Psychotraumatologist (MSc), Systemic Family Therapist (DGSF), Trauma Therapist.

After working in the emergency medical services, Tita Kern worked as deputy head of KIT München (Krisenintervention im Rettungsdienst), head of the KIT Akademie and KIT Nachsorge. The KIT München/ Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB) is the largest institution of its kind in all German-speaking countries. Based on her experience, Tita Kern developed the trauma-specific early intervention approach „Aufsuchende Psychosozial-Systemische Notfallversorgung“ (APSN). In 2007 she was appointed Functional Leader of the pilot project „KIDS – Kinder nach belastenden Ereignissen stützen" at ASB München, which worked according to this concept. For further implementation of this approach the AETAS Kinderstiftung (www. aetas-kinderstiftung. de) was established in 2013. As a lecturer she has teaching assignments on emergency psychology and trauma therapy as well as the consequences of complex traumatisation in childhood and adolescence.

Crisis intervention with for children after high-stress life experiences
APSN as a trauma-preventive early intervention approach

The sudden loss of a loved one, being confronted with the subject of suicide or experiencing any other extreme life event are challenges for children and caregivers, that can touch on limits. Ranging between natural mourning processes and the development of clinical trauma disorders, lost security, shaken understanding of one's own world, intrusive images and difficult questions put families in unfamiliar and often frightening situations. In addition, caregivers do not only have to cope with their own stress, but at the same time support and stabilise their children. How do we strengthen caregivers as stable reference points for children‘s perception and establish safe stepping stones for both them and their children in the time immediately following the event, which can rightly be described as psychotraumatologically crucial? What do children need immediately after a stressful or potentially traumatising event and how does their processing differ from that of adults? This talk covers the concept of „Aufsuchende Psychosozial-Systemische Notfallversorgung“ (APSN), according to which the AETAS Kinderstiftung (www. aetas-kinderstiftung. de) in Munich works. Using concrete examples, early risk factors of processing and key points of the multiple award-winning concept, which goes into action both after individual and collective experiences (e. g. attacks or serious accidents) to reduce acute suffering and to preventively support healthy early processing, will be presented.