Learning from a Family about TF-CBT

NCTSN members had the opportunity at the All-Network Meeting to hear directly from an adolescent and her mother about their personal perspectives on the impact of receiving Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). This mother and daughter, Elizabeth and Veronica Berendt, shared their experiences about what strategies were most helpful in engaging them in treatment, what components of the model were most important in their recovery, how the model was adapted for their personal needs and how they believe it should be presented to other children and parents.

Veronica said she felt at several points prior to arriving at therapy that previous evaluators were not very sensitive or engaging in explaining what evaluations were for and why they were important or in trying to understand how upset she might be feeling.  This almost led to her not seeking treatment at all. Flexibility in scheduling sessions around her busy schedule and extracurricular activities was crucial.  Weaving her interest in music into therapy helped keep her engaged.  For example, in each of the chapters of the trauma narrative, she included a song which represented her mood or feelings. At first she thought she didn't need therapy, and it was only toward the end of treatment that she started feeling as if she wished it could go on a little longer. Her friends saw changes, "that I was a happier person,” and she would tell other kids "not to be afraid of therapy, it will help you work things out for yourself.”

Elizabeth (Betsy) stressed the importance of psychoeducation (for example, how common this type of trauma is among children, understanding why children want to protect their parents from knowing about what has happened, etc.).  She also valued having a chance to work on her own unhelpful or distorted thoughts about her daughter's experience and hearing Veronica's trauma narrative.

Betsy said she is "a big fan" of the trauma narrative because she could hear for herself how her daughter thought about what happened to her, and consequently how Veronica’s thoughts about herself changed during the course of therapy. This was very reassuring to Betsy and her husband.

Attendees had numerous excellent questions for Veronica and Betsy, including what hopes and dreams Veronica has for herself in the future (going to college next year to become a veterinarian) and how to get other families involved in this type of advocacy work ("just ask them" - the Berendt family said they did this "to help other families going through this" and they believe that many other families would want to do the same if given the chance). Everyone in attendance expressed deep gratitude to the Berendt family for their courage and generosity in sharing their wisdom and expertise with us during this amazing workshop.