This document discusses the impacts of trauma experienced by communities, with a focus on Indigenous Australians and children affected by emergencies and disasters. It notes that social isolation and exclusion can cause trauma. Indigenous communities have experienced trauma through policies of forced removal of children and loss of culture. Trauma can be passed between generations. The document provides strategies to support communities, such as creating safe spaces, and principles to promote psychosocial wellbeing for children in emergency situations.

1. HCS321
Children’s responses to
community experiences of
trauma

2. Agenda
Social Isolation
Social Exclusion
Experiences of trauma for
Indigenous Australians
Emergency and disaster situations

3. Social Isolation
‘Even in the most densely
populated cities, people living in
close proximity can suffer social
isolation due to lack of
connection to their neighbours or
with other community networks’
(Hayes, Grey & Edwards cited in Camberis & McMahon 2016 pp.150-151)

4. Contributing factors
Financial reasons
Work commitments/ unemployment
Bullying
Cultural reasons
Family mobility
Social trends?

5. Social Exclusion
‘Exclusion consists of dynamic, multi-
dimensional processes driven by
unequal power relationships
interacting across four main
dimensions - economic, political,
social and cultural - and at different
levels including individual,
household, group, community,
country and global levels’
(World Health Organisation 2017)

8. ‘Discriminatory intervention policy in
Australia is not a thing of the distant past; it
forms part of the life experience of the
parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
today, often in deeply traumatic ways’
(Menzies & Gilbert 2013 cited in Grace, Burns and Menzies 2016 p.292)

9. “Current statistics on every
indicator- health, child
protection, prisons- highlight
that there is something
desperately wrong in the way
that Aboriginal people are
treated in this country and
presents us with some serious
challenges that, as social work
practitioners, we need to be
addressing”
(Bassarab 2015)

10. Trauma within Indigenous communities
As a result of historical and ongoing loss
Some ongoing losses include- Forced removal of Indigenous
children from their families, assimilation policy, youth suicides
in our communities, incarceration, death, culture/ language
Trauma- Loss of one’s sense of identity, separation, loss of a
sense of power, loss of trust, loss of confidence, loss of self-
esteem..Sadly, this is not a definitive list

11. Intergenerational trauma
‘Trauma is generally understood as a person’s
response to a major catastrophic event that's so
overwhelming it leaves that person unable to come
to terms with it. In some cases, trauma is passed
down from the first generation of survivors who
directly experienced or witnessed traumatic events
to future generations. This is referred to as
intergenerational trauma, and can be passed on
through parenting practices, behavioural problems,
violence, harmful substance use and mental health
issues’
Retrieved from http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/intergenerational-trauma

12. Supporting change
Concept of safe people, places and
programs - Bowes and Grace 2013
Case example- Yalmambirra Learning
Centre for Indigenous Young People

13. Emergency and disaster situations
Children from birth to eight represent the
highest percentage of affected populations in
emergencies worldwide
Such experiences pose risks not only to
immediate safety but to long term
development and well-being
Consideration of refugee and asylum seeking
children
(Cologon & Hayden 2017)

14. ‘The early childhood years represent
a critical phase of development.
Stress, distress, separations,
exposure to scenes of violence and
destruction, and loss of significant
others during this time of life can
disrupt the building blocks for overall
development and have life long
effects on health, neurological, social
and cognitive development’
(Grantham-McHregor et.al 2007 cited in Cologon & Hayden 2017 p.337)

15. Psychosocial wellbeing
Hobfoll & colleagues (2007) intervention principles;
1. Sense of safety
2. Calming
3. Self-efficacy and collective efficacy (‘sense of
control’)
4. Connectedness
5. Hope
(cited in Cologon & Hayden 2017 pp. 346-347)