Attachment and trauma

Learning outcomes

• Describe attachment styles and how they present in placement
• Explain the impact of developmental trauma on the brain and body
• Apply PACE in everyday interactions
• Recognise and manage the effects of secondary trauma on yourself

Module 1 of 3

Attachment in practice

Secure attachment develops when a caregiver is consistently available and responsive. Where that is absent, children develop strategies to survive: avoidant children minimise their needs, ambivalent children amplify them, and disorganised children swing unpredictably between the two because the source of comfort was also the source of fear.

In placement this looks like a child who rejects care they clearly want, who is charming with strangers but hostile at home, or who sabotages things precisely when they start to go well. None of this is personal, and all of it is adaptive.

Module 2 of 3

Trauma and the developing brain

Chronic stress keeps the threat system permanently switched on. A child in fight, flight or freeze cannot access the thinking part of the brain, so reasoning, consequences and reflective conversation simply will not land in that moment.

Regulate, relate, then reason. Calm the body first through tone, pace, proximity and sensory support. Connect second. Only then, sometimes hours later, is there any point in reflecting on what happened.

Module 3 of 3

PACE and looking after yourself

PACE means Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. Accept the feeling underneath even while holding the boundary about the behaviour: I can see how angry you are, and I'm not going to let you hurt anyone.

Working with traumatised children carries a cost. Secondary trauma shows as exhaustion, cynicism, intrusive thoughts, irritability or emotional numbness. Supervision, reflective practice and honest conversation with your team are part of the job, not a sign of weakness.