Children and Young People

This is a list of resources and information to assist parents, teachers, professionals and organisations better understand and respond to young people who present with complex needs.


Young People with Backgrounds of Trauma

• Childhood Trauma - Persistent Fear and Brain Development

This article written by Bruce Perry discusses the impact of fear (or early developmental trauma) on a young person's brain.

Reference: Perry, B.D. (2001). The neurodevelopmental impact of violence in childhood. In Schetky D & Benedek, E. (Eds.) Textbook of child and adolescent forensic psychiatry. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. (221-238)


• Post-Trauma Response - Children and Adolescents

This article written by Schwarz and Perry discusses the impact of early developmental trauma on children and adolescents.

Reference: Schwarz, E and Perry, BD The post-traumatic response in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 17 (2): 311-326, 1994.


• Helping Traumatised Children - An Overview for Caregivers

This resource is written by Bruce Perry and provides an overview of best-practice guidelines for caregivers supporting children who have experienced developmental trauma.


• Principles of Working with Traumatised Children

This resource is written by Bruce Perry and provides an overview of best-practice guidelines for parents, teachers and caregivers who are supporting children who have experienced developmental trauma.

Key Developmental Needs of Children and Young People

• The Importance of Bonding and Attachment for Children

This resource written by Bruce Perry reviews the importance of relationships, attachment and connections for children and young people, but in particular, young people who have experienced maltreatment or developmental trauma.


• The Importance of Play for Children and Adolescents

This article written by Bruce Perry, Lea Hogan and Sarah Marlin reviews the importance of children and young people experiencing play, curiosity and fun as crucial and ongoing components of optimal development.


• A Teacher's Guide to Supporting Individual Strengths

This reference produced by the Child Trauma Academy reviews the importance of teacher's supporting and validating the individual strengths of students.


• The Importance of Curiosity in Children's Development

This reference produced by the Child Trauma Academy reviews the importance of curiosity as being the catalyst for optimal child development and learning.

Young People who Offend

• What Works in Reducing Young People's Involvement in Crime

This report produced by the Australian Institute of Criminology reviews the crime prevention literature and identifies "what works" in reducing young people's involvement in crime.

The Rock and Water Program

The following resources are provided to assist both individuals and organisations understand, and then effectively deliver and evaluate the Rock & Water program for young people.

• Qualitative Evaluation of Rock & Water for Young People in Care

This article written by Connected Self psychologist, Ivan Raymond, was first published in Youth Studies Australia (v 24, n 4) in 2005. It provides an overview of the Rock & Water program delivered to young people in care, including qualitative evaluation data.


• 2008 Qualitative Evaluation of Two Rock & Water Programs Delivered to Young Men and Women with Complex Needs

This is an evaluation of two Rock & Water programs delivered to young men (Indigenous group) and young women in Murray Bridge, South Australia in 2008. The qualitative evaluation was conducted by Connected Self psychologist, Ivan Raymond.


• 2007 Quantitative/Qualitative Evaluation of a Rock & Water Program for Young Men in Care

This evaluation of a Rock & Water program delivered to young men residing in care was conducted by Connected Self psychologists, Ivan Raymond and Carole Simpson. The evaluation uses both quantitative (pretest post-test design) and qualitative data collection techniques.


• Development of the Rock & Water Program for Young People in Care

This is an extract of a short article written by Ivan Raymond that was first published in "Bringing it Together" (Ykema, Hartman & Imms, 2006). This article provides an overview of the development of the Rock & Water program for young people within the South Australian care system.


• Overview of the Rock & Water Program by Freerk Ykema

This is a 4-page overview of the Rock & Water program written by founder Freerk Ykema. It provides program evaluation data from two case studies conducted in Australia.


• Qualitative Evaluation of the Rock & Water Program - Maitland High School

This 7-page qualitative evaluation of the Rock & Water program was conducted by Maitland High School.

• Evaluation of 3-Day Rock & Water Training 2003-2004

This is a qualitative summary of feedback provided by principals, teachers, counsellors and support teachers who attended the 3-day Rock & Water training in 2003-04. The evaluation was commissioned by the University of Newcastle.


