JUDY WOODRUFF: Over the past several days, we have looked at how childhood trauma impacts
people around the country. Now we focus on solutions.
Just as our understanding of trauma's long-term impacts has grown, so too has our grasp of
how to treat and prevent it.
Special correspondent Cat Wise and producer Rachel Wellford have the final report of our
series Invisible Scars: America's Childhood Trauma Crisis.
CAT WISE: It's a Friday morning, and Eamani Williams is getting her son Sha'quan (ph)
and daughter Amara (ph) off to preschool. Raised by a single mother, Eamani says her
childhood was sometimes tough. Now a 22-year-old single mom herself, Eamani realized there
was a lot she didn't know when her son was born four years ago.
Was it tough being a new mom?
EAMANI WILLIAMS, Parent: Honestly, it was. That pregnancy wasn't planned. I didn't know
what to do, like how to bond with him.
CAT WISE: And we now know how important those bonds are. Research shows that early positive
interactions with caregivers can help kids better cope with trauma down the line.
At this clinic, in Schenectady, New York, Eamani connected with a program that helps
her kids become more resilient by working through her own past traumas. The program,
called HealthySteps, places child development experts like Bernadette McDaniel in pediatric
offices.
BERNADETTE MCDANIEL, HealthySteps: We're seeing in the parents domestic violence, abuse, all
kinds of sexual -- sexual abuse, neglect.
CAT WISE: She shares parenting skills and other resources to help reduce day-to-day
stresses that can lead to trauma for kids.
BERNADETTE MCDANIEL: Before the days of COVID, I would be able to hold the babies and cradle
the babies and talk to the babies and talk to mom about how the baby responds to a smile,
how the baby responds to your voice.
CAT WISE: Eamani says that information has changed how she parents.
EAMANI WILLIAMS: When I get, like, my depression episodes, I try not to be depressed in front
of, them because they're like a mirror. So I try to just not show it around them, at
least try to just be the happy mom.
BERNADETTE MCDANIEL: You can see the children. They're healthy, inquisitive children who
want to learn about their world. You don't see the stresses in the children.
CAT WISE: Prevention, on a wide scale, could have a big impact, according to clinical psychologist
Hilary Hodgdon, who co-directs the Complex Trauma Treatment Network.
HILARY HODGDON, Complex Trauma Treatment Network: If we could get rid of childhood trauma and
maltreatment as a stressor, we'd actually be able to prevent most of the mental health
conditions that we see.
CAT WISE: An estimated 60 percent of U.S. adults had at least one adverse or traumatic
experience as a child. Not all of them will need treatment, but for those who do, there
are now a range of proven treatments to meet a range of needs.
Hodgdon says the treatments considered the most effective share some common principles.
HILARY HODGDON: There has been more of a focus to help kids have safe and secure relationships,
to help kids build regulation skills, to help kids be able to process some of the difficult
and painful experiences that they have had in their life.
YARY BETANCOURT, 13 Years Old: We get deer, turkey.
CAT WISE: For some, like 13-year-old Yary Betancourt, intensive and sustained treatment
is needed.
Six years ago, after time in the foster care system, Yary and her two older brothers were
adopted by Gabrielle and Luis (ph) Betancourt who live in Connecticut.
GABRIELLE BETANCOURT, Parent: Her biological mother used substances and had some mental
health conditions that made it difficult for her to parent. She went hungry for long periods
of time.
CAT WISE: That trauma often led to anxiety and fear of being abandoned.
Do you remember a little bit about some big emotions that you had maybe when your mom
was in a different room?
YARY BETANCOURT: I was scared. I thought she wouldn't come back.
CAT WISE: To help her feel safer and manage those emotions, the Betancourts, tried a variety
of treatments, including family and talk therapy. And for a while, they were helping, but then
things changed.
GABRIELLE BETANCOURT: When Yary started puberty, it was very difficult for her to regulate
her emotions. And even though she had so many skills and she had worked so hard, it was
very difficult to maintain her safely in the home.
CAT WISE: After a lot of searching, they found a unique residential treatment program and
school run by the Justice Resource Institute, a nonprofit that provides mental health care
for those with trauma histories and special education needs.
GABRIELLE BETANCOURT: They believe in Yary, and then they help Yary be the best that she
can be.
