Traumakinder - Verein für frühkindlich traumatisierte Menschen e.V.
"Nobody saw the stone fall into the water. Slowly, circles spread the message.”
Early Childhood Traumas and Their Effects
Stressful experiences before birth and during the first two to three years of life can have serious consequences for the entire lifespan.
The psyche and body can become chronically unstable, which can sustainably disrupt psychosocial development.
Early childhood traumas can easily be overlooked in diagnosis. If left undetected, a cycle of retraumatization and stigmatization can begin, which is difficult to break without support from a network of helpers.
Traumakinder e.V. informs snd connects
Traumakinder e.V. contributes to a better understanding of the effects of early childhood trauma through knowledge transfer, exchange of experience, and networking. We publish expert and experiential knowledge and produce the Traumakinder podcast.
As a self-help group, we offer our members a protected space for exchange. We develop counseling and networking services and collaborate with other associations and professionals from various disciplines.
For Better Understanding and Holistic Support
Through our work, we contribute to education and destigmatization. We are guided by the biopsychosocial health model and view the individual as embedded in a complex system of social factors that can have both negative and positive influences on their development.
We discuss therapies, education, social services, as well as legal, societal, and political issues. We seek exchange with other self-help organizations and professionals from various disciplines, including across national borders.
Knowledge Transfer
Traumakinder e.V. contributes to raising awareness of early childhood trauma through the publication of expert knowledge. We publish book reviews, produce a podcast, and explain background information so that those affected and their families can recognize the signs of early childhood trauma and find the right help.
Exchange of Experience
Traumakinder e.V. offers a safe space for online exchange among those affected. Currently, there is a self-help group for adult survivors and a second group for parents or caregivers of early childhood trauma survivors. They meet every six weeks.
Additional formats for information exchange and counseling are in planning.
Networking
Traumakinder e.V. connects with other self-help groups and experts from various disciplines to promote holistic, interdisciplinary support for individuals affected by early childhood trauma.
We also focus on international developments in the research and treatment of early childhood trauma.
Risk Groups
Not everyone who experienced severe adversity in childhood suffers from its effects later in life. Fortunately, humans possess a wide range of self-healing capacities. However, there are risk groups that are more likely to suffer from trauma-related disorders. These include people who endured neglect, physical, or psychological stress during early childhood. Often, they only discover the true traces of their complicated history of suffering as adults.
Adopted and foster children also carry an increased risk, as they are frequently exposed to severe stress from close persons before birth or during the first years of life. Many had to endure separation from their mother during the sensitive developmental phase of the brain.
The wide range of symptoms and behavioral issues resulting from this can be difficult to classify. Misdiagnoses and lack of knowledge can worsen the situation. Shame and stigmatization contribute further, causing people not only to suffer health impairments but also social disadvantages.
Ways Out
Recent findings from neuroscience provide explanations for the complex changes in the brain and metabolism triggered by stressful experiences before and in the first years after birth. At the same time, new therapeutic approaches are being developed for adults as well as for children and adolescents.
However, science — as in many research fields — is significantly ahead of practical implementation. There is not only a shortage of therapy places but also a lack of holistic and interdisciplinary concepts in social and health services. Gradually, research results are finding their way into medical treatment and socio-educational concepts.
Processing early childhood trauma begins in the social environment. Families, kindergartens, schools, and social institutions must learn to recognize the signs of early childhood trauma and respond appropriately. Where traditional pedagogical methods reach their limits or can even be harmful, new systemic concepts are needed that involve many actors.
The Traumakinder e.V. advocates for:
- a sustainable improvement of medical and socio-educational care for individuals affected by early childhood trauma.
- active exchange between the medical, educational, and social sectors to provide interdisciplinary, long-term support in all areas of life.
- the promotion of understanding the social consequences of early childhood trauma and the destigmatization of mental health issues.
- the promotion of prevention and education to prevent severe health consequences and social exclusion.
- the active networking of individuals affected by early childhood trauma within a protected environment.
Childhood Trauma and the Brain
New findings in neuroscience shed new light on brain development after childhood trauma.
The film, produced by the UK Trauma Council has been translated and subtitled in German by Traumakinder e.V.
In the brain of an embryo, up to
250.000 neurons
are formed in
1 minute
Knowledge
Here you will find the latest publications in our Knowledge section.
