By Iridian Casarez, Photo: Kaite Rodriguez/Cooperation Humboldt, North Coast Journal, December 2, 2021
Most of the seven stress-busting strategies the California Surgeon General's Office have identified to help reduce toxic stress feel so simple, like being out in nature, eating a balanced, nutritious diet or getting sufficient, high-quality sleep, but they work.
So when Mary Ann Hansen was looking through applications for the 2021-2022 First Five Humboldt and Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Collaborative Partnership grants, she was inspired by a few, including Cooperation Humboldt's mini garden project that would provide families with gardening materials, knowledge and the "confidence to empower more gardeners," giving families both access to nutritious foods and time spent outdoors.
"I was really inspired this year by the Cooperation Humboldt project," Hansen said. "I think that we know from the research that it's one of the seven stress busters that [California Surgeon General] Nadine Burke Harris has in her toolkit: to get out in nature. It lowers our stress response (levels) and helps those stressors from becoming toxic stress and producing those negative, life-long outcomes, and so I was really inspired by the gardening project."
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