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Early Childhood Trauma
In August 2009 I embarked on a very exciting journey in my career.  I was selected to be a part of the pioneer group to train under Dr. Bruce Perry with the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas.  I was 1 of 17 individuals from around the world who were given the opportunity to become individually certified clinicians in Dr. Perry's Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics(NMT). In August 2010, I completed Phase I of this training and decided to continue to Phase II.  In August 2011, I accomplished the Phase II training and have found great use of the NMT model in many facets of my work at Mountain Soul Resources. Dr. Perry describes the NMT as: 

"an evidenced-based, developmentally informed, biologically respectful approach to working with at-risk children. As a promising practice, this clinical approach helps professionals determine the strengths and vulnerabilities of a given child and create individualized intervention, enrichment and educational plans for the children.  Simply, the goal is to find a set of therapeutic activities that match a child's current needs in various domains of functioning (i.e., social, emotional, cognitive and physical). Patterned, repetitive and developmentally-appropriate activities provided in context of nurturing relationships are the keys to effective intervention.  Active participation of caregiver and other adults in the child's life is important to the success of the NMT; indeed, by weaving various activities throughout the child's various relationships and environments, the majority of the "therapeutic" experiences are provided outside of the actual context of conventional therapy.  The model has three key components-assessment, staffing/training and the array of therapeutic, educational and enrichment activities. " (Perry, pers.com)
                                Source: Perry, Bruce. Personal Communication. August 28, 2009.

Through the NMT process we assess 32 functioning areas of the brain and the result is what we call a "brain map." These 'maps' give us a picture of the brain's functioning and which areas are on target for typical age and which areas may be underdeveloped.   Therapeutic interventions may include the use of patterned, repetitive activities to stimulate those parts of the brain that we want to activate.  The activities focus on the senses of touch, smell, sight and hearing. The hope is for the child to fill gaps in brain development caused by various traumas through the consistent use of these activities.  We believe these therapeutic techniques will develop the brain and increase the child's ability to interact with the world more successfully.  

                              

 

For more information on the work of Dr. Bruce Perry and the Child Trauma Academy, click the link below:
http://www.childtrauma.org
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