Featured Resources – Complex Trauma Resources

Understanding and Addressing Psychological Maltreatment: The Effects of Emotional Abuse and Neglect

An important but often under-recognized core topic was recently added to the complextrauma.org website: Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Insidious Impact of Psychological Maltreatment. This new essay aims to provide guidance and hope for survivors, loved ones, and providers impacted by less commonly acknowledged forms of complex trauma such as emotional abuse, emotional…

The Complexity of Racial Trauma: Important New Website Section

We are pleased to debut a timely and important new section of complextrauma.org: The Complexity of Racial Trauma, co-developed by Foundation Trust Senior Training Associate, Dr. Jana Pressley and our esteemed colleague, Dr. Nancy Nealious. The new essay explores the roots and effects of racial trauma as a form of complex trauma and discusses…

New Resource: Parenting in the Wake of Past Trauma

A child walks along the shore with a rainbow in the distance

We are honored to debut a new resource by Foundation Trust Senior Training & Resource Development Associates Dr. Jana Pressley and Kaitlyn Marie Wilson, LICSW.

New Psychotherapy Book Provides Practical Blueprint for How the Body Changes the Score with Children and Youth Impacted by Complex Trauma

by Jana Pressley, Psy.D., & Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D., The Foundation Trust North Atlantic Press’s 2020 publication of the long-awaited book: Transforming Trauma in Children and Adolescents: An Embodied Approach to Somatic Regulation, Trauma Processing, and Attachment-Building was a welcome ray of sunshine during what will be remembered for generations to come as an exceptionally dark…

Complex Trauma-Informed Residential Services for Children, Youth, and Young Adults

Various facets of complex trauma-informed residential services are explored in a newly-compiled series of resources developed by the Foundation Trust’s Dr. Joseph Spinazzola, Kaitlyn Marie Wilson and their colleagues. The resources include two fact sheets to support residential program administrators and multidisciplinary staff members to better understand and respond to the effects of complex trauma…

Coping Strategies for Complex Trauma Survivors Contending with the COVID-19 Pandemic (in English, Spanish, French, & Portuguese)

Resource Guide PDF in English Guía de recursos en español Guide de ressources en français Guia de recursos em português This resource guide has been compiled to help complex trauma survivors cope with stressful current events or times of global crisis. Initially compiled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this guide illustrates coping strategies…

COVID-19 Pandemic Coping Strategies for Youth with a History of Complex Trauma (in English, Spanish, French, & Portuguese)

Resource Guide PDF in English Guía de recursos en español Guide de ressources en français Guia de recursos em português This resource guide aims to help youth with a history of complex trauma cope with stressful current events or times of global crisis. Initially compiled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this resource explains…

New Diagnostic Resource Available for Complex Trauma Adaptation: (DTD) Developmental Trauma Disorder Symptom List

Now available. Download here.

What is Complex Trauma?A Resource Guide for Youth & Those Who Care About Them

This youth-inspired and youth-vetted guide is one of the first resources on complex trauma designed specifically for independent use by trauma-impacted youth. Also appropriate for adult-supported use with younger children and select adolescents as needed. Employs plain language to advance understanding of complex trauma as a distinct form of psychological trauma. Identifies common effects of…

Never Give Up: A Complex Trauma Film by Youth for Youth

This gripping short film showcases a diverse ensemble of adolescents and young adults who share hard lessons learned in their efforts to endure and overcome developmental and systemic trauma. Written and produced by Dr. Joseph Spinazzola and colleagues, Never Give Up uniquely blends documentary and theatrical elements to achieve an authentic, insightful, and above all…

When Nowhere is Safe: Impaired Caregiving, Domestic Violence and Community Violence Increase Risk for Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD)

This important study conducted by Dr. Joseph Spinazzola and his colleagues empirically demonstrates that disruption to early attachment relationships– even in the absence of more overt traumatic experiences such as physical or sexual abuse– is a primary driver of complex adaptation to trauma. The authors draw on data from a national clinical field trial to…

Enduring Neurobiological Effects of Childhood Abuse & Neglect

This exceptional review paper by Drs. Martin Teicher and Jacqueline Sampson synthesizes decades of neuroscientific research on childhood abuse and neglect to reveal three critically important truths. First, that all forms of attachment trauma in childhood, including “non-contact” forms of adversity such as emotional abuse, as well as traumas of omission such as emotional neglect,…