Intergenerational Trauma for Caregivers

Description

**This is a recording of a Live Presentation given at the Institute of Child Psychology’s 2021 Children’s Mental Health Conference. As it is a Live recording, please note that there may be unscheduled technical difficulties, pauses/breaks, as well as reading of comments which you may not be able to see.

Intergenerational Trauma for Caregivers

Many things get passed down through families, like heirlooms, genetic conditions, and physical characteristics. In some cases, trauma can be inherited, too. Intergenerational trauma is exactly what it sounds like: trauma that isn’t just experienced by one person but extends from one generation to the next. It can be silent, covert, and undefined, surfacing through nuances and inadvertently taught or implied throughout someone’s life from an early age onward.

This workshop is intended to help parents, educators, and community members better understand how they might identify, address, and help to heal the intergenerational wounds of trauma. It will also provide participants with an overview of some of the history and research regarding Historical, Intergenerational and Ancestral Trauma- and how this may show up in our own interactions with the youth we care for. Dr. Mullan, a Clinical Psychologist, will expand upon Historical Trauma, Intergenerational (biologically transmitted) trauma transmission, and material from Dr. Joy DeGruy, Dr. Maria Yellow Horse, BraveHeart, and others whose research has impacted the field.

This workshop will outline recommendations and offer supplemental resources. This workshop is intended to help caregivers form a better understanding of the generational legacies of intergenerational trauma, how to manage one’s own feelings related to it, and create healthy outlets and spaces for their youth.

OBJECTIVES

• Participants will better understand the impact of intergenerational trauma transmission.
• Participants will become familiar with intergenerational trauma research, and its applicability to it within their own lives.
• Participants will be able to define intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, and how it affects their nervous systems, emotions, and well-being.
• Participants will be able to define PostTraumatic Slave Syndrome, Disenfranchised Grief and Sacred Rage as primary symptoms in themselves and their children.
• Participants will be better able to process their own intergenerational, historical and familial histories of trauma, and in turn engage as more compassionate caregivers and loved ones.