AVITH in Context Webinar

Date: 7th July 2024

Mode: Online

Panellists:

• Alexandra Bruinier (Coordinator – Building Healthy Relationships, Meli)
• Allen Jeffress (Clinical Team Leader – Restoring Childhood, Northern Healing and Recovery Program, Berry Street)
• Jenny (Specialist Family Violence Children’s Practitioner, Nexus Primary Health)
• Emily Doddrell (Advanced Practitioner – Strengthening Connections, Child and Family Services Ballarat)
• Kelly Daley (Community Connection Practitioner, Upper Murray Family Care)

Webinar summary 

The webinar explores the emerging trend of children under the age of 12 years old who are using challenging and aggressive behaviours. It includes discussions around using a development and trauma-informed lens when working with children, considerations on language, presentations and behaviours of children who are using violent or aggressive behaviours, strategies for working with children under 12, and working with parents to develop skills and build capacity.

Who is this relevant for? 

All practitioners and managers working in programs with children, young people and families.

Background 

Most specialist AVITH programs in Victoria are funded to work with young people aged 12-18 years old. Findings from the PIPA Report in 2020 highlighted that children who have experienced family violence require intervention much earlier, and that services specifically designed for adolescents using violence are “coming 10 years too late.” Many service providers are seeing referrals for children under 12 with violent, aggressive or otherwise “challenging” behaviours. Sometimes referrals to specialist services are for children as young as 8 years old.

Key messages and learnings:

• Considering language – The panellists provided valuable insights around the way language is used when describing violent or aggressive behaviours, noting that some words intrinsically add blame and shame, and that practitioners should consider this when looking to describe certain behaviours.
  Allen shared that they often ask ‘how does language tell the story’ when thinking about the behaviours being used, and the broader context of the child’s experiences.
  Jenny noted that when working with children, she frames language through the lens of what is “helpful” to others, and what can be “hurtful” to others.
• Understanding why children might use aggression – When a child is externalising behaviours or aggression, this is often a way for them to get the adults in their life to pay attention. Externalising behaviours can serve as a mask for other emotions – fear, anxiety, grief, sadness – and developmentally cannot be expressed another way. Understanding what is going on for the child is crucial for developing solutions for both the child and the family.
• Strategies for Working with Children – Panellists shared what some strategies for working with children who are using violent or aggressive behaviours can look like based on their experiences as practitioners. Emily noted that when working with children it is important to meet them where they are at developmentally, as well as seeing what is going on in their world and using curiosity to understand what is important to them. Alex discussed the difference between working with children and young people – to the family, aggression from a child may look like a tantrum, while from a young person this could be perceived as violent.
  
  Kelly shared some valuable insights about giving children space to explore their feelings. Letting children lead through their interests and being able to connect what they are experiencing with something that they are interested in (for example, exploring emotions through a Dungeons and Dragons character), has been crucial in Kelly’s practice.
  
  The panellists also discussed how to engage children to ensure that they are wanting to come along and learn. Suggestions included, using visual aids, walking through ideas, ensuring the work is play-based, using different modalities (for example, animal-assisted therapy), giving children the choice of how they want to engage (for example, with parents inside or outside of the room, at school, etc.).
• Using a Developmentally Appropriate Lens – When engaging with children it is important to ensure that strategies are developmentally appropriate.
  
  Allen shared that it is important to think about what the developmental milestones were like for the child throughout their life, and that a part of this is understanding what typical development looks like for children in order to recognise where it might have gone atypical.
  Panellists encouraged attendees to be curious about the child’s developmental trajectory in order to discover where key trauma points may lie. Additionally, it is important to consider that because a child has aged physically, developmentally they be at a different stage in their life, and to ask yourself “are we being realistic of our expectations of the young person in front of us?”.
• Building Parent and Caregiver Capacity – Panellists noted the importance developing a caregiver’s understanding of what is going on for their child and what lies underneath the behaviours that they are seeing.
  
  Alex spoke about building positive connections between the parent and child through play in order to start the repair process.
  
  Jenny shared that turn-taking games (such as, throwing a ball back and forth or playing card games) building blocks for reciprocal communication. It was also noted that when working with a child with their giver in the room this can allow for a parallel process of learning to occur, which sees the caregiver being able to easily bring what is learnt into the home environment.
• Centring Hope – Panellists reflected on how we can centre hope through a strengths-based, whole-of-family approach, recognising that the families we work with have resources and an amazing capacity for repair.
  
  Kelly discussed that having opportunities to slow down and sit down with caregivers to focus on small wins has provided positive outcomes for the family she works with.
  
  Emily encouraged attendees to seize the moments where they notice the strengths of the family and what makes them unique. It was also noted that asking parents to reflect on their own experiences and journey, and to recognise that they are doing well today has been a helpful way to assist parents in realising how far they have come.

Want to access more information and resources about working with young people who use violence?