• Varied Applications of the Rock & Water Program

This Youth Action and Policy Association (NSW) website provides a brief overview of a number of Rock & Water programs delivered to diverse cohorts of young people in NSW.

Wilderness-Adventure Programs for Young People

• Wilderness-Therapy: Is it the "Magical Cure" for Marginalised Youth?

This article written by Connected Self psychologist, Ivan Raymond, was presented to a conference by the Australian Association of Environmental Education in 2004. The article critically evaluates wilderness therapy and draws upon the author's research with the Operation Flinders Foundation.


• Robust Evaluation of the Operation Flinders Wilderness-Adventure Program (large file)

This is a detailed quantitative evaluation (pretest-postest control group design) of the Operation Flinders wilderness-adventure program conducted by Connected Self psychologist, Ivan Raymond, in 2003.


• Evaluation of a Wilderness-Adventure Program for Young Men with an Intellectual Disability

This is a evaluation (pretest-postest design) of a wilderness-adventure program for young men (aged 14 to 25) who present with a mild to moderate intellectual disability.


• International Review of Wilderness-Adventure Programming- Implications for Australian Programs

This comprehensive report, authored by Simon Crisp, reviews a range of wilderness and adventure programs in the United Kingdom, United States of America and New Zealand, and makes a number of recommendations for best-practice wilderness-adventure programming in Australia.


• Adventure-Based Programs for Young People

This tip-sheet provided by the National Crime Prevention Programme summarises the best-practice components in designing adventure-based programming for young people.

Connectedness - Why is it so important?

Connected Self strongly values the importance of connections or "being connected" as a central feature to support both individuals and organisations be more effective, and achieve greater success and fulfillment. The following set of resources is provided to support individuals and organisations understand the importance of connections, connectedness or being connected.

• The Role and Importance of the Parent-Child Connection

This long report reviews the role, importance and application of parent-child connectedness for the health and well-being of children and young people.


• The Role and Importance of the Parent-Child Connection (Minority Groups)

This long report reviews the role, importance and application of parent-child connectedness for the health and well-being of children and young people, but with a focus on American minority groups.


• The Importance, Role and Function of School Connectedness in Lives of Young People

This American report reviews the importance, role and function of children and young people being "connected" to their teachers, learning experience and school community.


• Healthy Youth Development and Connectedness

This article written by Michael Resnick in the Medical Journal of Australia (V 183, N 8) reviews healthy youth development. He argues that the role and importance of connectedness with adults, peers, caregivers and life itself are central components of healthy development.


• Fostering Resilience in Young People Through Connectedness and Participation

This article produced in the Australian eJournal for the Advancement of Mental Health reviews the importance and role of supporting young people being active in decision making processes as a means of fostering resilience, connectedness and belonging.


• Creating Connectedness: The Role and Importance of Schools

This report is written by the 'Australian National School Drug Education Innovation and Good Practice Project'. It reviews the role and function of schools as "creating, building and reinforcing connectedness", notable as it relates to drug education and prevention.


• Understanding and Measuring Connectedness in Adolescence

Psychologists are now starting to measure the construct of "connectedness". Dr. Michael Karcher has done significant research and theorising into adolescent connectedness, and has developed the "Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness" as a tool to measure connectedness. This is a link to Dr Karcher's work. It includes open access to the "Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness".


• The Importance of Connectedness - A Review of Different Disciplines

This bibliography reviews a number of humanity and scientific disciplines that understand optimal human functioning within the context of connectedness.


• Connectedness Defined as Interdependence

This short article written by Connected Self defines "connectedness" as the interdependent relationship individuals share with people, objects and their environment.


• Connectedness Quotes

This is a one-page overview of quotes that add additional insight into the importance of being connected.

Disclaimer: This resource section has been provided to support and encourage original thought and practice. Apart from where stated, Connected Self does not endorse individual articles or resources, but instead, sees diversity of opinion as being an important feature of evidence-based practice. Connected Self encourages practitioners to submit relevant and high quality articles, research or reviews to this resource section (please forward pdf files to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . All articles will be evaluated and screened for content and relevance. Authorship will be retained by the submitting author, however, Connected Self reserves the right to independently manage and present the article. Full conditions are available upon request.