Organizations, community members, and youth came together on April 14th for a roundtable on resiliency. Every year, Del Norte County's Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC) holds a roundtable on topics relevant to our community and preventing child abuse. This year's roundtable was Roots to Resilience, a follow-up to 2017's roundtable Shine a Light on ACEs, which helped raise awareness of ACEs in the community.
This year was all about resilience. An appropriate follow-up topic, as it is the other side of the coin to ACEs education.
We were welcomed by Pam Wilder, CASA Case Supervisor and the chair of the CAPC Education Committee who worked to put the roundtable together. We then heard from Chris Howard, a supervisor for Del Norte County and First 5 commissioner, about the challenges and opportunities in our community and the Board of Supervisor's dedication to strengthening families and building resilience as evidenced by their Children's Budget.
Next up, Angela Glore, Del Norte's First 5 executive director, gave a presentation on the science of ACEs and ACEs in Del Norte County. Unfortunately, she pointed out, while other California counties have their ACEs data, Del Norte is still reliant on proxy data to try to understand this issue.
Following this presentation were some truly amazing hands-on learning and networking experiences. First up, the Brain Architecture Game! This game, which gives players a tangible understanding of how ACEs affect brain development, is spreading like wildfire in Del Norte! And rightly so! It is a fun, interactive way to learn about brain development and how the things that happen to children affect how their brains grow. After, each group debriefed about what had happened during their "life" in the game and how their brain had turned out. Some brains were stable and tall. Other fell under the weight of the toxic stress in their lives. The groups discussed what experiences their brain had that contributed to its growth and stability or what helped tip it over.
Next, Holly Wendt from Public Health Prevention Programs and her crew of youth mentors walked us through a challenging exercise. First, people were split into group and put into "boxes" depending on their age group. Then, each youth would invite people from every box to enter the circle in the middle if they identified with the criteria read aloud. For example: "If you like ice cream, please come to the circle." While the criteria started out silly and easy, as each round continued, the activity touched upon ACEs and secondary trauma people in Del Norte County experience. As each person moved towards the center circle, it reminded us of how brave we truly are, how much trauma we have experienced as a community, and how resilient we are.
Then Amira Long from the Family Resource of the Redwoods (FRCR) showcased a Parent Café on Concrete Support in Times of Need. Parent Cafés offer caregivers a night away--with free dinner and childcare--to hang out with other parents and have conversations about parenting. Using Strengthening Families Five Protective Factors, Parent Cafés guide small groups of caregivers through key subjects to build resilience in families. The FRCR hosts these cafés in Crescent City, Klamath, Gasquet, and Smith River, and even have one specific to dads!
The roundtable ended with a Call to Action around awareness of ACEs and support for data collection. CAPC Education Committee pointed out that a lot of work is being done around ACEs, but the majority of it is done in silos. As a community, we need to come together to find what our greatest need is and how to make the biggest collective impact!
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