Vulnerable children being re-traumatised by services designed to help them, report claims

Schools, social workers, police and NHS staff are inadvertently re-traumatising vulnerable children, because of fundamental misunderstandings about their behaviour, according to a new report.   The report, Beyond Adversity, by children’s mental health charity YoungMinds, said that children who have been neglected, abused, bereaved or faced prejudice may communicate their feelings by being aggressive, self-destructive, withdrawn or highly sexualised. As a result, they are often treated as “the problem”. This means the cause of their trauma is never addressed and they don’t receive the mental health care they need. Beyond Adversity also shows that 1 in 3 adult mental health