How mindfulness helps children with trauma
If you’re reading this, chances are you care about a child who has been through trauma.
Maybe you’re a parent, a carer, a teacher or a professional. Whoever you are, I’m glad you’re here.
Meditation for ACEs is of growing interest as a way to support young people who have experienced trauma, and it’s something I’ve been advocating for over many years.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) were first identified in the late 90s. We now know they can shape a person’s future, mentally, emotionally and physically.
ACEs cover a range of difficult childhood experiences: abuse, neglect and household dysfunction. These can have lasting repercussions, contributing to serious health issues and challenges in later life. The medical community has suggested a range of ways to help, and meditation is one of them. In my experience, I’ve seen firsthand the positive difference it can make to helping trauma-experienced young people.
Meditation to process trauma
I see meditation as a holistic approach to healing from ACEs, because it works on the psychological, emotional and physiological sides of trauma together.
Research suggests that meditation practices help with emotional regulation, brain “rewiring” (neuroplasticity) and building resilience, including in children who have experienced trauma.
“Research has demonstrated that high-quality, structured mindfulness interventions improve mental, behavioral, and physical outcomes in youth.”
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Mindfulness may originally be linked to spiritual practices, but it’s now often offered as a secular practice. Over the last 20 years, empirical research has built a strong picture of why meditation benefits physical, emotional and mental health. The work of *Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn has been hugely influential, making these benefits accessible to the medical sector and other professionals.
What the research can’t show you is what it looks like in a child’s face or when their shoulders finally relax. I’ve been fortunate to see this take place each time I introduced a struggling child to a child-centered meditation practice.
Mindful benefits for the young, stressed brain
A stressed brain struggles to learn new information. When young people can relax their nervous system, they’re far more likely to learn and study effectively.
That also improves their long-term prospects, because engaging with learning opens the door to positive career choices and healthier life choices.
Current evidence shows how closely the mind and emotions are linked, and how trauma can be held in the body. Used with care, meditation can help young people process trauma and build positive mental and emotional connections.
Society is making positive strides with meditation for ACEs, but it’s essential to practise it in a trauma-sensitive way. Over the years I’ve learned that how we offer meditation matters just as much as the practice itself. A child who feels safe, and has choice in what happens, is a child who can begin to settle.
Attachment parenting and meditation
Meditation has real benefits for parents and carers who practise attachment parenting. It builds a reflective practice that brings useful insights to both the adult and the child.
Through mindfulness, parents and carers learn to attune to their child’s needs, stay present in challenging moments, and respond with patience and compassion. It also builds self-awareness and emotional regulation, helping parents, adopters and foster carers move through the ups and downs of caring for children with greater resilience and reduce the impact of compassion fatigue.
And when you practise regularly, you can model the behaviours you hope to see in your children.
I learned this first-hand through fostering. Children borrow our calm, and that’s no small thing when the adults are doing their best on very little sleep. Looking after your own cup isn’t selfish. It’s essential, to help them.
Mindful meditations for anxious children
I spent 10 years fostering, and I’ve spent nearly 25 years teaching children mindfulness and meditation with trauma-sensitive awareness. Many of the children who came to us had lived in multiple homes. Over time, with consistency and calm around them, they developed their own inner resource of resillience and calm.
That experience shaped my children’s book, *The Curious Adventures of Robbie and Jess, which offers children a story that gently introduces the idea of meditation.
To accompany the book, I recorded 9 meditations that follow the story of Robbie and Jess, one for each chapter. Each teaches a practical mindful skill, such as tummy breathing, calming busy thoughts or connecting with the heart. They’re instant downloads, so your child can listen again and again on any device.
I hope the recordings give your child a safe space to relax, reset and discover their own calm and confidence, one gentle step at a time. Many families use them as a bedtime support.
Choose a meditation Full playlist
Already work with trauma?
If you work with children experiencing trauma, you’ll know how demanding that work is.
At Connected Kids we offer trauma-sensitive mindful skills training – combining trauma knowledge with meditation practices – designed to support you as well as the children you care for.
(We also have resources for those teaching meditation/yoga who want to learn more about trauma-sensitive practices).
Curious to learn more?
If you’re a parent, carer or grandparent, we also offer a Mindful Parents course (or the Mindful Grandparents course) – simple, practical tools for clearer communication, calmer evenings and supporting your anxious children, at whatever pace suits you.
If you’d like to teach others, whether in a school, a therapy practice or your own community, our professional training may be a natural next step. Since 2003, the Connected Kids © Method has trained adults worldwide to bring mindfulness and meditation to children and teens. We estimate that’s around 30,000 people helping children and teens access mindful skills. If it feels right, we’d love you to join them.
For parents/carers For Grandparents Educators Certification
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