Many children experience medical procedures that leave lasting emotional wounds — even when everyone involved had the best intentions. In this episode, Sarah talks with Christina Gonzalez, MSW, who wrote her graduate thesis on childhood medical trauma. Christina shares her own story of growing up chronically ill and what her research revealed about how forced procedures, lack of informed consent, and emotional neglect impact children for life.

Together, Sarah and Christina explore what medical trauma looks like through a child’s eyes, how parents and providers can do better, and what healing can look like — for both children and parents.

You can find Christina's thesis project here: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/all-about-medical-trauma

You can reach Christina's blog post on Childhood Medical Trauma here: https://www.medicaltraumasupport.org/blog

You can read more about ACES here: https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html

Learn more and access parent resources at medicaltraumasupport.com

Topics covered:

• Violation of bodily autonomy in pediatric care

• The missing emotional care that children need after medical experiences

• How it can feel to the child like their parents have betrayed them — and how parents can rebuild trust

• What parents can do now to support their children before, during, and after medical experiences