ABSTRACT
Starting in 2002, Emotional and Trauma Support (ETS) laid strong foundation in its work with trauma, initially with refugee and asylum-seeking children and their families and, later, with other children. Collaborative working has been a feature of school-based ETS interventions and in the youth justice service collaborative working became more intense, involving dynamic network of people, comprising therapists, team leader, caseworkers, youth justice managers, teachers, and the external supervisors of the two therapists. The young people that become embroiled within the Youth Justice System have experienced not one but multiple traumas and are still currently entangled within them, living in chaos and reliving traumatic experiences daily. Van der Kolk introduced the diagnosis of Developmental Trauma Disorder in 2009 to assist clinicians to better understand the presentations and realities of children and adolescents exposed to 'chronic interpersonal trauma'. The developmental model within dramatherapy is rooted in the developmental stages of early childhood and parallels the way children learn to play.
