I found the application for STAR – – while surfing the net late at night. I was searching for some type of retreat or renewal, something that would help me sort through the grief of my grandmother’s death and the early stages of burnout in my church. My wife was surprised that the STAR description caught my attention. I had not been a victim of trauma. Trauma was not something I had talked about. I wasn’t even sure what the connection was, but I was drawn to the training.

After completing the STAR workshops, I tried to figure out how to adapt my STAR experience to my ministry with youth. Along the way I had an epiphany. The description of trauma victims seemed closely linked to the psychological issues and difficult experiences of adolescence.  I started to reorient my middle-school youth ministry. I treated both the youth and parents, who were living in a time of constant change and upheaval, as people who were experiencing trauma. I provided resources and I asked questions that reframed their perspective. The results were positive.

From there I created “Chi Rho Seminar,” a middle-school youth ministry program. During the five-day seminar, youth heard presentations about substance abuse from state educators, visited homeless shelters, and learned about rehab programs. We went to an abuse shelter and listened to the stories of families starting over. We explored the “drug court” process for nonviolent offenders. We listened to the stories of teen addicts living in a halfway house.

At the end, we gathered together to put all the people we met on the STAR victim and offender cycles model, including ourselves. It was quite a powerful exercise. The youth could see the how the cycles of violence and trauma responses connected to those they met and to themselves. They realized the issues they face are often symptoms of bigger problems. Yet they could see that we each have the choice to break from a cycle of violence and pursue a path of trauma healing. The youth discovered that they are not alone.

I am thankful that STAR taught me to reframe questions as I think about the needs and brokenness of others, alongside my own pain and blame. I am thankful for a new worldview that continues to shape my life and ministry.

[Lee Yates, a Christian education curriculum writer and former youth pastor, took STAR levels I and II, and helped shape the Youth STAR curriculum. Lee lives in Indiana with his wife and two children.]

If you live or work with young people, it’s likely that you’ve felt their enthusiasm when a good idea catches their imagination, or listened to their laughter and banter as they hang out with friends.

But you may also observe behaviors that concern you: irritability, anger, aggressiveness, withdrawal, feeling sad, substance abuse, cutting, or getting in trouble with the law.

The root of distress in young people can be trauma, the result of experiencing or witnessing something that involves a threat to survival. Or the trauma can be from growing up in an unsafe environment where layers of trauma are undercurrents that can explode on a daily basis.

Viewing young people’s experiences and behaviors through a trauma lens provides a way of understanding them, and of knowing how to reach out in supportive ways.

Big T and little t traumatic events

We tend to think of traumatic events as the dramatic Big Traumas,” ongoing events such as war, or living under occupation or in a violent community or with an abusive parent; and one-time happenings like an accident where someone dies, or being raped, or seeing a murder.

But young people are also impacted by “little t traumas,” events that are often not recognized as threatening or traumatic by adults. These might include:

• Dad angrily belittling mom as the teenager listens helplessly from the bedroom
• A teacher publicly making comments that shame or humiliate the young person, or watching her do it to others
• Painful medical or dental procedures, especially those in which the persons is immobilized or feels trapped
• Intense pressure to do well in school, get into a good university, contribute to the family income, or live up to rigid societal expectations

The common denominator of traumatic experiences, whether big or small, is that they are experienced as an overwhelming threat to survival of our bodies, minds or spirits. One feels powerless and alone.

Acting in and acting out behaviors

It is not news that hurting people hurt people. Sometimes we hurt others, but the person we hurt may be our self, too. This is true for adults as well as young people.

Here are some examples of behaviors that we see in young people who are living with unaddressed trauma, especially if trauma is an ongoing part of their lives.

We can’t prevent youth from having traumatic events; trauma is part of the human experience. But we can reduce the chances that they will be traumatized by providing ingredients that build resilience:

• Education that normalizes what they are experiencing
• Tools to deal with the physiological overwhelm trauma induces in the body and brain
• Safe spaces to voice troubling thoughts and questions
• Conflict transformation skills to counter powerlessness

These interventions break the isolation that makes traumatic experiences so disorienting. We let our youth them know that we care, and that they are not alone. Life will always bring challenges, but the isolating hurt can be broken and laugher and enthusiasm return.