When trauma occurs within a relationship, safety feels unsafe. As a result, the relationship becomes the heart of danger and renders a child in a state of fright without solution. To cope with this dilemma, the child’s mind fractures to contain the traumatic event. Likewise, the child’s
budding sense of self splits into extremes of good and bad. Offering safety to the survivor is the beginning of healing, yet this safety can also elicit fear, trauma reactions, acting out behaviors, and dramatic decompensation. When left untreated, this process places an individual at risk for complex PTSD and/or borderline personality disorder later in life. This presentation will explain the safety paradox that a child experiences after trauma, how to manage the behavioral fall out from this internal dilemma, and how to guide a child to a future life of security.