I am currently reading ‘the nature fix by Florence Williams’ which I highly recommend to anyone that is interested.
Also, whilst experiencing the current pandemic of Covid-19 I am sure that we are all feeling in different ways the impact on our well-being. So now more then ever I think is the time to explore the link between nature and our well-being.
So, let’s just look at one example, in Japan people regularly participate in something that is called Shinrin-yoku (which is the Japanese way of forest bathing). Studies by Professor Yoshifumi Miyazaki have shown some interesting finds and things to consider. Such as in their laboratory studies they found that people that came into direct contact with wood, touching the tree trunk, smell and so on, meant that participants brains and bodies became more relaxed. This also includes natural untreated wooden items in our home or settings. (Yoshifumi Miyazaki 2018)
Furthermore, an experiment across 63 forests in Japan and 756 participants found the effect of forest bathing or being outside in nature was the following:
A decrease in sympathetic nerve activity (known to increase during times of stress).
A decrease in blood pressure.
A decrease in pulse rate.
A decrease in concentration of the stress hormone cortisol.
(Yoshifumi Miyazaki, 2018 page 146) If this was not enough reasons to head for outside participants also reported after joining in forest therapy a sense of difference to their well-being through feeling physiologically relaxed, as well as feeling calm, refreshed, less anxious and experiencing a better emotional state (Yoshifumi Miyazaki 2018)!
So, here is our nature challenge for a week, spending just 30 minutes outside is said to improve our well-being.
Day One: I’m going on a colour hunt…
Nature is beaming with all sorts of colours. Take a little basket or container and see how many colours you can find. Can you find all the colours of the rainbow? When you get home, make a rainbow and display it in your window for everyone to see.
Day Two: Dandelion playdough:
Go for a walk and collect a generous handful of dandelions on your way. When you get home work together to make some lovely smelling Dandelion playdough.
Ingredients:
A generous handful of dandelions
2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of boiling water
1 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of cream of tartar
Step one:
Put the dandelions in the water and blend together with a hand blender.
Step Two:
Mix the flour, salt, oil and cream of tartar in a bowl.
Step Three:
Slowly add the dandelion water mix, stirring as you go.
Step Four:
Knead it together into a dough.
Day Three: Hapa Zome (Hammer Art)
This is a great activity for not only being creative and connecting with nature, but also supporting children’s hand-eye coordination. Their ability to use tools safely and with control. To be able to look closely, develop curiosity about details such as veins and lines, too begin to notice symmetry and patterns in nature. All you need to do is find some different leaves or petals. You need a piece of white cotton or linen that you fold in half to pop your finds in. Make sure that you lay them flat and on a flat surface, use a hammer and bang the cotton. Gently pull the cotton apart and voila you have a lovely nature print.
Day Four: Colourful Crowns
Go for a walk or into the garden and see what lovely colours you can collect to make a beautiful colourful crown, fit for a prince or princess. Simply cut a strip of card that will fit around the child’s head and stick your different coloured treasures that you find onto it.
Day Five: Ice Garden
Find some petals or leaves in the garden or on a walk and collect them into a little plastic pot that can go in the freezer. Arrange the items how you would like them and place a piece of looped string in. Half fill in water and make sure that some of the loop of the string is out of the water. Pop in the freezer for a few hours. Top up with some more petals/leaves and water and put back in the freezer (again making sure that some of the string is out of the ice). When it is completely frozen hand from a branch and watch them melt.
Day Six: Forest Bathing
Go to your local woods and go for a mindfulness walk, take your time do not rush use all of your senses. What can you see, smell, taste, hear and touch? Find somewhere quiet to sit, close your eyes and feel the wind or sun on your face, what does the ground below you feel like? Or the tree trunk you lean against?
Day Seven: Nature Aliens
Collect different natural items of the floor on your walk (don’t pick) such as pine cones, petals and leaves. When you have collected lots of goodies, have a challenge to see who can make the scariest alien!