Resilience is the process of adapting and overcoming in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress. The human spirit is resilient!
Flourishing refers to developing successfully and thriving, regardless of age.
In nearly every facet of life - family, friendships, government, industry, faith-based and community-based activities – adversity early in life can be a fundamental determinant of human behavior and health. During adversity, there are ways we can flourish by leaning into Positive Childhood Experiences.
Positive Childhood Experiences, or PCEs, are protective encounters that offset toxic stress and increase resilience, such as feeling your family stands by you in difficult times, feeling a sense of belonging, feeling supported, safe, and protected, being able to express your feelings to your family, participating in community traditions, and having at least two non-parent adults take genuine interest in you.
Research has shown that people who experienced four or more ACEs during childhood were more likely to face challenges in adulthood, including chronic health conditions, heart disease, anxiety disorders, depression, difficulty maintaining a stable relationship or steady employment, and sometimes, all of the above. However, when PCEs are added to the equation, research shows that PCEs were 72% less likely to experience depression and/or poor mental health and were 3.5 times more likely to get the social and emotional support they needed as an adult. PCEs have an undoing effect on ACEs!
In the work of the child-and family-serving system, law enforcement, education, or healthcare – as just a few examples - PACEs provide a concept and context for family behaviors, including our own. The challenges experienced by a person in childhood can trickle into adult interactions with their own children – putting ACEs in a relational, and generational context; embracing PCEs will serve as a buffer to the negative effects of ACEs, which can protect children from developing long-term effects of trauma that persist into adulthood.
Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are events that potentially generate toxic stress, such as living in a household with violence, neglect, substance abuse, food insecurity, parental separation or divorce, abandonment, and untreated mental illness.
Trauma results from an event, series of events, or a set of circumstances that an individual experiences as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening, which may have lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Trauma happens when any experience stuns us like a bolt out of the blue; it overwhelms us, leaving us altered and disconnected. – Peter Levine, Trauma Through a Child’s Eyes: Awakening the Ordinary Miracle of Healing.
What is PTSD and Complex Trauma?
Complex trauma is exposure to traumatic events usually involving multiple instances of trauma (occurring either simultaneously or sequentially) and multiple forms of trauma and the impact of this exposure on immediate and long-term outcomes.- National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN).
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a behavioral health diagnosis that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.-National Institute of Mental Health
If trauma is a wound, then PTSD is an infection in the wound, and complex trauma is a multi-drug resistant infection in the wound. It is possible to heal from all of these. – Dr. Michael Gomez, Brown University.
Building Community
Bringing people together is the key to building community. Building community comes from connections. Connections are important. They provide networking, commonality, belonging, opportunities, and relationships.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Adverse childhood experiences encompass various forms of long-lasting harmful effects that can impact a person's childhood into adulthood. These include physical and emotional abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction experiences.
Positive Childhood Experiences
Positive Childhood Experiences helps build a child’s sense of belongingness and connection. PCEs predict positive outcomes, including success in school and good health in both childhood and adulthood. PCEs also help buffer the negative effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which protects children from developing long-term negative effects from traumas.
Secondary Trauma
Secondary trauma is the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about the firsthand trauma experiences of another. For therapists, child welfare workers, case managers, and other helping professionals involved in the care of traumatized children and their families, the essential act of listening to stories of trauma may take an emotional toll that compromises professional functioning and diminishes quality of life.
Intergenerational Trauma
Intergenerational trauma occurs when the effects of trauma are transferred from one generation to the next, either through genetic adaptation or social and cultural practices. When a shared traumatic event is experienced by and impacts a specific social, cultural, or racial group, it is referred to as a specific form of intergenerational trauma called historical trauma. The current focus on racial and environmental justice — and more clarity about the roles the public and private sectors can play to improve the systems with which people interact — has influenced leaders in New Jersey to come together to create an environment in which children and families can not only survive but thrive.
Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma-informed care is an approach defined by treating the whole person, considering past trauma and resulting coping mechanisms. A strengths-based approach to service delivery is grounded in an understanding of, and the responsiveness to, the impact of trauma. This approach emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety for both providers and survivors and creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.
Healing-Centered Care
Healing-centered care is a holistic approach involving culture, spirituality, civic action, and collective healing. A healing-centered approach views trauma not simply as an individual, isolated experience, but rather highlights the ways in which trauma and healing are experienced collectively. The term healing-centered engagement expands how we think about responses to trauma and offers a more holistic approach to fostering well-being.
