With the link between ACEs and health outcomes now firmly established, many people are asking how to help those who have survived ACEs. Often people are seeking written resources. Having developed resilience curricula that were piloted at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and taught to various high-risk populations, I’d like to suggest some resources. As an outgrowth of these trainings, I developed three books that are skills-based and experiential, since information alone is insufficient for coping with toxic stress. These works, all recently published or updated, offer much material from which curricula can be readily developed. The principles and skills in these books have been found to significantly improve resilience, happiness, self-esteem, optimism, and curiosity, while reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger in adults.
The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook describes the nature of PTSD and its treatments, including professionally managed, group, and self-help approaches. This book is key to understanding and normalizing the bewildering symptoms and pathways to healing from traumatic experiences that range from abuse to witnessing interpersonal violence.
The Resilience Workbook is really a manual for optimal mental health in distressing times, particularly for those who have survived toxic stress. It is for both those in recovery (addictions, depression, PTSD, and so forth) AND for those simply wishing to optimize their mental health and functioning. It offers wide-ranging skills, from strengthening the brain to regulating stress arousal and intensely distressing emotions, to emotional inoculation, to cultivating happiness and resilient leadership at home and various venues.
The Self-Esteem Workbook is extremely useful because exposure to ACEs frequently undermines one’s identity and feelings of wholesome self-worth. Cultivating self-esteem is critical for healing from trauma and for preventing relapse. A wide range of skills to build or rebuild damaged self-esteem impact all levels—thoughts, images, emotions, sensations, and behaviors. This is an important topic that is frequently overlooked in survivors.
All three books are available through Amazon.com. Please feel free to call me for more information or visit my website to learn more about resilience training (Tel: 386-410-5561; www.ResilienceFirst.com).
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