When you have a child who suffers from symptoms of trauma like chronic anxiety, depression, isolating, self-harm, aggression and more, the hardest job becomes exponentially harder. Bearing wide ranging and intense emotions and emotional defenses is challenging enough. Maintaining enough patience to respond thoughtfully and constructively seems near impossible.

Our children's emotions affect us deeply. And conversely, our emotions affect our children deeply. That's because emotions are contagiou...