It is normal and healthy or adaptive for a child’s life experience to dramatically impact their behavior. Concerning behaviors can often lead to mis- or over diagnosing without considering the impact of loss, trauma, and environmental stressors that influence children’s mental health. Any or all of the Seven Core Issues may be stemming from the child’s core experience of loss. Behaviors resulting from any of the Seven Core Issues are important to consider before making any mental health diagnoses. Trauma that happens between people needs healing through relationships between people.

• Understand the complexity of appropriately diagnosing children with mental health conditions when they have experienced separation, loss and trauma.
• Know where and how to access information on common childhood mental health conditions and psychotropic medications through the child’s medical professionals and resources.
• Learn accurate and sensitive language to describe behavioral symptoms and diagnoses.

• Committed to implementing recommendations related to children’s mental health.
• Willing to recognize one’s own possible bias, attitudes and assumptions about the need for mental health services.
• Willing to parent children who may have mental health challenges and willing to continue to seek resources and services for such needs.
• Believe that the experiences children have had will significantly impact their behavior.