I had a particular reason for wishing to review this book. My surgeon husband was about to go to work in a refugee camp where families had fled from a violent regime. In the event that I joined him there, would this book be a useful addition to my library?
Nancy Boyd Webb, editor and author of the opening chapters, is a University Distinguished Professor of Social Work at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Science and has written on play therapy with children, attachment, trauma and loss and family therapy. The book was developed in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 as the author felt that the professional literature was sparse on topics related to helping children and families cope after terrorist attacks and mass trauma situations.
One might speculate that the writing of the book was perhaps an attempt to deal with the helplessness such a dreadful event engendered and the gathering of the chapters from the many contributors sought to create and enlighten from a foundation of horror.
Part 1 of the book gives a theoretical framework for assessment and treatment based on the literature on stress and coping, risk and resiliency as well as trauma, attachment and bereavement. Part 11 is entitled “Helping Interventions.” There are eight very varied chapters ranging from “Treatment of Childhood Traumatic Grief: application of cognitive behavioral and client centered therapies,” to chapters on creating a group mural, on music therapy, sand play, long term grief support groups, and how schools respond to traumatic events.
Part 111 is entitled “Living with Traumatic Memories and ongoing fears.” This includes a chapter on the treatment of psychological trauma in the children of military families and another on working with families in the shadow of the troubles of Northern Ireland. Contributors from Israel describe the use of a bridge drawing as an aid to diagnosis of adjustment to trauma in adolescents.
The final chapters are on avoiding vicarious traumatization, therapist self care and the ongoing challenges of trauma treatment emphasizing the need for researchers and practitioners to work closely together. There is a useful appendix listing trauma related professional journals, professional organizations with trauma related training and other trauma resources.
So, what did I learn from this book that was helpful? The chapter on outreach and education to deal with cultural resistance to mental health programs described the Bridge Program and its attempt to integrate mental health and primary care for the Chinese American Community of New York. York. After 9/11 it developed culturally sensitive screening tools and described the cultural complexities in the detection, expression and treatment of trauma. The inclusion of chapters addressing other cultural groups could be the subject for many further volumes.
In fact, whilst the book perhaps attempted an international perspective it was very much grounded in the experience of previously established US agencies and how they adapted their practice to cope with the trauma and bereavement from 9/11. As such it did not address my prime reason for wishing to review it. However the case studies did reinforce my belief that whilst we may have some framework for understanding and treating traumatized families and children, one should never underestimate both the ingenuity of therapists and families and the power of “therapeutic community” in its widest sense.