The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 24th took the lives of 19 children, including two adults, and several others were wounded. I couldn’t help but think to myself, and I am sure you all can agree why children? It is heartbreaking. There are also many young survivors that must navigate and heal from the overwhelming trauma that is going to follow them for some time. There are 9- and 10-year old’s who are now burdened with the questions ranging from “Why did this happen in my school? A place that I thought was safe”, “Where is my classmate? And why did he/she have to die?”. Questions that no 9- or 10-year-old should be forced to struggle with at such a young age. Nonetheless here we are, it now brings up the important conversation of childhood trauma. This is a conversation that has always been crucial to speak on, but now more than ever, in our society children are being pushed into overwhelming experiences that are out of their control and as a result can compromise their cognitive, emotional, and physiological functioning if not addressed effectively.
I got the opportunity to ask Dr. Yared Alemu questions regarding childhood trauma. Dr. Alemu is a highly competent psychologist, behavioral health innovator, and entrepreneur who has worked with at-risk youth and is on a mission to improve mental health treatment outcomes by using voice and AI to quantify and predict Pediatric Trauma. Dr. Alemu first explained, “Adverse Childhood Experiences” which accounts for the number of different types of pediatric traumas. Adverse Childhood Experiences are potentially traumatic events that occur before a child reaches the age of 18. These experiences, (i.e.; loss, emotional/physical/sexual abuse) depending on how high the ACE score is, can disrupt the development process, including impacting the fragile brain development process tremendously. Symptoms of trauma vary but some of the common symptoms that parents and teachers should be aware of include problems with self-regulation and impulsivity, low frustration tolerance, anxiety, sleep and appetite disturbance, as well as depressed mood which can negatively impact the child’s ability to function at school and at home.
The recent incident of the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde is an acute trauma and will have severe consequences for the children that survived this tragedy. Our children deserve to feel safe in their schools, homes, and neighborhoods. To say that there is a lot of work that needs to be done from a political standpoint is an understatement. The most important question now is how can we support our children? According to The Gun Violence Archive; and Independent Data Collection Organization, there have been 212 mass shootings that have occurred so far this year. This is a lot of violence for all of us to digest as humans but most especially a child under the age of 18. Once the TV cameras and celebrities leave, the children in this community will start a long process of dealing with the trauma; it would be fair to say life has dramatically changed for almost all of them. All resources should be devoted to fortifying the families to prevent the worsening of the collective trauma; this includes a flexible work schedule and a generous break from work to make sure the child is attended to 24/7.
Therapy is not adequate without supporting the family to deal with the trauma robustly. Therapists need to keep in mind that for some children this is not the first traumatic experience; for complex trauma symptoms, Psychiatrists need to be available on-demand to see if a medication can help reduce the physiological symptoms of trauma. Considering the severity of these traumatic events, the therapist needs to be well experienced and licensed.
To help push forward efficient treatment, Dr. Alemu founded TQIntelligence which is an Atlanta-based startup that leverages human voice and artificial intelligence to identify trauma and distress in children. This platform allows therapists to quantify severity in a fraction of the time from current methods, track treatment progress, and remotely monitor patients who need more support and supervision. The supports empirically supported and culturally competent care.
This recent shooting should shake us to our core and push us to address the disparities in mental health treatment. Now more than ever our young people need effective mental health treatment, that is affordable when needed the most. TQIntelligence’s use of Voice technology and Artificial Intelligence is an augmented clinical intelligence to improve the performances of therapists to address the decade-old disparities in mental health treatment outcomes for children from low-income communities.
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