Beginning to See Trauma Analysis Everywhere
This might sound like I’m being dramatic. Still, coming from an engineering and design background, taking a course on Children and Adolescence Trauma-Recognition Training is a massive surprise for me. Why so, you might ask? I watched a movie last night and the only thing I could think about at the end of the film was, “Oh God!, the little girl went through so much trauma and had to see violence at such a young age. How will this affect her 10 years down the line?”. This was an action film in the Indian film industry and the girl only appeared a few times between fight scenes.
At first, it may seem dramatic, but as someone with an engineering and design background, taking training on Children and Adolescence Trauma Recognition was a surprising decision for me. Why, you might ask? After watching a movie last night, all I could think about was the trauma that the little girl had experienced and the violence she witnessed at such a young age. I wondered how this would affect her ten years down the line. It’s worth noting that this was an action film from the Indian film industry, and the girl appeared only briefly between fight scenes.
Having completed the “Interactive Course on Early Childhood Attachment, Stress, and Trauma” provided by the NCTSN, I found it to be incredibly eye-opening in multiple ways. Coming from a technical background, I have always wanted to understand people and their thought processes, and this course finally allowed me to begin that journey. The course covered various topics, including understanding the context and importance, types of temperament, developmental milestones and normative fears, effects of toxic stress, social and emotional development, mental health concerns in early childhood, respect for culture, and self-care for those providing guidance.
The topics covered in the course were heavy, at least from my perspective as a first-time learner. I had to delve into each section in detail and take notes. However, I found them extremely fascinating and relatable. The course provided me with a wealth of information about behaviors and their underlying reasons, child development, and the associated issues and stigmas. It helped me understand why therapists and psychologists need to have a deep understanding in their field. As someone who has undergone therapy as a consumer, this course brought a new level of knowledge and self-reflection for me.
The lessons not only provided knowledge about analyzing situations for children but also shed light on what children go through. If someone is a parent or caregiver, they may have experienced many of these situations themselves. As someone who doesn’t have much experience with children but aspires to work with them someday, I was surprised by the amount of development that takes place and the patience, support, and understanding required. Having personally experienced trauma at a young age, this course also prompted me to deeply reflect on my own situation and be more open with my therapist.
From a design perspective, this course added value by helping me understand the user’s perspective before creating something. Designing for children is a vast field waiting to be explored, and this course has already provided me with valuable insights on how to begin my research process for the project we are currently working on in this course, as well as for my thesis. As a designer, it is essential to learn about various aspects of the user, their struggles, and the solutions that can help them. Techniques such as qualitative analysis, persona creation, empathy mapping, mood boarding, storyboarding, and user journey are part of the User Experience Research process even before creating an intervention. During the design process, we iterate with end users, creating prototypes and testing at every stage to gain a better understanding and proceed accordingly, even when failures occur.
When targeting users of such a young age, it is crucial to consider their surrounding environment and the support system they are building. This course provided me with insights into all the individuals involved in this scenario. Previously, as designers, I would primarily consider parents, immediate family, and schools. But now, I realize the importance of considering every stage of the child’s surroundings, including the child, parents, extended family, neighborhood, community, and society. The quality of the parent-child relationship and the type of stress the child faces at a young age are major factors that affect the child’s resilience. These aspects need to be assessed and addressed.
Every action has a direct or indirect consequence on a child’s well-being in social, emotional, and physical aspects. The frequency and duration of these impacts also affect children. With varying levels of stress in family lives, from normative stress to emotionally costly or toxic stress, and finally traumatic stress, steps need to be taken to support the child’s development and provide them with a sense of safety and stability. If left unaddressed, these symptoms can persist and overwhelm the child’s sensory system, leading to a reduction in necessary neural connections for their growth.
The child’s ecological context is a major consideration in our NGO target, RamaKrishna Sarada Samithi (RKSS), in Mumbai. RKSS focuses on the physical and mental health of women and their children in the slums of Mumbai. They work on enhancing the mental health of children and mothers, as well as improving the child-mother relationship. Given the living conditions in the slums, which include risk factors such as generational trauma and toxic stress, addressing their situation requires sensitivity. This becomes even more important when considering that mental health is often not prioritized in their culture, as they focus on day-to-day survival.
Raising awareness little by little would be a step towards the long-term goal of helping these communities. Taking this first step and bringing our skills and strengths into this project, while collaborating with people from various backgrounds, can help us create an intervention. The information obtained in this course has provided me with a starting point for viewing their issues from a psychological perspective.
Furthermore, reflecting on the introduction, I realize that it has helped me not only in relation to this project and the community but also in understanding the situations faced by children in general. That is how valuable I find this course, and I am excited to see how it will further shape my understanding and actions.