CAT WISE: The program helps caregivers and children build stronger, more understanding
relationships, encourages kids to regulate their behavior through things like breathing
techniques and exercise, when they are experiencing unhappy memories or thoughts, and builds resiliency
by having kids spend time doing what they love.
And, for Yary, that included time with animals. After nearly two years of full-time care,
Yary was finally able to move back home. Today, she still attends the program's day school
and goes to weekly therapy sessions, all equipping her with effective trauma coping skills.
When my son has big emotions, one of the things we talk about is doing dragon breaths, and
deep-in-and-out breaths. Did you do anything like that?
YARY BETANCOURT: The monkey hug.
CAT WISE: Oh, tell me, what's the monkey hug?
YARY BETANCOURT: Where you do this and just tap back and forth slowly.
CAT WISE: And when you do that, how do you feel?
YARY BETANCOURT: Better. I feel good.
CAT WISE: But the Betancourts are lucky. They live in Connecticut, where childhood trauma
treatments are more accessible than in some parts of the country.
GABRIELLE BETANCOURT: It's expensive, and no one wants to pay. But here's the thing.
We do pay. Foster care is expensive. Having generation upon generation of trauma that
perpetuates itself is expensive.
CAT WISE: Those are some of the issues now driving efforts to expand mental health care
access for children.
Schools are often on the front lines of the childhood trauma crisis in this country. Here
in Connecticut, where a horrific shooting eight years ago continues to have a lingering
impact, big investments were made to bring trauma-informed mental health services to
children in schools.
Hope Bray is a social worker in the Newtown school district where that shooting occurred.
Here at Reed Intermediate School, Bray runs a program called Bounce Back. It's a voluntary
trauma intervention, specifically designed for use in schools. Children who have been
referred by school counselors meet for 10 group sessions, in addition to working with
Bray one-on-one.
HOPE BRAY, Reed Intermediate School: We're not referencing a particular trauma. We're
talking about trauma or scary experiences, and then we kind of move on to, well, how
might we feel if we have experienced trauma to kind of normalize the experiences that
children have. Then we move on to, what can we do about it?
CAT WISE: Bray says providing trauma treatment in schools can remove many of the financial
and logistical barriers for families. But she sees another benefit too.
HOPE BRAY: For a child where I don't know that they have a support system in home, I
just don't know what it looks like, I know they have a support system in my building.
CAT WISE: Success is being seen in schools and beyond. More than 15,000 kids in Connecticut
have now received therapy that focuses on trauma, like Bounce Back.
Eighty percent have shown improvement in trauma symptoms, like depression, anxiety and PTSD.
But Bray is concerned that much of the progress that's been made in her community could be
upended by the pandemic.
HOPE BRAY: The unfortunate fact is, not everybody is safe at home. We have a lot of children
who are experiencing more fear, more uncertainty, more hunger. I think we're really going to
need more trauma treatment.
CAT WISE: Some trauma advocates say it's important to remember not everyone finds relief inside
a therapist's office.
CISSY WHITE, Writer: This is my spare bedroom, which is also my healing space.
CAT WISE: Cissy White, a writer and childhood trauma survivor, has charted her own journey
toward healing. She experienced a number of traumas, from divorce to physical and sexual
abuse, all before the age of 10.
After more than a decade of talk therapy, she realized it wasn't working the way she
needed it to.
CISSY WHITE: It helped me understand there's a reason I'm feeling this way. There's cause
and effect. But it didn't help my trauma symptoms. It didn't help me sleep. It didn't help digestion
issues. It didn't help me feel calm.
CAT WISE: Instead, she turned to less traditional therapies, like meditation, yoga and expressive
writing, all practices she feels should be more widely available.
CISSY WHITE: The things that most people are still going to get is talk therapy and medication.
They're not super effective for post-traumatic stress. So, we still have that problem. And
that's a big problem.
CAT WISE: But she and many others we met during our reporting shared a resounding message
of hope.
CISSY WHITE: Trauma treatment is often treated like it's so depressing, but it gives you
back your birthright to joy, to feeling safe, to feeling good in your skin, to being able
to relate. It's triumphant.
HOPE BRAY: There is always hope. And I'm not just saying that because it's my name, but,
absolutely, we can turn that tide.
CAT WISE: There might be some kids around the country watching this. What would you
say to them?
YARY BETANCOURT: That it'll get better. Someone's always there for you.
CAT WISE: For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Cat Wise in Connecticut.