Jean Schumaker
Mother
Grandmother
Child Psychologist
Trauma Therapist
Researcher
Author
Teacher
Dog Lover
Are you a professional working with children and adults who have had traumatizing experiences?
If so, this book might turn your understanding of trauma upside down.
Dr. Jean Schumaker’s thirty-plus years of providing Somatic Experiencing Therapy to children and adults are the foundation for her new book on childhood trauma, which provides many answers that professionals might seek about the condition called “trauma.” Through the recounting of 30 captivating stories told to her by traumatized children and adults, she shows how trauma can be healed. Each story contains details of a traumatic event, the symptoms being experienced, notes from one or more therapy sessions, and the outcomes of those sessions.
The Genesis of Transcending Childhood Trauma with Somatic Therapy
In the early 1990’s, Dr. Schumaker was a researcher at The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. She became perplexed by a subgroup of learners who were not benefiting from the instructional programs that had been developed there.
Even though their teachers were using the programs faithfully, these students, if they came to school at all, could not concentrate long enough to be in contact with the materials and instruction. They had difficulty putting any effort into their work, did not complete assignments, and were sometimes disruptive, preventing other students from doing their work.
After reading all of the journal articles she could find that might provide answers, she started to understand that some of these students may have experienced a traumatic event. As she searched for possible treatments or therapies to help these students, she learned about Somatic Experiencing® Therapy.