Stress and Trauma Success Stories

Story I

Jimmy was a middle school student in an Alternative Education (AE) Class.  Jimmy experienced significant trauma due to his family circumstances.  He was from a broken home.  Neither his mother nor father was anxious to care for Jimmy.  He had experienced thirty custody hearings and matters were still not settled.  Drugs were an issue in Jimmy’s family.  Jimmy had no room of his own, but slept on the living room sofa with no escaping the family confusion.

Jimmy’s AE Class was used as a pilot class to pilot some psycho-education exercises designed for middle school students.  Jimmy found the class to be extremely helpful.  He spoke of the following benefits:  

• Learned to use relaxation exercises to relax at home when the stress was high     
• Learned to express his feelings better     
• Increased his confidence     
• Increased his interpersonal skills     
• Gave him better feelings about himself

Story II

A Juvenile Judge attended a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) awareness training as a conference option.  While experiencing the training, he received insight like a bolt of lightning!  He was currently working with a girl that he felt challenged in understanding what the best next steps would be.

He recognized the symptoms being taught, and instantly realized that this girl needed help with the trauma in her life.  He commented that this understanding provided the ‘missing link’ to dealing with so many of his cases in court, and has been “shouting the news” everywhere he can.