Photograph by permission of friends & whānau

Since completing Level II training through the Child Trauma Academy, we have been sought out by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development, preschools, primary schools and various agencies serving children and their families to employ the Neuro-sequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) approach, which includes the metric (brain map) and detailed recommendations for the individual child, the family and the educational environment. The metric (brain map), which is based on a clinical reconstruction of the experiences of the child from conception onward, and the recommendations allow those working with the child and the family to adapt their plan to the developmental and functional age of the unique child. The recommendations are grounded in an understanding of the effects of trauma on the developing brain, the ways the experience of trauma manifests in a particular child and the interventions which will ameliorate the stress response in the child. The specificity of the brain map and recommendations help those involved with the child on a daily basis to make each hour a therapeutic hour. In this way, the NMT approach assists in the creation of a therapeutic web around each child.