Psychological needs of rescued children in temporary hospital structures

Psychanon here. Thanks to all the brave anons involved in this process, this goes out to anyone who is involved in rescuing / caring for these children.

I'm worried the race to save the children is resulting in a mass processing type war hospital environment just repurposed for children.

These places look very sterile for a recently rescued caged abuse / rape / torture victim.

Psychologically on their recovery trajectory you are looking to develop trust and personal empowerment through control over self and environment.

From lighting to smell from the ground up these places need to be soft and warm, not harsh cold 5000K strip lighting or sterile bleach smelling.

If bleach was used to wash their cages the use of a similar bleach or sterile smells in general could unnerve them on a deep level.

I'm imagining a group of soldiers moving through their environment, next comes the people to get them out of the cages. It would be powerful if these

people could give them a super soft blanket, not the typical hospital type blanket, a super soft blanket, a hot water bottle (to relax muscles and be different from their cage

environment which they can take with them to the processing area. (personal control/responsibility). Beyond some quick food item, snack bar, a soft toy would also help,

anything friendly they can carry with them on their next journey, a small something they have personal responsibility over would lessen the upheaval of

being taken from a cage and moved to a bright ward full of beds and a hundred other startled and shocked looking children. A small LED coloured light

could also be useful in linking to other phases of psychological recovery. They have been deprived of light and to be able to switch on and off a light would be a

partial distraction to the upheaval and again a small something they can control. Anything that can distract, intrigue and give them a small sense of personal

control over would be a powerful item to give them. An mp3 player, a nice smelling soft toy, anything to do with light, smell, music, color are all psychologically

powerful especially when deprived of them for long periods of time. A small ultrasonic water mister/light with a couple of drops of essential oils and colour changing

LEDs placed by their beds waiting for them would be a powerful thing. If the smell of that essential oil mist was the same as the smell on the soft toy they were given on

being released from the cage you are entering into a powerful non verbal conversation which can be harnessed in later therapeutic work.

Personal control

They will have been deprived of control in their cages. this means personal control over their immediate personal environment / space is a BIG DEAL.

Every case will be different but for the severe cases beyond their own colored led light they should have a small bedside light,

dimmable and soft color temperature (3000-4000K) or a misting ultrasonic changing colored LED light would be great, or both.

Being dimmable makes it personally controllable and something simple. As therapy goes on complexity and degrees of control can be expanded upon,

but from the start things like LIGHT, SMELL, WARMTH/TEMPERATURE should be placed under their control in small but growing increments.

A person should be on the ward wheeling round a stack of hot water bottles that they can get at any time at their own choosing.

These small things will develop a relationship between the carers and the rescued children that develop their own sense of control and trust over their immediate environment.

It will set the right tone for setting up trust relations with other people in time. If they are treated by medically trained personnel out of the gate they may be

prodded and poked, temperature taken, examination for injuries. This handling is not so far off the abuse they received before.

ANY KIND OF PHYSICAL HANDLING IS A CONVERSATION YOU ARE ENGAGING IN.

FROM THAT CONVERSATION THEY NEED TO LEARN AND KNOW THEY HAVE POWER OVER HOW THAT CONVERSATION GOES.

Above all else in saving them this is primary.

God speed anons

I'm seeing temporary hospitals being put up around the world, if these environments are for rescued children there are many simple things that could be done to enrich their environment that specifically cater to the therapeutic recovery of trauma victims. Construction workers / designers will probably not pay heed to color temperature of lights, they will just be thinking of standard design protocols for field hospital environments. I'm guessing the military personnel moving through the tunnels will be briefed on how to handle startled kids but the forethought of having a pre-made mini care package to give them at the moment of recovery would help no end in the overall therapeutic process. I would be happy for anyone who is designing these temporary hospitals to take any of these things into consideration, or even the people designing the overall care strategies, ie psychologists etc. so much more very simple inexpensive things could be done that could be integrated into an overall design of psychological treatment. In a mass rescue type of environment it will be hard to give personal attention at such a significant time.

I'm hoping anyone involved in designing these hospitals or the medical staff treating trauma cases or psychologists / medical directors involved with developing an overall care strategy for a volume of child trauma cases. there is so much more that could be done.