Laura*, a Dublin mother of one, was in such a state of mental distress two years ago that she did not want either herself or young daughter “to be alive”.

Both were struggling – her daughter with intense anxiety, emotional dysregulation and school avoidance, while Laura was very depressed.

“I was in crisis and feeling I couldn’t parent her. We ended up in a situation where she was in a mental health crisis. She was [younger than 10] then and I had to bring her to an emergency department to get support,” she said.

“They said I should link in with Barnardos. I didn’t really know what Barnardos did. I felt, leaving there, even though we were both in crisis, there was no path, no definite person I could link in with.”

Barnardos, a charity working with vulnerable children and families, had a branch near Laura’s daughter’s school.

“I went and knocked on the door and kind of said, ‘I need help. Can you help me? What do you do here?’”

Laura and her daughter have since benefited from intensive, trauma-informed counselling and supports provided by the charity, including weekly sessions – separately and together.

“From that moment I really felt somebody had our backs. It wasn’t just the meetings, it was the project worker, the advocacy with other services, the camps and activities for [my daughter],” Laura says.

“There was empathy, compassion, non-judgemental support, and we learned how to talk about our emotions and calm them.”

The mother and daughter are among more than 34,000 children and adults who benefited from the charity’s trauma-informed methods last year.

Trauma-informed practices recognise the physiological impact trauma has on children’s brains. The impacts, which may arise from chronic exposure to toxic stress – such as domestic violence, mental ill-health, homelessness, poverty, addiction, crime – can lead to persistent feelings of being unsafe.

“The neurological impact of toxic stress means in a young child that the emotional side of their brain is overdeveloped, rather than the cognitive and problem-solving side of their brain,” says Stephanie Whyte, Barnardos’ director of services.

“What that means for adults [who grew up with toxic stress], their problem-solving skills are diminished or less developed. Our staff have an understanding that the crisis in many of the adults we see is linked to how their brain has developed, and in many cases is affecting their children too.”

New research from the charity, published on Tuesday, draws on data gathered in 2024 and last year from questionnaires completed by 1,262 children and parents before and after engaging with Barnardos.

Researchers found 64 per cent of the children had “high” or “very high” emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. Parents and children were also experiencing more relationship challenges than the national norm.

[ Anxiety ‘most prevalent mental health difficulty’ for secondary school studentsOpens in new window ]

Following intensive support, typically of about 18 months’ duration, “children’s wellbeing had significantly improved”.

There were noted reductions in children’s social, emotional and behavioural difficulties; increases in pro-social strengths, and they were “experiencing significantly less distress and social impairment in their day-to-day lives”, says the study.

“We’re delighted now to be able to say, what we knew anecdotally, we have measured this and we know it works,” says Whyte.

For Laura and her daughter, Barnardos has been life-changing and life-saving. Where her daughter previously felt, in her words, “Mummy was sad all the time, I didn’t feel safe in the house and didn’t feel safe with Mummy”, she is now confident and sociable, and the two have a strong relationship.

*Laura’s name was changed to preserve her family’s identity