OCTOBER WORKSHOPS
The Van Buren Resiliency Project presented two October ACEs workshops. The first was an October 17th presentation of the documentary “Paper Tigers” to the 35-member faculty of our Pre-K through 12 public school. The length of the film precluded much discussion during the time allotted to the presentation, but I have been stopped in the school hallways by teachers who want to talk about the film and its relationship to our town’s student needs. The presentation helped build greater awareness of the presence of ACEs within our student community and the opportunities for community-school cooperation and collaboration in addressing their needs.
On October 27th we presented the film “Broken Places”, a longitudinal study of four persons over an approximately 25-year period from childhood / adolescence to adulthood. The film presented themes of ACEs’ effects and efforts to promote resilience to our audience in a very effective manner.
We began this presentation in the Community Center with a chicken stew luncheon and then presented the film to about 40 attendees. The post-film discussion quickly moved from talking about the film’s content to a practical application of the film’s messages to our own community. As a part of the presentation we asked those attending to complete a brief needs and resources questionnaire. The one-page questionnaire first asked for observations about the effects of ACEs on our students, our families, and our older residents; then we asked about existing and needed resources to promote resilience. This will prepare the community for a more extensive needs and resources assessment we plan for the next two or three months. This survey will provide a means of better understanding the effects of ACEs present in our midst as well as the community members’ observations about what types of resilience building are needed and acceptable in our town.
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