TF-CBT strategy #1: enhancing safety early in treatment
From the start of both of the above projects, addressing safety early in treatment was identified as a priority for youth experiencing ongoing traumas by several stakeholders. The first application was to move the enhancing safety component to the start of treatment as depicted in Fig. 2. Therapists begin to implement this component at the outset of treatment by assessing children’s immediate risk for repeated trauma exposure. This can be a daunting and sensitive task. For example, in the CRAFT Project therapists asked mothers each week how much contact youths had with the domestic violence perpetrator during the prior week. A mother might report that the youth had not seen the perpetrator at all during the previous week, but the youth might mention during his individual session that the family was living with the perpetrator. These situations present challenges to safety planning, as well as to maintaining engagement with the mother. The therapist needs to address both the risk posed by the presence of the perpetrator and that posed by the youth’s disclosure (i.e., will the youth face negative consequences for revealing this?) In our jurisdiction (Pennsylvania), domestic violence is not a form of child abuse, so the therapist can assure the mother that she has no negative judgment about the mother in this regard and is only asking in order to engage in appropriate safety planning since this partner previously perpetrated violence in the home. In the Zambia project, addressing safety early in treatment was also seen as critical. As with many low-resource countries, there is usually no mental health infrastructure to afford families’ shelters or protection services. In addition, the situation was complicated by the fact that often the perpetrators were the bread-winners in the family system, and thus represented the livelihood of the family. National counselors followed the same process as described above.
Safety planning in the context of ongoing traumas depends on several factors, including the nature and severity of danger involved in the trauma; the youth’s developmental level and ability to carry out concrete safety plans, the non-offending parent’s availability and ability to serve as a source of safety (e.g., if the mother is the direct victim of domestic violence, she will likely be unable to do so since she will likely be under direct attack when the violence is occurring); and the availability of other individuals who can serve as backup sources of safety for the youth. The therapist must take all of these factors into consideration when helping the youth and mother to develop a feasible safety plan. Younger children are more dependent on adults for protection, and safety plans must take into account individual developmental, cognitive and emotional factors as well as the abilities of the adults to protect the child. In addition to obvious physical factors (young children are not as fast, smart or coordinated as adults and usually cannot escape, elude or call for help), they also may not be capable of fully grasping the reality and implications of the danger. For these children providing a concrete behavioral plan with in-session role play, practice at home, rewards for following the plan and clear consequences for non-compliance, while acknowledging the child’s attachment to the parent, is more effective than trying to use logic to explain the plan to the child. Youth experiencing community violence and their parents may perceive that their entire environment is dangerous and that there is no way to stay safe. Therapists work with these youth and their parents to identify any safe places, people and settings that may exist even within the most dangerous communities. Identifying churches, mosques or faith-based organizations, neighborhood watch organizations, schools, YMCA or other community organizations, relatives’ and neighbors’ apartments or homes where the youth can seek refuge if there is an episode of sudden violence on the way to or from school or in other unexpected situations can help youth and parents recognize that although the danger may be ubiquitous, safety is also available. Youth and parents plan alternative routes to places they might go, with several “safe” places along the way. Therapists may also practice specific safety strategies if the youth were to encounter someone with a weapon (e.g., hiding, lying still) in order to help the youth feel more empowered in these scenarios.