Resilience

The human services field in the Quad City Area has been championing the “trauma informed care” approach for the last 10 years or so. For those who are not in this field, what this means is taking an approach to working with people that doesn’t make assumptions while respecting that everyone’s life experiences may be different from yours. It’s grounded in research of the ACES Study, also known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale, that found that traumatic experiences in childhood can lead to an adult life of chronic physical health problems, mental health disorders and predictors of being victims of violent crime. The more traumatic experiences that one has before the age of 18, the likelihood that their risks for these areas also increases.

And since we are children when these events take place, it’s also noteworthy to say that these events that we experience also are outside of our control.

So what we’ve heard as people in the helping profession, time and time again is that traumatic experiences shape our lives and essentially are the reasons why we behave and react in the ways we do. 

However in my experience, we are only having half of the conversation. Yes, the ACES Study was an eye opening study that put a lot of focus on trauma and individual cases of cause and effect. But there is an entire second part of the study that focuses on resiliency and will actually provide the individual with their resiliency score. 

This Resilience Scale examines supports and relationships in the individual’s life. Did you have safe and supportive people to talk to as a child? Were there people in your life that you felt loved and cared about your wellbeing? If the individual has a high ACES score, but also has a resilience score, that can actually combat the long term effects of trauma. 

What we have learned from this is that even in the event of trauma, loss, and hardship, our support system can help us heal. To be resilient is an amazing ability, and something that kids have taught us time and time again. When we step in to provide consistent support to a child in need, we are quite literally changing their life for the better.

To find out more about the ACES Study and find your score (for both trauma AND resilience), check out https://acestoohigh.com/got-your-ace-score/. 

To get involved with helping kids in the Quad Cities, check out The Volunteer Hub at United Way Quad Cities https://unitedwayqc.galaxydigital.com/need/