Professor Dennis Ougrin talks to the podcast Nip In The Bud about his experience of working with children affected by war, exile or PTSD and the beneficial effects of Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT).

Dennis is one of our regular TRT trainers. He is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Global Mental Health at Queen Mary University of London, and is a consultant psychiatrist at East London Foundation Trust, which covers some of the most deprived areas of the UK.

In the podcast, he says: “TRT is a group intervention for children, based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or CBT, developed by my wonderful late colleague called Bill Yule. He created the programme for the Bosnian wars in the 1990s. We used it in Ukraine since 2014, which is when the first invasion by Russia happened.

“We did a number of these groups with kids. We look at symptoms of PTSD, of which there are main clusters: intrusive remembering of what happened in all sensory modalities, hypervigilance, hyperarousal and then avoidance. And we give children tools to manage all of these clusters of symptoms.

“It’s not individual CBT for trauma. This is more like giving kids tools to manage these distressing symptoms. The groups were really well attended and beneficial for many children.”

Nip in the Bud is an online resource of free, short, evidence-based films, fact sheets, blogs and podcasts to help parents, carers, primary school staff, teacher trainees and others working with children to recognise potential mental health conditions. Its content is provided by experts from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Anna Freud, King’s College, Imperial College and others. Its films and resources offer expert Information on many conditions and mental wellbeing topics, real life experience, emotional wellbeing and practical guides.