A couple weeks ago, Partners In Learning hosted its annual Special Needs Mini Conference for anyone in the community interested in learning more about various techniques, practices, and programs that influence children, particularly those with special needs. Partners In Learning’s mission is to model the highest quality learning environment that stimulates families and the community to provide optimal growth and development of children. The focus of this year’s conference was resiliency.
The Stop Intergenerational Trauma (SiT) workgroup, part of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence, partnered with Partners In Learning to include a screening of the documentary Resilience as part of the conference.
Resilience delves into the science behind Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and their impact on brain development, health, and behavior. It discusses how we can appropriately prevent and treat toxic stress, and break they cycle of adversity and disease.
Following the film, a group of five panelists with various areas of expertise were available to answer questions. The panelists included: a Pediatric Physician’s Assistant, the Director of Student Services for the school system, a Permanency Planning Supervisor at the Department of Social Services (DSS), a woman with lived experience, and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
Audience members were very receptive to the film and asked the panelists engaging questions, including what the school system is doing to help address trauma and build resiliency in its students and staff, how we can ‘break the cycle’ of intergenerational trauma, and what it’s like to ‘wear your trauma on your sleeve.’ The panelists pointed to having amazing support systems and empowering people to ‘break the cycle’ as key ingredients to building resiliency.
Both the panelists and the audience members recognized the importance of the current shift from trauma-informed to resiliency-focused. The panelists made it clear that having trauma and resiliency trainings is not merely a ‘check box’ to them; they’re committed to spreading the trauma-informed and resiliency-focused knowledge and messages to people in their community. “You can’t make a horse drink the water,” said one panelist, “but you can make it thirsty.” The panelists and audience members are ready to make their community thirsty for resiliency.
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