At its core, Trauma Informed Community Building (TICB) aims to increase the readiness of the community to sustain personal and
neighborhood change. TICB strives to promote social cohesion and foster resiliency so that residents will have the capacity to adjust to changing circumstances, including the transition to a mixed-income neighborhood. Informed by the socio-ecological model, TICB acknowledges the interplay of
individual, interpersonal, community and system level factors on residents’ experiences, and aims to simultaneously target each of these levels in all aspects of community building efforts (Weinstein, Wolin, & Rose, 2014).
Resource Topic: Research
Trauma Informed Community Building
Pervasive current and historical trauma demands a community building approach that takes into account residents’ emotional needs and avoids
re-traumatization triggers, which “traditional” models of community building may ignore or exacerbate. Just as a “trauma informed approach” is now
accepted as essential for effective service delivery to many individuals living in these communities (SAMHSA, 2012), a trauma informed approach to
community building is required to create sustainable improvements to their social and physical environment.
Embedding the Brain Story: To Catalyze Sustainable Change For Children And Families
The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative has targeted key leverage points across all the major systems, addressing early childhood development and its connection to later physical and mental health outcomes, including addiction.
Restorative Practices: A Guide for Educators
Educators across the nation recognize the importance of fostering positive, healthy school climates and helping students learn from their mistakes. Increasingly, they are partnering with parents, students, district officials, community organizations, and policymakers to move away from harmful and counter-productive zero-tolerance discipline policies and toward proven restorative approaches to addressing conflict in schools
Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators
The Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators was developed to provide school administrators, teachers, staff, and concerned parents with basic information about working with traumatized children in the school system.
Research suggests that approximately 25% of American children will experience at least one traumatic event by the age of 16. A child’s reactions to trauma can interfere considerably with learning and/or behavior at school. However, schools also serve as a critical system of support for children who have experienced trauma.
Activities Guide: Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence
Executive function and self-regulation (EF/SR) skills provide critical supports for learning and development, and while we aren’t born with these skills, we are born with the potential to develop them through interactions and practice. Each chapter of this guide contains activities suitable for a different age group, from infants to teenagers.
Adverse Childhood Experiences: Assessing The Impact On Health And School Engagement And The Mitigating Role Of Resilience
Using the 2011–12 National Survey of Children’s Health, we assessed the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences and associations between them and factors affecting children’s development and lifelong health. After we adjusted for confounding factors, we found lower rates of school engagement
and higher rates of chronic disease among children with adverse childhood experiences.
We found higher rates of school engagement among children with adverse childhood experiences who demonstrated resilience, as well as higher rates of resilience among children with such experiences who received care in a family-centered medical home.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health, Chronic Medical Conditions, and Development in Young Children
To determine the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and mental health, chronic medical conditions, and social development among young children in the child welfare system. This cross-sectional study used a nationally representative sample of children investigated by child welfare (National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II) from 2008 to 2009.
ACEs were associated with poor early childhood mental health and chronic medical conditions, and, among children aged 3 to 5, social development.
Using Brain Science to Create New Pathways Out of Poverty
Experiences of social bias, persistent poverty, and trauma can directly undermine brain development and the EF skills most needed for success. The areas of the brain affected by adverse experiences of social bias, persistent poverty, and trauma remain plastic well into adulthood and, through proper coaching, may be strengthened and improved.
Strong at the Broken Places: The Resiliency of Low-Income Parents
By examining factors that promote or hinder children’s healthy development, this policy report draws on recent studies to illustrate the importance of parent resiliency in the development of social-emotional competence among low-income children. The report concludes with program and policy recommendations that have proven effective in promoting the development of protective factors, reducing vulnerabilities, and cultivating resiliency among low-income parents and, consequently, their children.