ABSTRACT
First and foremost, these children need to be empathised with as a way of reestablishing compassionate human connectedness and a sense that they are not alone in the world.
These are common feelings that need empathy: • The feeling of being stuck in the middle of two warring parents and
desperate for it to stop. • The feeling that the very person who is supposed to protect you can’t,
because he or she can’t protect himself/herself. • The feeling that the parent you love is not protecting you from
seeing/hearing this nightmare. • The pain and confusion of loving someone who hurts someone else that
you love so much. • The feeling that there was no one to stop the bad things from happening. • The pain of seeing your beloved parent damaged or broken in some way. • The feeling of not being able to get your parent’s screams and cries out of
your head.
