About this episode

Benjamin Perks discusses trauma prevention and the importance of investing in children's well-being.

Benjamin Perks is a global child-rights advocate, educator, and author of Trauma Proof. Working for the UN in New York, he campaigns on human rights and child development and serves as a Senior Fellow at the Jubilee Centre, University of Birmingham, and an associate member of the Department of Social Policy and Intervention at the University of Oxford. Today, he joins the podcast in a personal capacity as an author to discuss his research and vision for prevention. In this conversation, Benjamin and Megan unpack what a true public-health approach to trauma prevention looks like. They explore the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), the economic and moral arguments for investing early, and why prevention must be treated as a social and policy priority—not an afterthought. Benjamin outlines the layers of prevention—primary, secondary, and tertiary—and shares examples of how communities can be strengthened before harm occurs. He also reflects on his own childhood in care and a powerful realisation at a global conference on attachment theory, where he recognised that the research being discussed was describing his lived experience. Benjamin also speaks about the teacher…

People in this episode

Host: Megan Corcoran

Guest: Benjamin Perks

Topics covered

• trauma prevention
• child rights
• Adverse Childhood Experiences
• public health
• attachment theory
• community strength

Keywords

• trauma
• child development
• prevention
• economic arguments
• social policy
• trusted adult
• Adverse Childhood Experiences

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UN, Jubilee Centre, University of Birmingham, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford

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