The Well Ministries

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Family Village Notes (January 2018)

 
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Our Speaker

Donna Bernard led our discussion at the January edition of Family Village. Donna is a mom to two boys adopted through the foster care system and the Child Advocate at the Domestic Abuse Resistance Team (DART) here in Ruston. She is passionate about advocating for kids to be safe and in the healthiest environment possible by educating children as well as parents, foster parents, and other caregivers.

 

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Our Topic

Donna talked about how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect so many children and how understanding ACEs can help caregivers better understand the children that they are caring for. She also talked about resiliency factors and how implementing resiliency building conditions into a child’s life help he or she heal from trauma, tragedy, and stress.

She opened by sharing a TED talk featuring Nadine Burke Harris titled How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime. She gives an excellent explanation of what an ACE score is and what it means in your life and the life of your child.

 

Childhood trauma isn't something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain.

 

What can I do?

Donna provided a few practical tips for helping to care for a child who has experienced adversity and to build the resiliency factors in his or her life.

  1. Teach mindfulness

  2. Promote healthy eating

  3. Develop a daily routine including the same bedtime each night

  4. Discourage a child’s negative self-talk

  5. Tell and show the child they are loved and lovable regularly

  6. See that they have contact with healthy adults

  7. Model appropriate emotions

 

Links

See what your ACE score is and learn more about ACEs.
https://acestoohigh.com/got-your-ace-score/

For more information about DART.
https://www.dartkids.org

Tara Stone