Trauma Proof: Healing, Attachment, and the Science of Prevention

"Lucid, clear, visionary"—Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps The Score

An expert's inspiring, deeply personal account of how childhood trauma can be overcome.

From the moment they’re born, babies seek a loving parental attachment. When that connection is absent, it derails childhood development in ways that can last a lifetime. The annual health costs of illness related to child trauma for North America and Europe alone are 1.3 trillion dollars. Child trauma is much more widespread than previously thought and passes from one generation to the next. But that’s not the end of the story—there is overwhelming evidence that this intergenerational transmission can be disrupted.

So why isn’t the eradication of childhood trauma a tier-one global and national priority, on par with defense or prosperity?

In Trauma Proof, Benjamin Perks, who has worked for the UN and UNICEF for 25 years, argues that it must be, and that we can tackle it in the same way we have tackled COVID-19, by 1) Making sure everyone is aware of the risk; 2) Preventing transmission; and 3) Opening pathways to healing.

Perks shows we have the tools to make these three things happen, and the evidence to show they work. The fields of psychology, neuroscience, and medicine have made huge leaps in the past 25 years. We now know what causes Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), how to reduce them, and how to address them. For the first time in history, we know child mistreatment is not inevitable.

Combining expert interviews and intensive reportage from Jamaica to Scotland, from Queens to Manchester, Perks shows the steps we can take to stem the epidemic of childhood trauma. He also shares his personal story of growing up in violent group homes, fathering a child at fifteen and finding his way, in his thirties to healing.

Trauma Proof is a rallying call to address child trauma as the public health crisis it is—because we can do better for kids, and we should.