What is Trauma?

• It’s a scary dangerous or violent event that can happen to anyone.
• Not all scary or dangerous events are traumatic events.

What is a traumatic event?

• It’s a scary, dangerous, or violent event.
• When we face or witness an immediate threat to ourselves or to a loved one.
• Typically involves serious injury or harm.
• We feel terror, helplessness, or horror at what we are experiencing and our inability to stop it or protect ourselves or others from it.
• Danger can come from outside of a family(such as a natural disaster, car accident, school shooting, or community violence)
• Danger can come from within the family such as a serious injury, domestic violence, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, or the unexpected death of a loved one

• Accident Violence within family
• Injury Abuse
• Serious illness Neglect
• Fires Homelessness
• Crime School violence

• Community violence Bullying/Cyberbully
  (shootings,stabbings,robbery Life threatening illness of loved ones.
• Fighting at home,neighborhood
• Life threatening health
  school) Painful medical issues.

• Death of a loved one Act of terrorism
•  Sudden death of loved one Living or escaping from
• Combat injury of a loved one a war zone.
• Economic stress/poverty Abandonment

• FACT: Trauma can impair learning. Single exposure to traumatic events, may cause jumpiness, intrusive thoughts, interrupted sleep, nightmares, anger and moodiness and/or social withdrawal. Any of which can interfere with concentration and memory.

Chronic exposure to traumatic events,
especially during a child’s early years can:

• Adversely affect attention, memory and cognition
• Reduce a child’s ability to focus, organize, and process information.
• Interfere with effective problem solving and/planning
• Result in overwhelming feelings of frustration and anxiety.
• Traumatized children may experience physical and emotional distress
• Physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches
• Poor control of impulses
• Unpredictable and/or impulsive behavior
• Over or under-reacting to bells, physical contact, doors slamming, sirens, lighting, sudden movements.
• Intense reactions to reminders of their traumatic events