Holistic Perspectives on Trauma ― Implications for Social Workers and Health Care Professionals

Children with a history of significant neglect and/or physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse are at higher risk for developing long-term emotional, behavioral, and mental health concerns, which have implications past childhood and into adulthood. Early trauma impacts individuals’ health in ways that reach far past the obvious and immediate damage. It correlates with higher incidences of various mental health disorders, it can alter brain structures, and it can make individuals more susceptible to a variety of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disorders, fibromyalgia, and diabetes, among others.

The research collected in this compendium offers vital guideposts to professionals across a wide spectrum of disciplines. It provides a foundation for ongoing research into this area of study, which is so vital for the well-being of our children and their futures.

Understanding the long-term effects of childhood trauma is now integral to the daily clinical practice of professionals from many fields, including educators, social workers, mental health professionals, family and substance abuse counselors, police, caregivers, and criminal justice service providers. The boundaries between social workers and other professionals are blurred or nonexistent. This insightful book provides a nuanced look at the outcomes of childhood trauma and provides a greater understanding to help build more effective cross-disciplinary intervention strategies.

Dr. Lisa Albers Prock is a developmental behavioral pediatrician at Children’s Hospital (Boston) where she co-founded and directs the Adoption Program and works in the Developmental Medicine Center. She is a co-director of the Translational Neuroscience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, and she is the director of Developmental Behavioral Pediatric Services at Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where her responsibilities include clinical director of the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship Program. She also is active in international health and resident/fellow education. She attended college at the University of Chicago, medical school at Columbia University, and received a master’s degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. At the end of her training, she worked as a primary care pediatrician at a community health center and as an inpatient hospital physician. After obtaining a public health degree in international health, she lived and worked in Cambodia where she taught pediatrics and studied the epidemiology of tuberculosis in children. She returned to Boston for further training in general pediatrics and development as a Dyson Fellow at Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Prock is currently involved in translational research efforts as the principal investigator for four clinical trials working with adolescents and young adults with Fragile X Syndrome. She is also co-director of the clinical arm of the Translational Neuroscience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, a multidisciplinary collaboration to accelerate the translation of basic science findings into clinical meaning for children with developmental disabilities and their families. Dr. Prock has also combined her clinical interests in child development and international health with advocacy for children, particularly in the areas of foster care and adoption. She has been working with adoptees (both domestic and international) involved in medical, residential and educational settings since 1991.

Her research interests include the long-term developmental, behavioral, and emotional concerns of adoptees. She has co-authored several original publications, edited several reference volumes, and written numerous articles. She has been a board member for several nonprofit organizations, including the Center for Family Connections, a family therapy organization specializing in issues for foster care and adoptive families; Adoptive Families Together, a parent support group specific to adoptive families; and the Treehouse Foundation, a foster family empowerment program. She has received numerous local and national awards for her work with children and families, most recently the 2004 United States Congressional Angel in Adoption Award. She is a past chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Adoption and Foster Care and current executive committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Foster Care, Kinship and Adoption.