Exploring Safe Place: Insights from Thai Children At-Risk

Children who have experienced abuse often struggle to conceptualize safety, with trauma influencing their perceptions of secure environments. This study investigates how Thai children residing in a shelter, following experiences of abuse, perceive and articulate the concept of a safe place through art-based methodology, specifically in drawings and narratives. The sample comprised 105 children (38% male, 62% female) aged 5–17. A mixed-methods approach integrated qualitative thematic analysis with quantitative statistical methods to explore how these children express safety. Five key themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) There is no such place as a safe place, (2) Mistrust all adults, (3) Aloneness is better than having a family; it does not hurt, (4) Holding on to hurt, and (5) Children are not cared for by adults. Quantitative analysis revealed significant associations between age, gender, and dissociative behaviors, with older children showing higher dissociative levels. These findings provide critical insights for trauma-informed care, underscoring the importance of understanding trauma through both verbal and visual expressions in therapeutic settings.