With April being Child Abuse Prevention Month and the ISSTD’s Child and Youth Month, what better time than to provide an update on the ISSTD’s Child & Adolescent Special Interest Group (SIG)! Currently 37 members strong, members of the Child & Adolescent SIG bring a wealth of knowledge and experience about working with traumatized children and adolescents, through the use of many different trauma-specific modalities and in different clinical settings.
Over the course of 2021, the C&A SIG met for quarterly meetings to network and get to know one another, building a container and community to support SIG members. During this time, the C&A SIG formed a working group to begin developing new Child and Adolescent dissociation fact sheets, which will serve as a resource for caregivers, educators, and healthcare professionals. The first fact sheet for caregivers will be available on the ISSTD website in April 2022 as an added support and resource that clinicians can print off or send as forms of education and advocacy to those in non-clinical or research roles. The C&A SIG will begin meeting every other month over the course of 2022 to continue learning and growing together!
Kid’s Korner Articles /Clinical Reflections Articles
The Child & Adolescent SIG also welcomes any ISSTD members who enjoy writing, to engage and participate through article writing for Kid’s Korner in ISSTD News. Kid’s Korner runs quarterly and focuses specifically on child and adolescent news and issues. Kid’s Korner articles may reflect on specific treatment issues in working with children and adolescents, upcoming training events, useful books and resources, new research and proposals, or reflections on practice. Though the focus is on working with children & youth, our readers may also discover how relevant these articles are in working with persons across the lifespan. There is also a new feature in ISSTD News, Clinical Reflections. This column is a space for members to reflect on clinical issues, describe a case study, or review research in an area of interest to our members. This column is aimed at the breadth of assessment and treatment work and would, of course, welcome articles on child and adolescent issues as well.
If you are a writer, we would love to hear your ideas about working with children and youth who have experienced complex trauma and dissociation. You do not need to be a SIG member to contribute to Kid’s Korner, but the SIG leadership is assisting ISSTD News by coordinating contributions for this column. Please get in touch with Jill Hosey to discuss your idea prior to submitting the article, at jillhoseymsw@gmail.com.
In closing, we want to thank you for taking the time to read this update on the ISSTD’s Child & Adolescent SIG. We would love to hear from you with any feedback or ideas, or even to join the SIG! For anyone interested in joining us, please reach out to the SIG Secretary, Billie Jo Bennett, at billie@healingwingstherapy.ca