Helping Children and Young People Who Experience Trauma: Children of Despair, Children of Hope By Panos Vostanis Radcliffe Medical Press. 2014. £24.99 (pb). 304 pp. ISBN 9781846195839

Childhood trauma retains all of its power to shock and capture headlines. As I write, the continent is grappling with a humanitarian and political crisis, precipitated (at least in part) by the tragic loss of life captured in a few haunting images. Months down the line, young people, with or without the support of relatives, will be trickling into child mental health services across Europe. Where does the assessing clinician start?

As Panos Vostanis stresses, the road ahead for many child and adolescent refugees fleeing war may be long and hard – as it may be for many other children who have experienced trauma. In this ambitious but very accessible volume, he has laid out a framework for considering the complex, profound and long-standing needs of this group. He quickly and engagingly surveys relevant developmental psychological and mental health perspectives before addressing specific populations, including children in care, children who are adopted, homeless youth, asylum seekers and young offenders. There is very little attempt at classification or diagnosis (post-traumatic stress disorder barely gets a mention). Instead, there is an emphasis on the multiple systems that will need to work together to support these groups.

Most chapters have a relevant case scenario for the reader to ponder. Sometimes there is a clear and upbeat conclusion, sometimes there is not, but there are certainly no ‘right answers’. This is typical of the tone of this book; Vostanis is not pushing any particular agenda or model, but encouraging the reader to think broadly about the needs of children and adolescents affected by trauma. Treatment plans for these young people can be complex and require revision over time, and this evolving sensitivity to needs is a powerful theme.

This is a great book for the non-medical reader and I think the author has managers and policy makers across various disciplines in mind more than consultant psychiatrists. For the junior doctor or mental health clinician trying to work out where to start, this book is a solid ‘real world’ introduction and a good tonic for the hopelessness that clinicians inevitably experience at some point when working with children who have experienced trauma.