Children and Adolescents in Trauma

Chris Nicholson PhD, is a Lecturer in The Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex. Formerly Therapeutic Services Manager at Donyland Lodge, a therapeutic community in Colchester, he has worked in a range of children's services for over 10 years. Chris is a Trustee of the Charterhouse Group of Therapeutic Communities and a Fellow of the International Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. He is a regular speaker at bi-annual conferences on the poet and author Robert Graves. Michael Irwin MA, BLit, is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Kent. Apart from his academic work, which has a particular emphasis on 18th and 19th century fiction, including books on Henry Fielding and Thomas Hardy, he has also published two novels and written, or translated, several opera libretti. Dr Kedar Nath Dwivedi MBBS, MD, DPM, FRCPsych, is a Visiting Professor at the London Metropolitan University and Director of the International Institute of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Formerly, he served as a Consultant Child Psychiatrist at Northampton General Hospital and has edited or co-edited several books including Meeting the Needs of Ethnic Minority Children – Including Refugee, Black and Mixed Parentage Children; Promoting the Emotional Well Being of Children and Adolescents and Preventing Their Mental Ill Health; and Group Work with Children and Adolescents, all published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers .

This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of children who are looked after and accommodated and who, because of traumatic childhood experiences, can present with difficult and often damaging behaviours... In a world which sometimes seems dominated by manuals and medication, it is encouraging to see discussion which embraces the uncertainty of working with young people and a willingness to question the practitioner’s own motivation and the impact of their own past experiences... The book should be read by those working with young people in any residential setting, and would be of value to any professionals who are working with children affected by trauma.

• Foreword, Peter Wilson, former Director of Young Minds. Preface, Chris Nicholson. Introduction, Kedar Nath Dwivedi, Michael Irwin and Chris Nicholson. Part 1: Trauma. 1. Approaching Trauma, Chris Nicholson 2. No More Ghosts: The Exorcism of Traumatic Memory in Children and Adolescents, Chris Nicholson 3. Making Sense of Marnie: Neurology, Film and Trauma, Diane Cook 4. Art Science and Innvoation in the Treatment of Early Trauma, Diane Cook. Part 2: Story. 5. Early Trauma and The Velveteen Rabbit: How Children Become Real: Long-Term Prognosis and Therapeutic Intervention, Christine Bradley 6. The Therapeutic Use of Stories, Kedar Nath Dwivedi, Part 3: Self-Harm. 7. The Rights of Passage: Initiation Rites and Self-Harm in Adolescents, Chris Nicholson, 8. Creating the Self through Self-Harm, Chris Nicholson Part 4: Art Therapy. 9. Melting Muddy Mixtures: An Exploration of the Art Psychotherapy Process with an Adolescent Boy in a Therapeutic Community Jacqueline Marshall-Tierney 10. Being Speechless: Art Therapy with Self-Harming Adolescents, Jane Saotome. Part 5: Violence. 11. From Reaction to Reflection: Childhood Violence, Roots and Resolution, Terry Bruce, 12. Dear Little Monsters: Attachment, Adolescence and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Chris Nicholson, Conclusion. 13. When the Crying Stops, Chris Nicholson, Michael Irwin, Kedar Nath Dwivedi. The Contributors. Subject Index, Author Index.