Transgenerational Trauma and the Aboriginal Preschool Child: Healing through Intervention approaches trauma from transgenerational perspectives that go back to the early colonization of Australia, and describes what that event has historically meant for the country's Aboriginal population and its culture. This history has continued to propagate traumatically across subsequent generations. This book reveals the work underway at Gunawirra, a group in Sydney founded to work against transgenerational trauma in families with children aged 0-5. The group then began working with projects in more than forty country preschools throughout the state of New South Wales.Two intrinsic forms of healing that are an integral part of this ancient culture: Dadirri (deep listening), and The Dreaming, are foundational concepts for the treatment. While these concepts are core elements of the project, this book also employs fresh contemporary theory and case studies that present ways to effectively address the deeper psychological origins and presence of trauma in our present-day preschool children, and in traumatized children throughout the world. It gives special attention to the use of therapeutic measures based in psychoanalytic thought and related modes of responding to trauma. Through many moving examples the book unites-through art, stories of The Dreaming, and the ancient gift of listening-a powerful way of approaching present-day work with Aboriginal people and their children.The contributors' work is at the forefront of field research, clinical work, and theoretical interdisciplinary work. This book is essential to workers and teachers who deal daily with traumatized children in their communities and schools. In the usefulness of its model, the depth of its thinking, and the intensity of its methodology, Transgenerational Trauma and the Aboriginal Preschool Child breaks new ground in the treatment of trauma for people who care for children everywhere.

Foreword, Ursula Kim Acknowledgments Introduction Part I. History and Background Chapter 1 Mirrored Images: The Story of Many Reflected in One Aboriginal Family's Journey Jackie Stewart and Maria Losurdo Chapter 2 Gunawirra and the Gunawirra Trauma Project: A Background Norma Tracey Part II. A Theoretical Base for Understanding Trauma in the Aboriginal Preschool Child Chapter 3 Building a Floor for Experience: A Model for Thinking about Children's Experience Jeffrey L. Eaton Chapter 4 Understanding Trauma for Aboriginal Preschool Children: Hearing Their Voices Norma Tracey Chapter 5 The Neurobiological Basis of Trauma in Early Childhood Shiri Hergass Chapter 6 Trauma, Childhood, and Emotional Resilience Marilyn Charles Chapter 7 The Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: Effects on Identity Development in Aboriginal People Marilyn Charles Chapter 8 The Importance of Being Contained: Kylie, for Whom Nothing Could Be Held Celia Conolly and Judy King Part III. Treating Trauma for the Aboriginal Preschool Child and Family Chapter 9 Mr. Carrots Counts the Time Judy King and Celia Conolly Chapter 10 The Five Big Ideas: A Road Forward Norma Tracey and Shiri Hergass Chapter 11 Using the Weaving Thoughts Peer Method to Generate Meaning: Putting the Bits and Pieces Together Ionas Sapountzis and Judy King Chapter 12 Hitting the Wall: The Hidden Effects of Caring Relationships Ingo Lambrecht and Aretha Paterson Chapter 13 Art as an Opening of a Door to Aboriginal Culture and Identity Graham Toomey Notes on Contributors Index