Richard Kagan, Ph.D.
In my work as a clinical psychologist, children have shared with me traumatic experiences that ripped their families apart and shattered their sense of trust and belonging. These same children have also shared with me a yearning to be loved and the courage to change. I have been inspired by how children recovered from losses of the family members they loved, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, family violence, neglect, and abandonments. I have also seen how many children remained mired in the nightmares of their lives and appeared to relive their greatest fears day after day. Many children appeared cut off from emotionally supportive relationships with caring adults and appeared to repeat the abuse and violence they had experienced in their own behaviors. Dangerous behaviors led to referrals to child welfare services, juvenile justice programs or mental health treatment centers.
My job as a psychologist was to engage these children and their families and to find a way to understand what had happened and what could be done to help them. Rather than viewing these children as helpless victims or frightening aggressors, I learned to listen and watch for clues to what made these children smile and what led to dangerous behaviors. From these children, their parents, caregivers, and my colleagues, I learned lessons about what could be done to transform their lives. I also learned how their stories of trauma and recovery could inspire all of us.
Each child and family I have worked with has taught me a lesson of how ordinary people can rise up to surmount tragedies. Working with children and families who have experienced traumas has broadened my understanding of the impact of traumatic stress and what is possible for everyone. Very often, the worst traumas involved the breakdown of a child’s trust in parents, guardians, and other adults to keep themselves and their families safe. Many children appeared cut off from emotionally supportive relationships with caring adults and appeared to repeat the abuse and violence they had experienced in their own behaviors. Parents, grandparents, teachers, counselors and other caring adults often felt threatened by children’s behavioral reactions after multiple traumas. Caring adults often felt disempowered and unable to re-connect with troubled children. At the same time, troubled children often felt increasingly alone and desperate with little hope.
I wrote The Hero’s Mask novel and The Hero’s Mask Guidebook; Helping Children with Traumatic Stress (Routledge, 2020) to create openings for parents, teachers, therapists, and other caring adults to encourage children to share what may be hidden from adults--what leads to their joy, what they yearn for, who they admire, and what drives their fears. These books build on what I have learned from children, families, and colleagues, my own experience with grief, and ten previously published professional and trade books: Families in Perpetual Crisis with Shirley Schlosberg (Norton, 1989), Turmoil to Turning Points; Building Hope for Children in Crisis Placements (Norton, 1996), Wounded Angels; Lessons from Children in Crisis (Child & Family Press, 2003); Rebuilding Attachments with Traumatized Children; Healing from Losses, Violence, Abuse, and Neglect (Routledge,2004), the Real Life Heroes Life Storybook 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions (Routledge, 2004, 2007, 2017), the Real Life Heroes Practitioner’s Manual (Routledge, 2004), the Real Life Heroes Toolkit for Treating Traumatic stress in Children and Families (Routledge, 2017), and Wounded Angels; Inspiration from Children in Crisis (Routledge, 2017). I have also published 35+ articles, chapters, and papers and media recordings on practice and research issues in trauma therapy, child welfare, foster care, adoption, training implementation, program evaluation, and quality improvement in family service and behavioral health treatment programs.
Wounded Angels; Inspiration from Children in Crisis, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2017), is a book about what we can learn from children who have moved beyond tragedies to fight for what they, their siblings, and their parents need. Their stories highlight the role that courage and caring can play for people of all ages and circumstances- and the rich forces in our lives that have the potential to promote healing for all of us. The children, caregivers, and practitioners I have met led me to develop Real Life Heroes, a resiliency-focused treatment program for traumatic stress.
Real Life Heroes® (RLH) is a practitioner-developed and evidence-supported treatment program that has been successfully implemented in a wide range of child and family service, educational, and mental health treatment programs for over 15 years. RLH provides practitioners with easy-to-use tools including a life storybook, practitioner’s manual, multi-sensory creative arts activities, and psycho education resources to engage children and caregivers in evidence-supported trauma treatment. RLH helps practitioners reframe referrals based on pathologies and blame into a shared ‘journey,’ a ‘pathway’ to healing and recovery. The RLH Toolkit for Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Families, 2nd Ed (2017) includes assessment, service and session planning guidelines that promote integrated treatment and team work focused on restoring (or building) emotionally supportive and enduring relationships and promoting development of affect regulation skills for children and caregivers. Creative arts, movement activities, and shared life story work provide a means for children and caregivers to develop the safety and attunement needed for re-integration of traumatic memories.
The 3rd Edition of the Real Life Heroes Life Storybook (2017) includes three new chapters, a revised chapter organization, and revised workbook activities based on research findings, suggestions from children and caregivers, and recommendations from practitioners. The 3rd Edition engages children and caregivers with therapeutic activities which promote self and co-regulation, trauma and resiliency psycho-education, increased mind-body awareness, and trauma memory integration. Used together, the Real Life Heroes Life Storybook and the Real Life Heroes Toolkit for Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Families facilitate implementation of recommended ‘best practice’ components of treatment for traumatic stress and Complex Trauma. Both books highlight how practitioners and treatment programs can successfully engage and assist children and families with traumatic stress to transform their lives.
My publications and training programs have been enriched by my experience in non-profit child and family services as Director of Professional Development, QI, Research, and Psychological Services at Parsons Child and Family Center and Northern Rivers in Albany, New York, and Principal Investigator for two SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) grants. In the NCTSN, I have been an active member of the NCTSN Steering Committee, the NCTSN Affiliate Advisory Board, the Complex Trauma, Parent Trauma and Child Welfare Committees and the Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment Advisory Group. I founded and co-chaired the NCTSN Resource Parent Committee and co-led development of the NCTSN curriculum, Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Traumatic Stress which has been used in child welfare programs across the United States.
I am currently writing as well as providing consultation and training on traumatic stress and complex trauma treatment. My training programs, presentations, articles, and books highlight practical and innovative approaches that therapists, caregivers, programs, and clinics can utilize to help children and families strengthen resilience and reduce traumatic stress. For further information about my publications and training programs, please see my website: www.reallifeheroes.net.
