The Annex Project

27/02/2026

Childhood trauma in a any child can show itself through changes in emotions, behaviour, relationships and development, rather than always through a clear narrative of what has happened. The child may be struggling with things that we as adults wouldn't think of as a trauma. Divorce, Death of a relative, School issues including friendships and bullying; struggling with school work and many many more.

You can make a huge difference! Therapeutic parenting makes that difference and strengthens your relationships. If you would like to know more please comment below or email our friendly team at tap@theannexproject.com and we will get back to you

Emotional and physical signs
- Heightened anxiety, fearfulness, or appearing constantly “on edge” or watchful.
- Frequent tearfulness, mood swings, anger, or sudden outbursts that seem out of proportion to the situation.
- Physical symptoms such as headaches, stomach aches, sleep difficulties or nightmares without a clear medical cause.

Behavioural changes
- Regression (bedwetting, clinginess, baby talk, fear of the dark) after previously having mastered these stages.
- Over-compliance and “people-pleasing” or, conversely, oppositional, aggressive or very controlling behaviour.
- Risk-taking, self-harm, or sudden changes in eating patterns or self-care.

Relationships and attachment
- Difficulty trusting adults, appearing either very withdrawn or overly familiar with people they do not know well.
- Struggles with friendships, frequent fallings-out, or preferring to be alone even when previously sociable.
- Either extreme clinginess to caregivers or emotional distance, seeming not to seek comfort when distressed.

Thinking, learning and attention
- Problems concentrating, zoning out, or “daydreaming” in class; underachieving compared with apparent ability.
- Forgetfulness, disorganisation, or sudden dips in performance around reminders of the trauma (anniversaries, places, people).

Play and everyday functioning
- Traumatic themes appearing in play, drawings or stories, sometimes repetitively.
- Being easily startled, highly sensitive to noise, touch or busyness, or alternatively seeming shut down and detached.

These patterns are best understood as survival responses of a sensitised stress system, not as wilful misbehaviour, and they can appear in birth children in any family where overwhelming or frightening experiences have occurred.

26/02/2026

Parenting a child who has experience difficulties in pregnany, infancy or childhood can be really tricky. The Annex Project can support you to use your parenting to help build better brains and better outcomes for your family

Why “ordinary” parenting often doesn’t work
Many parents say, “Nothing I used to do with my other children works with this child.” When you understand trauma, this makes sense.
• Children who have been scared, hurt, shamed or neglected learn that adults are not safe and that they must protect themselves at all costs.
• Their brain and body stay on alert, looking for danger, even in a loving adoptive or special guardian home.
• Behaviour that looks rude, controlling, lying, stealing, rejecting or over independent is often survival behaviour, not “naughtiness”.
• Usual parenting – consequences, lectures, sending them away to “think”, insisting they “just say sorry” – can feel like more danger, more shame and more rejection.
The child defends harder; you feel more powerless and exhausted; everyone ends up in a battle. PACE and DDP offer a different map for these moments.

If you would like to know more please comment below or email us tap@theannexproject.com and we will get back to you. Many thanks Anne-Marie, Natasha and Peter

28/01/2026

Road clousures coming in to The Annex from the 9th Feb - sorry!

05/12/2025

I am not sure I can quite believe this! Parents are not allowed to pay for their child’s therapy, despite funds being cut. What is the aim of that! Would love to hear your comments!

01/12/2025

Please read the brief resume if you can’t face the whole book - it is so important for generations to come!

There was something about the title that pulled me in immediately, maybe because I have often wondered what exactly is happening to today’s children, or maybe because the voices of Sean Pratt and Jonathan Haidt in the sample clip felt unusually calm and compelling. The moment I pressed play, I knew this was not just another book on modern parenting. It felt like someone finally sat down to explain the invisible crisis unfolding around us, and the narration made the message feel even more intimate, almost like a gentle but urgent conversation. Listening to the authors unravel the story of how childhood got rewired made me pause many times, reflect deeply, and see the world around me with clearer eyes. Below are seven lessons that stayed with me.

1. Childhood was never designed to be dominated by screens, and the book makes this uncomfortably clear. Haidt explained how the shift from a play based childhood to a phone based childhood quietly stripped children of thousands of micro experiences that help build resilience, confidence, and social intelligence. Listening to the narrator emphasise the contrast between a generation that climbed trees and one that scrolls endlessly made me realise how much we have normalised an unnatural childhood environment.

2. The rise in anxiety and depression among young people is not random, and Haidt connects the dots in a very sobering way. The moment smartphones became central to childhood, mental health graphs began to bend sharply upward. Hearing the authors describe the timeline in their steady, factual tone made the truth sink in powerfully, children did not suddenly become weaker, their world simply became more overwhelming than their minds could process.

