REMEMBERING RESILIENCE PODCAST SERIES

“One of the first things that has to be done is to ask the community what is important to the community.” Drs. Eduardo and Bonnie Duran, 1995

In the fall of 2015, members of two Minnesota Tribal Communities, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe, launched the Tribal NEAR Science and Community Wisdom Project. Since the project’s inception, we have expanded partnerships to include the Lower Sioux Community, and are continuing our work currently with Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and Bois Forte.

The project, a collaboration between several tribal nations in Minnesota, FamilyWise Services (home of Prevent Child Abuse MN), and The Center for Prevention at Blue Cross Blue Shield, was designed to build awareness and understanding regarding the root causes of the contemporary issues our tribal communities face. The project aimed to combine efforts to move upstream toward prevention – breaking cycles to strengthen our families and brighten the future for our children – by amplifying community voice and wisdom to create solutions that will address our current day traumas and hardships, beginning the process of healing and remembering resilience for all our people – past, present, and future.

Photo Credit: tribalnear@familywiseservices.org

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     HEALTHY PLACES BY DESIGN

We need to address social isolation not as a personal choice or an individual problem, but as a challenge that is rooted in community design, social norms, and systemic injustices. 

As covered in Socially Connected Communities: Solutions to Social Isolation, in a healthy community, all residents experience optimal physical, mental, and social well-being. Leaders who strive to create resilient, equitable, and healthy communities often focus on physical and mental health without equal attention on improving social well-being. Social well-being refers to the strength of a person’s relationships and social networks. It is strongly linked to social inclusion and a sense of belonging. People living in socially connected communities are more likely to thrive because they feel safe and welcomed. They have more trust in each other and their government.

On the other hand, social isolation is a global concern. Intersecting systemic crises1 (such as racism, housing and food insecurity, and rising unemployment) are now compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has necessitated phys- ical distancing for long periods of time. Yet, social isolation is currently being defined, discussed, and addressed primarily through an individual rather than a systemic lens. Social isolation is exacerbated by systemic oppression, institutional inequities, and by how the social environment shapes how a person feels about themselves.

Photo Credit: Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

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     WILKERSON, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION

What happens when young men and boys of color aren’t able to be themselves in any setting?

In San Diego, refugees from East Africa commonly experience discrimination, racism, and Islamophobia. Young men and boys, in particular, describe how they have to act one way in school, another way with friends outside of school, and another at home. It is important for the community to find ways to improve social connections, increase opportunities, and build resilience, since their social isolation can lead to unhealthy behaviors that put their health and futures at risk.

Social isolation—the lack of significant social connections interpersonally and within a community—is a “deeply consequential” public health crisis, according to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. He noted how “During my years caring for patients, the most common pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes; it was loneliness.”

Indeed, the health risks of social isolation have been compared to those of smoking and obesity, and it is linked to depression, impaired immunity, increased suicidal tendencies, and increased risk of death.

Like San Diego’s East African refugees, people who feel that they do not belong to majority social groups because of their race, ethnicity, religion, immigration status, gender identity or sexual orientation, for example, are most susceptible to social isolation. However, people of all ages, demographics, and identities experience isolation. In a 2018 study, more than half of adults had one or fewer confidants. And this was before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered many of the gathering places that had served as antidotes to isolation.

Photo Credit: RWJF

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     HARVARD CENTER ON THE DEVELOPING CHILD

As early experiences shape the architecture of the developing brain, they also lay the foundations of sound mental health. Disruptions to this developmental process can impair a child’s capacities for learning and relating to others — with lifelong implications. By improving children’s environments of relationships and experiences early in life, society can address many costly problems, including incarceration, homelessness, and the failure to complete high school.

Significant mental health problems can and do occur in young children. Children can show clear characteristics of anxiety disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as autism, at a very early age. That said, young children respond to and process emotional experiences and traumatic events in ways that are very different from adults and older children. Consequently, diagnosis in early childhood can be much more difficult than it is in adults.

The interaction of genes and experience affects childhood mental health. Genes are not destiny. Our genes contain instructions that tell our bodies how to work, but the chemical “signature” of our environment can authorize or prevent those instructions from being carried out. The interaction between genetic predispositions and sustained, stress-inducing experiences early in life can lay an unstable foundation for mental health that endures well into the adult years.

Photo Credit: Center on the Developing Child

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     THE WASHINGTON POST

A parent's unresolved trauma can affect a child's well-being. By cultivating a healthy relationship with anger, making space for all feelings, knowing that true love comes with understanding and by meeting your child's need, you can break the cycle. 

Unresolved trauma from one generation affects the well-being of future generations. While there are many ways intergenerational trauma is passed down, it is often transmitted through the parent-child relationship.

In an ideal relationship, the parent is consistently loving, attentive and responsive to the child’s needs, which helps the child feel safe and secure, knowing the parent is someone they can rely on. This leads to a secure attachment style, characterized by a positive view of the self, better emotion regulation skills and an ability to maintain relationships based on trust and healthy boundaries.

Unresolved trauma, however, can leave parents emotionally unavailable or even unsafe, and their children may experience chronic and repeated abuse or neglect. This is sometimes referred to as complex trauma, which can result in a wide range of impairments, including emotional problems, substance use disorders or low self-worth characterized by shame and guilt.

Photo Credit: Celia Jacobs for The Washington Post

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