When children experience traumatic events, their minds and bodies often respond in intricate ways, making them challenging to comprehend and manage. As parents and caregivers, equipping ourselves with the knowledge and tools to guide children through these trauma responses becomes essential.

As we are now heading in to fall, the days are slowly getting shorter with us having less day light. Have you experienced any change in mood? Perhaps not wanting to go for that morning walk, or perhaps not wanting to meet your friend at that patio to have a barbeque?

It is totally understandable to react with shock or unease to an unexpected event that you were not prepared for such as when a loved one gets seriously ill, or you are in a car accident. You may connect the word trauma to an experience like this. Other common events associated with the word trauma could be war, assault, or abuse. You would be correct in thinking that these things embody the word trauma, but it only represents a small percentage of what is actually experienced as traumatic in our lives.

The summer has flown by. You wanted all those relaxing, bucket-filling things because the Fall is hard for you. It’s strange and a bit disheartening because everyone you know loves Fall.

This can leave you wondering why you might not be looking forward to the Fall. Yet the Fall can be triggering for some people.

This is somewhat old news by now, but the majority of the COVID-19 mandates have dropped! For many this is exciting and celebratory; for others, it is stressful and confusing, especially as people are still getting sick from COVID. All of these reactions are normal…as normal as any of this can be. If you are celebrating, I am so glad you are able to do so! If you are anxious or a combination of both - here are some tips for navigating these new waters.

The word trauma often causes people to think that we only deal with the really big stuff, so you might think that what you’re dealing with isn’t really big enough to go to counselling with. And yet nothing could be further from the truth.

In counsellor-speak, we understand that there is what we call big “T” trauma and little “t” trauma, and all of it matters.

You’ve likely heard the terms trauma, trauma-informed, PTSD and trauma responses. The words fight, flight or freeze are used a lot in our culture to describe how we respond to different traumatic events. Learn how they might play out in your life or the life of a friend who has survived a traumatic event(s).