Childhood Trauma and Recovery: A Child-Centred Approach to Healing Early Years Abuse

'Childhood Trauma and Recovery' presents best practice in helping children affected by early life sexual abuse to recover and lead healthy lives. At its heart is the SACCS approach, pioneered by Mary Walsh, which was developed to provide such children with specialist care and treatment. By creating recovery teams that cross over traditional boundaries to put the child at the centre of all activity, the approach enables young people to replace unhealthy ways of thinking with stronger, more appropriate cause-effect mechanisms. Drawing on decades of experience with thousands of young people, the authors challenge the view that simply placing traumatised young people in safe, loving environments will be sufficient for them to recover. They expose the challenges of caring for children who may be highly sexualised by abuse then show how, by ensuring that these children feel safe and trusted and learning to communicate with them effectively, practitioners can begin a process of actively helping them to heal. - Describes the evolution of the SACCS model of excellent practice for those charged with caring for, deciding for, and promoting best outcomes for children. - References current theory and practice, enabling readers to develop a critical understanding of therapeutic trauma work with vulnerable young people - Based on decades of experience and the work of a noted pioneer in the field, dedicated to creating real recovery for the most hurt children in society - More than 64,000 children are currently in care in the UK alone, according to NSPCC figures, and more than 60% are looked after due to abuse and neglect