Exaggerated Startle: 'I jump at any loud noise.'.I am always afraid something bad will happen.' Hypervigilance: 'I know the doctors say we are in the clear, but I take my daughter's temperature every day.'Hypervigilance' - always expecting danger.Numbness / detachment: 'Since this happened, I just don't feel anything anymore.'.Exaggerated negative thoughts: 'I will never get over this.' 'The world is a totally dangerous place.'.Numbness or detachment from emotions, especially positive emotionsĮxamples of changes in cognition and mood.Pervasive negative emotions: fear, anger, guilt, shame.Exaggerated negative thoughts about self, others, the world.Avoidance of places/activities: 'I try to stay away from things that remind me of the time I was sick.'Ĭhanges in cognition (thinking) and mood What to look for.Avoidance thinking: 'I block it out, try not to think about when I was in the hospital.'.Avoiding places or activities that are reminders of the illness/ injury/ hospital experience.Avoiding thoughts or feelings about the illness, injury, or hospital experience, or things associated with it.

Distressing dreams: 'The other day I dreamed that I was in the woods lost, and the doctors and nurses were hiding behind some trees.'.Distress at reminders: 'To this day, I still can't stand the antiseptic smell of hospitals' OR 'My heart races every time I hear a siren.'.It's like it's happening all over again.' Feeling the event is recurring: 'At least once a day, I have a flashback to the accident.Intrusive thoughts / memories: 'The image of my son getting a spinal tap frequently pops into my mind.'.Feeling distressed at thoughts or reminders of it.Thinking a lot about the illness, injury, or procedure (unwanted, intrusive thoughts).There are four main types of traumatic stress symptoms: re-experiencing, avoidance, changes in cognition (thinking) and mood, and hyper-arousal. Sometimes the trigger is not so obvious, such as a sight, smell, or sound that the person is not even aware is a reminder. At times, these reactions are triggered by reminders or thoughts of the traumatic experience. Traumatic stress reactions go beyond usual stress reactions. Most health care providers are familiar with ways that children and family members may show stress. “Even if it's not happening in your neighborhood, in your family, it's still children who are being impacted,” Crawford said.Traumatic stress symptoms - what to look for “When we judge people based on things that they are not in control of, I think we lose a lot of ability to help,” Heil said. Heil and Crawford are now urging others to have compassion towards those in situations they might not understand. “A lot of our kids have different behavioral issues, based on their experiences and based on some of the tougher moments that they've had to go through,” Heil said. The training has provided staff with new tools to handle these tough conversations, and better understand how trauma impacts student behavior. Not all children express traumatic stress in the same way and young children may react differently than older children. “It was difficult because you really didn't have an answer for them,” he said. If a child experiences intense symptoms that interfere with their daily activities and don’t get better on their own, they may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Crawford said many were scared to walk home that night. The children started screaming and crying. “We heard like eight to 10 rounds of other gunshots,” he said. “Our protocol was blow the whistle, protect the kids, get the kids on the ground,” Crawford said.Īfter a few minutes of quiet, Crawford was about to get the kids up. A 12-year-old was hit and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. “We heard the first gunshot but we thought it was a firecracker,” said Program Director Giovanni Crawford, who was watching about 40 kids with a few other staff members. Staff was confronted with one traumatic situation a few weeks ago while students were outside at Grant Park. Heil said children who attend the center might experience trauma from gun violence, as well as poverty and homelessness. In the last few weeks, staff at the center underwent training to better address trauma thanks to a grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation. “Our kids are impacted by it pretty much on a daily basis.”

“An overarching theme of our organization is to prevent gun violence,” said Maggie Heil, Director of Communications and Development. The center is based in the heart of Over-the-Rhine across from Grant Park.

The Wesley Chapel Mission Center currently serves dozens of kids each day after school and on weekends. CINCINNATI - A local organization is trying to better address one of the major consequences of gun violence: trauma.

Signs of trauma in a child