Online Trauma Training

Homelessness is an extremely traumatic experience. The loss of home, community, stability, safety, friends, and routines is outside the realm of everyday experience and is highly stressful. Before turning to a shelter, families are likely to have moved many times - from one friend's apartment to another, possibly to a car, and sometimes even to an abandoned building or the streets.

For many homeless families, the stress of being homeless is compounded by past traumatic experiences, including catastrophic illness, abrupt separations, and physical or sexual abuse.

As the move to shelter approaches, many parents experience anger, self-blame, and a sense of loss, fear, and hopelessness. Children are keenly aware of the mounting stress and tension, and of the chaos that dominates their lives. In the midst of this turmoil, families are met by a complicated maze of social services, a living situation that offers little privacy, the need to parent in public, and an uncertain future.

This section of our website is designed to teach you more about traumatic stress - what it is, how it effects homeless children and families, and what resources are available to help you respond sensitively to these families' needs.

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