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Bounce Back is a cognitive-behavioral, skills-based, group intervention aimed at relieving symptoms of child traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and functional impairment among elementary school children (ages 5-11) who have been exposed to traumatic events.

Bounce Back is used most commonly for children who have experienced or witnessed community, family, or school violence, or who have been involved in natural disasters, accidents, physical abuse, neglect, or traumatic separation from a loved one due to death, incarceration, deportation, or child welfare detainment.

The clinician-led intervention includes 10 group sessions where children learn and practice feelings identification, relaxation, courage thoughts, problem solving and conflict resolution, and build positive activities and social support. It also includes 2-3 individual sessions in which children complete a trauma narrative to process their traumatic memory and grief and share it with a parent/caregiver. Between sessions, children practice the skills they have learned. Bounce Back also includes materials for parent education sessions. 

Developed as an adaptation for elementary aged students of the Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program, Bounce Back contains many of the same therapeutic elements but is designed with added elements and engagement activities and more parental involvement to be developmentally appropriate for 5-11 year olds. 

Bounce Back is designed to be implemented in schools for children in elementary school grades Kindergarten through 5th grade (ages 5-11) who have experienced events such as witnessing or being a victim of family, school, or community violence, being in a natural or man-made disaster, being in an accident or fire, or being physically abused or injured, and who are experiencing moderate to severe levels of PTSD symptoms. 

Bounce Back includes cognitive-behavioral coping strategies and skills and trauma narrative. Bounce Back is adapted from CBITS. It contains all of the key elements of CBITS and adds feelings identification, positive activities, and social support. 

Key components: 

  • Psychoeducation 
  • Feelings Identification 
  • Positive Activities 
  • Relaxation Training 
  • Cognitive Coping 
  • Gradual Exposure for functional impairment 
  • Trauma narrative 
  • Social Support/Connecting with Others 
  • Problem Solving/Conflict Resolution