| Course | MSW 525 Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents |
|---|---|
| Week | 3 |
| Paper type | Caregiver handout |
| Length | About 380 words, 4 pages |
| Format | Memo with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 525 Week 3
Memorandum
To: N.'s parent
From: Therapist, child and family clinic
Date: Handed over in person, October 8, 2026
Re: When N. will not get on the bus or sleep alone
What You Are Seeing
N. screams and holds the door frame when the bus comes. N. will not sleep alone and wakes up crying. N. hit the baby twice this week. You are tired and you are worried that you are making it worse.
What Is Going On
Since the crash, N.'s body treats the bus, the dark and loud noises as danger, even though N. knows the crash is over. Fighting the bus is N.'s way of staying safe. Hitting often comes when N. feels scared and has no words for it. None of this means N. is being bad, and none of it means you caused it.
The Question to Hold Back
Do not ask N. to tell you about the crash, and do not ask "why are you scared?" N. will tell the story in our sessions, slowly and with help. Being asked at home, when N. is already upset, can make the fear stronger. If N. brings it up, listen, say "that was really scary," and let N. stop when N. wants.
One Thing to Try This Week
At bedtime, sit on the edge of N.'s bed and breathe slowly together, counting to four in and four out, five times. Then say, "I am right in the next room." Stay until N. is calm, not until N. is asleep. Do this every night. Write down how many minutes it took. Bring the list next week.
Not Yours to Carry
Making N. talk about the crash, fixing N.'s fear or acting as N.'s therapist is not on your list. Your job is to keep N.'s days steady, notice what helps and tell me. Caregivers who learn and practice these skills alongside the child are part of the treatment, and that is how this approach works best (Cohen et al., 2017).
If It Gets Worse
If N. talks about wanting to die, gets hurt or cannot be calmed for more than an hour, call the clinic's after-hours line at 555-0119.
Our Next Meeting
Thursday at 4:30. We will look at your bedtime list together.
References
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., & Deblinger, E. (2017). Treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.
Reading the MSW 525 Week 3 instructions
The caregiver handout is addressed to an adult and is about a child. Open on the behavior that adult is living with, described in their words rather than in clinical terms. Explain what is happening briefly and only as far as it helps the adult respond. Name the question the adult should hold back, since many child trauma approaches do not want caregivers pressing for the story at home. Give one thing to try this week, specific enough to do tonight, with a way to record how it went. Say what is not the adult's job. Include what to do if things get worse. Hand the page over in person and go through it, rather than sending it home in a backpack.
Inside the MSW 525 Week 3 example
The handout begins with the parent's week: screaming at the bus, refusing to sleep alone and hitting the baby. A short section explains these as the body treating reminders as danger and states that the parent did not cause them. The held-back question section asks the parent not to request the story or ask why N. is scared, and gives a three-part response if N. raises it. The one thing to try is a five-breath bedtime routine with a promise to stay nearby, timed and written down. The section on the parent's job draws on Cohen et al. (2017) on caregivers as part of treatment. An after-hours number and the next appointment close the page, and the heading records that it was handed over in person.
MSW 525 Week 3 rubric: what full points look like
Faculty grade whether the handout instructs the adult or merely explains the child. A page describing what happens inside a child, with nothing for the adult to do, loses the most. The next deduction is for advising the adult to get the child talking about the event, which the models in this course avoid at home. Credit goes to behavior described in the adult's words, a question to hold back, one concrete thing to try with a way to record it and plain words on what the adult need not take on. A safety line is expected. Plain language and a single page count. Sources can be named lightly and cited in APA.
MSW 525 Week 3 help: mistakes that cost points
The handout that loses most explains the child's brain and gives the parent nothing to do at bedtime. Another common mistake is telling the parent to encourage the child to talk about what happened. Some handouts list ten strategies, so none is tried. Others are mailed home and never discussed. If your case is different, perhaps a grandparent raising a child after a parent's death or a foster parent of a teen, keep the same order: behavior in their words, what is going on, what to hold back, one thing to try, what is not their job and who to call. A handout drafted for your caregiver would be read aloud with them before they leave.
Get a MSW-525 Week 3 example written to your instructions
Send the handout instructions, the rubric and whatever your classroom said about the family in the case, and a custom MSW-525 Week 3 handout comes back written to them inside 24 to 48 hours, at no cost the first time. Every child and adult in it is fictional, since a real family's material is not ours to put on a page.
More MSW 525 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 525 Week 1: Component Mismatch Post
- MSW 525 Week 2: TF-CBT Versus Bounce Back
- MSW 525 Week 4: Trauma Narrative Plan
- MSW 525 Week 5: Play Session Write-up
- MSW 525 Week 6: School Coordination Memo
- MSW 525 Week 7: Session Progress Review
- MSW 525 Week 8: Termination Session Plan
- MSW 524 Week 3: Stress Response Explainer
- MSW 521 Week 3: Activation Checklist
- MSW 520 Week 3: Rohingya Household Case Study
- MSW 517 Week 3: First Move Memo
MSW 525 Week 3 questions, answered
How long should the handout be?
One side of a page in most sections, and the limit exists for the reader rather than for the printer. An adult reads this once, standing up, at the end of a day that went badly, and the second side is where the useful line goes to die. Where your classroom sets a longer format, spend the extra room on more behaviors rather than on more explanation of each.
Can the handout name the model?
It can, in a line, and most sections neither require nor forbid it. What the page cannot afford is component vocabulary running through the instructions, since the adult has to act on a sentence and not decode it. Where the assignment wants the approach identified, one plain sentence at the foot naming it and saying where to read more does that without changing the register above.
What if the caregiver in the case is the reason the child was referred?
Then say who the handout is for, because it may not be that person. Cases in this course often place the child with a relative or a temporary carer while the referring adult has limited contact, and the page is written for whoever is there at bedtime. Sections supplying a contested household usually mark whether the document noticed.
Where can I find a free MSW 525 Week 3 sample paper?
You can read a full MSW 525 Week 3 caregiver handout written for N.'s parent here, with margin notes on what to try and what to hold back.
What does the MSW 525 Week 3 sample ask the parent to try?
A bedtime routine of five slow breaths together, staying until the child is calm rather than asleep, with the minutes written down each night and brought to the next session.