Child Complex Trauma & Good Outcomes Blog Series by Dr. Jane Gilgun

The purpose of this blog series is to describe complex trauma, to show the importance of secure relationships, and to show factors associated with good social service outcomes when children have experienced complex trauma. Case materials bring the issues to life.

Key factors in good outcomes in ACE case study research are associated with four inter-related factors: parents’ willingness to do whatever it takes to promote their children’s well-being, good working relationships with case managers, availability of resources that families and children use and that benefit them, and favorable external events.

These findings are consistent with research in psychotherapy and family therapy that has identified a common factors model for good outcomes. The common factors are therapeutic relationships, client and therapist motivation and optimism, technique, and external circumstances1. The case study research that I have done at ACE shows the applicability of the common factors model to case management with children and families where the children have experienced complex trauma.

Social service professionals who with cases of complex trauma require skills in building relationships with persons who may often be in dysregulated states, in assessing the complex series of events that have led the children and families to the places they are today, in knowing what resources are available and how to maximize possibilities that service users will accept and benefit from resources, and how to manage their own responses to such work. Secondary trauma is an issue for many service providers2. To maintain effectiveness and to maximize possibilities that outcomes are favorable, service providers know how to deal with these responses and the organizations for which they work provide resources for doing so.

Overall, good outcomes in situations of complex trauma are based upon interacting factors of relationships, willingness of parents to do what it takes, case management skills of service providers, and external circumstances.

Questions To Consider

Please feel free to leave a comment below with your input on the questions posed here.

  • What stood out to you the most in this blog series? What takeaway(s) do you have?
  • How can you apply what you have learned to your own practice?
  • What questions remain for you?

Sources

  1. Drisko, J. W. (2004). Common factors in psychotherapy outcome. Families in Society, 85(1), 81-90; Lambert, M. (1992). Implications of outcome research for psychotherapy integration. In J. Norcross & J. Goldstein (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration (pp. 94-129). New York, NY: Basic; Lambert, M. J., & Ogles, B. M. (2004). The efficacy and effectiveness of psychotherapy. In S. L. Garfield & A. E. Bergen (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Wiley; Sprenkle, D. H., & Blow, A. J. (2004). Common factors and our sacred models. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 30(2), 113-129.
  2. Craig, C. D., & Sprang, G. (2010). Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout in a national sample of trauma treatment therapists. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 23(3), 319-339.

For More Information

Books & Articles

  • Gil, Eliana & Jennifer A. Shaw (2013). Working with children with sexual behavior problems. New York: Guilford.
  • Ford, Julian D., Damion Grasso, Carolyn Greene, Joan Levine, Joseph Spinazzola, & Bessel van der Kolk (2013). Clinical significance of a proposed developmental trauma disorder diagnosis: Results of an international survey of clinicians. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry , 74(8), 841-849.
  • Gilgun, Jane F. (2011) Child sexual abuse: From harsh realities to hope (2nd ed). Amazon.
  • Gilgun, Jane F. (2010). Children with serious conduct issues. Amazon.
  • Josephson, Alan & the AACAP work group (2007). Practice parameter for the assessment of the family. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 46(7), 922-937.

Websites