Compiled by Annalise Kempen
When we think about crimes affecting children, especially young children, we tend to focus on crimes such as physical and sexual abuse; bullying and cyberbullying – yet there are so many more. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that more than one billion children – half of all children – are exposed to violence every year, with road injuries being the leading cause of death for children from five years and older (WHO, 2022). Each child who survives some life-threatening incident must deal with the accompanying trauma. We as adults need to find ways to help them cope after a traumatic experience to enable them to live a meaningful life and learn early on what it took to survive this type of storm to become resilient.
Apart from being injured, exposure to any form of trauma – especially during childhood – can increase a person’s risk of developing mental illness and considering suicide; substance abuse; chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes; and social problems such as poverty, crime and violence. That is why it is vital to break intergenerational cycles of violence through prevention and to deal with trauma as soon as possible after it has happened.
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[This is only an extract of an article that is published in Servamus: August 2024. This article is available for purchase.]