For 25 years Benjamin Perks has worked on eradicating global barriers to child wellbeing, including poverty, hunger, disease, the mobilisation of child soldiers and population displacement. Yet there is one cause that is deeply personal: Ben wants every child to grow up feeling loved, seen, and safe. This passion comes from his own life journey.
Early relationships shape how we relate to the world, impacting our development for the rest of our lives. When parental bonds are broken by cruelty, trauma or neglect, it derails childhood in ways that can last a lifetime. Unfortunately, child trauma is much more widespread than previously thought. But that's not the end of the story.
Benjamin Perks went from being a kid in a children's home to a thought leader and senior UN advocate on ending child maltreatment. His journey taught him healing is always possible, and prompted the question: Can we do better at preventing child trauma in the first place?
Attachment Revolution harnesses evidence from around the world to show why trauma is both an individual problem and the cause of our costliest social problems. But in it, Benjamin also argues that simple changes and policy interventions can break damaging inter-generational cycles. And he shows that building secure attachments and improving the quality of your relationships can radically transform your life, at any age.