Visiting the scene of a trauma

Peter Levine, PhD Author of Trauma Proofing Your Kids, shares advice for parents on when it is alright to let kids visit the scene of a traumatic experience
Allowing Kids To Visiting The Scene Of A Traumatic Event
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Visiting the scene of a trauma

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Peter Levine: One of the things that happens with children, say for example, a schoolmate has been in an automobile accident, and they were run over by a car. The child may want to go to the place where the child was hit. We don’t want the child necessarily go to the accident site prematurely. I think it’s important to help them process the sensations and the feelings first. May be some of the things they would want that child to know that they wanted to say to the child. And maybe even to talk about death. Rather than having the child be exposed to the trauma right away. I think it’s important to take the time to help the child first deal with their feelings. And then maybe take the child, go with the child to the site and then also help them deal with the feelings that they have while they’re at that site, at the trauma site.

Peter Levine, PhD Author of Trauma Proofing Your Kids, shares advice for parents on when it is alright to let kids visit the scene of a traumatic experience

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Peter A. Levine, PhD

Author of Trauma Proofing Your Kids & Developer of Somatic Experiencing

Peter A. Levine, PhD, holds doctorates in both medical biophysics and psychology. He is the developer of Somatic Experiencing, a body-awareness approach to healing trauma, and founder of the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, which conducts trainings in this work throughout the world. Dr. Levine was a stress consultant for NASA on the development of the space shuttle project. Levine’s international best-seller, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, has been translated into 24 languages. Levine’s contribution was honored in 2010 when he received the Lifetime Achievement award  Recognizing Outstanding Professionals in the Field of Child/Adolescent Mental Health from the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center.

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Transcription: 
Peter Levine: One of the things that happens with children, say for example, a schoolmate has been in an automobile accident, and they were run over by a car. The child may want to go to the place where the child was hit. We don’t want the child necessarily go to the accident site prematurely. I think it’s important to help them process the sensations and the feelings first. May be some of the things they would want that child to know that they wanted to say to the child. And maybe even to talk about death. Rather than having the child be exposed to the trauma right away. I think it’s important to take the time to help the child first deal with their feelings. And then maybe take the child, go with the child to the site and then also help them deal with the feelings that they have while they’re at that site, at the trauma site.