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New scheme aims to better provide children with trauma therapy

SINGAPORE — Children who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, such as domestic violence or bullying, will have a wider pool of trained therapists to turn to in the near future.

SINGAPORE — Children who have been exposed to traumatic experiences, such as domestic violence or bullying, will have a wider pool of trained therapists to turn to in the near future.

KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) will train 60 social workers, therapists and school counsellors over the next three years to help such children, under a pilot programme funded by Temasek Cares, a non-profit philanthropic organisation.

These children include those who had been exposed to situations that involved actual or threatened death, serious injury or violence, such as sexual abuse. The programme hopes to plug a gap in the area of trauma treatment for children here, said Ms Lim Xin Yi, a clinical psychologist at KKH.

While hospitals provide trauma treatment for children with severe problems and information on helping them is available publicly, “the gap comes very much … in the community context, where there is a lack of therapy expertise as well as confidence in delivering trauma treatment to children with mild to moderate difficulties”, said Ms Lim.

“There’s also no system of early identification of this group of children,” she said, adding that this could further escalate their difficulties and lead to them having to seek treatment at hospitals.

Such children face problems including misbehaviour such as skipping school, becoming withdrawn or being haunted by traumatic events .

The Temasek Cares KITS (Kids in Tough Situations) programme aims to detect the problem at the community and school levels and provide the children with trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) so they do not suffer from developmental and psychological problems later on.

The therapy involves three steps: Stabilise the child and equip him with coping skills, approach the traumatic event by talking to him about it and his related thoughts and feelings, and assimilate him back into society.

Since the programme began in February, the first batch of 34 counsellors, social workers and therapists have attended a basic course in TF-CBT. They are now receiving clinical group supervision from KKH’s psychologists, who are trained in the therapy method, and will attend an advanced TF-CBT course next year.

Out of the 60 to be trained under the programme, five will become trainers who will go on to instruct more therapists. The programme is estimated to benefit 1,920 children and their caregivers.

Ms Natalie Lim, a senior social worker at Ang Mo Kio Family Service Centre Community Services, told TODAY she hoped the skills she picks up during the TF-CBT course would help her better identify children with trauma in the course of her work.

“At the family service centre, we see quite a lot of cases with issues that could pose as a traumatic event for children, such as bullying, stress over schoolwork or parental conflict and violence. Sometimes, we see them exhibiting some of the symptoms of trauma,” she said, citing temper tantrums and violent outbursts.

The pilot programme, which will cost about S$1.5 million, is the first to supported by the Temasek Emergency Preparedness Fund. The fund, announced by Temasek Holdings last month, has an initial endowment of S$40 million.

The programme will undergo a review after one year to see if funding is sufficient, said Mr Richard Magnus, Chairman of Temasek Cares. It is aimed at developing resilience in the community, since emergencies can happen any time, he added.

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