Since the tragic events in the Russian town of Beslan two months ago, when more than 400 children and adults died after being taken hostage by militants demanding independence for Chechnya, counselling centres have been working hard to try to help the survivors.
Whether clinicians like it or not, children and families affected by trauma are routinely covered by the media. When that happens, clinicians often face difficult choices.
Note: Available as PDF download only.
This nine-part series tells the story of a teenage relationship turning to obsession and abuse, and a strong young woman recovering from a horrific act of violence. Originally published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in September, 2007.
Each teen suicide is a puzzle with pieces missing. Gone is the only person who might know the exact reasons. But taken together, these deaths reveal much about the social forces contributing to teen suicide. Originally published in the Omaha World-Herald in May, 2005.
An overview of current research on the short- and long-term impacts of media coverage of tragedy on children, as well as aggravating risk factors and suggestions for future research.
Thirty years since April '75—good grief. It seems almost too trite to say, but it doesn't seem that it could possibly have been that long ago. Every April reminds me of the end of the Vietnam war, this one more than most, not just because of the round number but because of an encounter with the past that I had just a couple of weeks before the actual anniversary. The following ruminations are longer than I intended, but here they are anyway.
Reporters may have felt they didn’t want to intrude, but far from a closed and hushed house between Sheona’s death and her funeral, it was literally an open house.
The story of a 15-year-old girl raped by a popular classmate and of the devastating aftermath for her, her family, and her town. Originally published in the Providence Journal (Providence, RI), in 2003.
The life expectancy in Zambia plunged from 49.7 years in 1970-75 to 32.4 years in 2000-05, according to the Human Development Report for Zambia by the United Nations Development Programme.
An article depicting the unhappy life of a Siberian boy whose violent death is told against the larger story of his birth parents, the orphanage that briefly shelters him, and his abusive adoptive parents in America. Originally published in the Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), on October 28, 2001.