The Affects of Trauma on Adolescents

Monday, July 30, 2012

Interview by Lon Woodbury

Kevin Wing, Director of Counseling Services at Montcalm School in Michigan, spoke with Lon Woodbury on L.A. Talk Radio about the therapeutic treatment of trauma for at-risk youth.

Background

Kevin spent 22 years at Starr Commonwealth, where he served as an outpatient therapist, intensive in-home counselor, and Intake Director for the Starr Commonwealth residential program in Albion, Michigan, before coming to Montcalm School. In 1979, he graduated with a bachelor's degree from Central Michigan University, and in 1984 he earned his master's degree in social work from Michigan State University.

Montcalm School for Boys and Girls is an exclusive, therapeutic boarding school that is located in Albion, Michigan. It is one of the programs run by Starr Commonwealth. The school helps boys aged twelve to twenty-one and girls aged twelve to eighteen. It offers an assortment of structured transitional living programs aimed to aid students recuperate from emotional troubles and get back on an academic track.

What Is Trauma?

The discussion concentrated on mental trauma. This is defined as having notions of imminent risk as well as continuous unpleasant feelings like helplessness, sadness, and powerlessness. Besides affecting thinking and feeling, trauma can create numerous behavioral issues like extreme withdrawal, irritability, aggression, persistent anxiety and hypervigilance.

While people commonly think about trauma as a result of a direct encounter, it can be the outcome of a vicarious episode. Kevin explained that the current Aurora, Colorado, shooting in a movie house theater could have traumatized even adults and children that frequently heard about the massacre on the news.

Typically, trauma in teens can be expertly dealt with in private therapy. Nonetheless, residential treatment therapy for traumatized teenagers is essential if there are repeated incidents of dangerous behavior to self and others. This type of behavior can include incidents like self-cutting, substance abuse, or severe social withdrawal. It can also include out-of-control, edgy conduct, or belonging to a street gang.

Final Thoughts

The talk show covered many aspects of trauma, from possible cause to observable results. It also talked about how to recognize a victim of trauma as well as just how trauma impacts the amygdala in the brain. The entire conversation offered an extensive perspective of just how trauma detrimentally affects young people and how specialized trauma therapy might assist them in rebuilding their lives.

The creator of www.strugglingteens.com, Lon Woodbury has the recorded the entire interview on his weekly L.A. Talk Radio show for anyone to listen to at their convenience.