ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors focus on their therapeutic practice when working with a child who has experienced developmental trauma as a result of neglect and abuse. Play therapists using an integrative approach need to be able to adapt to unpredictable situations which arise in the therapeutic process, including managing and responding to distress and on occasions, aggressive or sexualised behaviours. The authors present definition of developmental trauma and provide their integrative model of working, based on a case study of a 7-year-old boy’s journey through the therapeutic process, utilising child-centred play therapy, attachment-focused therapy and therapeutic life story work. Children who have experienced developmental trauma have undertaken much of their early development in an environment with ongoing perceived danger and inadequate care, leading the child to believe that the world is an unsafe and unpredictable place. Developmental trauma has been linked to children having low self-esteem, low impulse control, negatively affecting a child’s social, cognitive, emotional and behavioural development.
