Otsego is one of 10 counties in the state participating in a pilot program that started late last year to train and support communities in helping children who have experienced trauma.
Heather Samkowiak, children’s services specialist for Otsego, Crawford and Oscoda counties for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), said trauma can come in a range of experiences and said the toxic stress changes a person’s brain.
“Essentially what happens is the brain becomes rewired for survival instead of being able to function with all of the resources (getting) dispersed in the different zones of the brain,” Samkowiak said. “All of the resources move into survival mode responses when stress is increased or specifically toxic stress.”
That stress changes the hormone systems and DNA in a person and the changes can be passed on to future generations, she said.
[For more of this story, written by Arielle Breen, go to http://www.petoskeynews.com/ga...00-b1c6ad8c0198.html]
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