“When children experience trauma, the adults who love them often feel unprepared, overwhelmed, and afraid of getting it wrong. I know that feeling well.
As both a mother shaped by loss and an educator working with trauma-affected families, I have learned that children do not need perfect answers. They need safe adults who are willing to listen, learn, and walk with them through the hard moments.
This book is part story, part workbook, and part encouragement. It offers practical tools, reflection prompts, and faith-based insights designed to help you support a hurting child while also caring for your own heart. Everything shared here comes from lived experience, research, and the quiet lessons learned in moments of grief, healing, and hope.
If you are reading this because a child you love is hurting, please know this: you are not alone, and you are already doing more than you realize.”
—Amanda-Lee Pitzer, on why she wrote her book When Your Child Is Hurting
About When Your Child Is Hurting
Your child is burdened by the pain of a past experience or a life-altering change. As they grapple with its impact, you notice worrying changes: their relationships, education, emotional regulation are suffering. More than anything, you want to help them heal.
In When Your Child Is Hurting, author Amanda-Lee Pitzer, Ed.D., recounts how her sons struggled to cope in the aftermath of their father’s verbal abuse and sudden suicide.
Citing research studies and her own background in educational psychology, Amanda-Lee unpacks her boys’ uncharacteristic behaviors following their father’s passing and the structure she implemented to stabilize their world while they healed.
When Your Child is Hurting Click HERE to read a sample or flip through the PDF below.
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About Amanda-Lee Pitzer
Amanda-Lee Pitzer, Ed.D., is a self-proclaimed “master of starting over” who holds fast to the belief that restoration is always possible—even when it comes in unexpected forms.
Widowed at 36, she found herself navigating grief while raising her two boys alone. In time, God answered the prayers she had carried for years, bringing her the love of her life and his daughter, forming a new family and a powerful picture of healing and hope.
Out of her personal journey, Amanda-Lee discovered a renewed sense of calling. She earned her doctorate in educational psychology with a focus on trauma studies and has since dedicated her career to supporting children, families, educators, and communities impacted by trauma. Today, she is an author, speaker, professor, and advocate who combines research with storytelling to help others find restoration and purpose in the face of hardship.
Amanda-Lee has written multiple books, including The Relieved Widow and When Children Are Hurting, and her upcoming textbook, Classroom Strategies for Trauma-Informed Teaching, equips educators with tools to restore trust, connection, and hope for students. She also leads the Hampton Roads Chapter of Angels of America’s Fallen, a nonprofit supporting children of fallen military and first responders.
