Partner Spotlight: Voices for Illinois Children & Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition

Look Through Their Eyes

Research shows that roughly 20% to 25% of children in the United States will experience some form of childhood trauma before they reach adulthood. But there is hope. You can do something to prevent, identify and overcome trauma for a child. It all starts when you Look Through Their Eyes.

As a part of our Promoting Resilience Focused Funding initiative which began in 2012, Bright Promises partnered with Voices for Illinois Children and the Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition to create a series of Public Service Announcements (PSA) and a resource website to help parents and caregivers understand what childhood trauma is - and what you can do about it. The goal of this public awareness campaign is to:

(1) Increase the awareness of the general public about childhood trauma, its impact, prevention and treatment.
(2) Build support among the general public to maintain and increase resources for prevention and treatment of childhood trauma.

Our partners identified that most of the available resources on childhood trauma were directed at professionals and the resources that were available to parents and caregivers were limited and hard to find. The Look Through Their Eyes public awareness campaign encourages parents and caregivers to look through the eyes of their children to see if and how a child is struggling with something traumatic. Public service announcements were created for radio and television and highlighted common causes of childhood trauma including bullying and exposure to community violence and how to help children who have experienced those traumas.

Visit www.lookthroughtheireyes.org to see all of these videos and discover more ways to help every child to reach their full promise and potential.

LOOK THROUGH THEIR EYES PSA 1
Sometimes, what seems like normal arguing between parents can have a lasting impact on children, which may lead to trauma. 

LOOK THROUGH THEIR EYES PSA 2
Bullying can tear a child apart - emotionally and physically - and may lead to childhood trauma. 

LOOK THROUGH THEIR EYES PSA 3
It sometimes seems that our children grow numb to the violence and crime that besiege many communities. 

LOOK THROUGH THEIR EYES PSA 4
A child who often feels alone, neglected or scared, may result in childhood trauma.