3. Social media reshaped identity formation, and not in a healthy way. The book explains how preteens and teenagers, who are already navigating the fragile work of figuring out who they are, now face a global audience ready to judge, compare, and criticise. The narration highlighted the emotional weight of this new reality, and I could almost feel the pressure today’s children carry, always performing, always watching themselves through the eyes of others.

4. Free play is more therapeutic than we realised, and Haidt pushes this lesson with so much conviction that I found myself nodding repeatedly. When children engage in unstructured outdoor play, they learn how to negotiate, manage risks, solve problems, and recover from small failures. The way the author’s voice softened when describing the loss of “play based wisdom” made this point even more touching, the world took away something vital without fully understanding the consequences.

5. Overprotection is not helping children, it is hurting them quietly. The book explains how modern adults, in trying to shield children from danger, also shielded them from opportunities to grow. Listening to this part felt almost like a plea, especially when the narration stressed that children need experiences that stretch them emotionally and socially. Without small doses of stress, their minds never learn how to handle the big ones.

6. Digital childhood destroys sleep and attention in ways we often underestimate. The authors gave vivid examples of how the glow of the screen at night disrupts the natural rhythms the brain depends on. Hearing this in the calm, deliberate narration made it impossible to ignore, the constant alerts, the addictive designs, and the fear of missing out have collectively trained a generation to live in a state of constant mental agitation.

7. Society must create guardrails because willpower alone cannot fix this crisis. Haidt explains that children cannot fight tech giants, addictive apps, and algorithm driven environments on their own. What struck me most in the narration was how both voices carried a sense of urgency mixed with hope, the message was clear, if parents, schools, communities, and policymakers act together, childhood can be restored to a healthier, more human design.

Book/Audiobook: https://amzn.to/4p4xbSi

You can access the audiobook when you register on the Audible platform using the l!nk above.

28/11/2025

The truth is not known about figures - yet alone shared Totally unacceptable to make parents and children reach these stages and then condem the parent 🤬🤬🤬🤬

Families seeking help for their children’s complex needs describe threats of police action against them.

08/09/2025

Congratulations, Josh MacAlister MP, on your new role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families.

Minister, we hope you will meet with us so we can share the devastating impact of cuts to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund ( ).

As shown in our surveys, recently featured in the leading social work publication Community Care, the cuts made under your predecessor’s watch are harming children and families. Your party made a manifesto pledge to support adoptive and kinship families. These cuts represent a failure to meet that pledge. They are a betrayal of those who open their hearts and homes to some of the most vulnerable children in England. More importantly, they are a betrayal of those children themselves.

We hope:

•⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠That you will advocate for our families, standing with us rather than the Treasury.
•⁠ ⁠That you will be guided by the best available evidence.
•⁠ ⁠⁠That you will engage with us in constructive partnership, listening to the sector and to those of us with lived experience. We aim to be a critical friend.

You now have an opportunity to make a profoundly positive difference to our children. Please don’t be swayed by the rhetoric of your predecessor. The cuts to this fund have rendered it unfit for purpose and risk wasting £50 million of taxpayers’ money each year.

We, and the movement we represent, are determined not to allow our children to be failed. We will not give up on them. We will not turn our backs. Please, don’t turn your back on us.

Adoption UK Kinship CVAA UK

07/09/2025

Now that IS news!!!

Janet Daby has been moved to the backbenches…

05/09/2025

Really well written summary and acknowledges many of the fears we have for our families and as providers

Thank you Action against ASGSF changes for fighting this huge battle on all our behalves. It is really appreciated

04/09/2025

Let’s wait to see what the package is but this is really encouraging!

After months of campaigning by Adoption UK with others in the sector alongside thousands of families, we warmly welcome confirmation by the Children’s Minister that the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) will continue for 2026/27. We await clarity on the details. We have fought hard for public consultation about reforms to the Fund and are pleased to see the Minister commit to this in today’s statement. It is crucial that reforms are in the best interests of adopted children, that the impact of this year’s cuts are carefully considered, that consultation is thorough and reforms not rushed through. https://ow.ly/teJi50WR97N

06/08/2025

Therapy Dog in the making 💕💕💕

10/07/2025

Please read - things must change!

Parliamentary inquiry on children’s social care published today finds too little recognition of the impact of the early trauma and separation experienced by adopted children and the support they need; and supports Adoption UK’s calls for the ASGSF to be made permanent and for a review of the impact of reduced funding levels, alongside improvements to support for children in education. Read our statement here https://ow.ly/Ijna50WnE3M