Regulated & Relational

The single most common factor for children who develop resilience is at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive parent, caregiver or other adult. These relationships are the active ingredients in building resilience.  A committed, stable adult buffers children from the full impact of a traumatic event...and can keep the stress from becoming toxic. -  Dr. Jack Shonkoff, Harvard's Center on the Developing Child.

What is Resilience?  How is it developed?  Aren't some children just born resilient?  How can stress be both good and toxic?  What are protective factors...and how can we become a protective factor for the people in our lives?

Ginger Healy & Julie Beem explore the topics of resilience, toxic stress, and where the hope for healing from early childhood trauma lies.

Center on the Developing Brain - Harvard University

Trauma Research Foundation

In our first episode, we start at the beginning by defining "What is Trauma?"  And discussing why creating a podcast at this point in time is a good idea.  Our goal is always to inform, give insight and hopefully inspire you on your journey to becoming trauma-informed.  As Julie says in this episode, "because trauma-informed isn't something you do...it's something you become."

Today's definitions of Trauma come from Dr. Bruce Perry (www.bdperry.com and www.childtrauma.org) 

1. A psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of normal human experience. Trauma often involves intense fear, terror, helplessness. - 2009

2. an experience, or pattern of experiences, that impairs the proper functioning of the person’s stress-response system, making it more reactive or sensitive. - current definition informed by SAMSHA's Concept of Trauma

SAMSHA's Concept of Trauma:  Individual trauma results from an event, series of events or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.

To learn more about the Attachment & Trauma Network, Inc.'s programs, membership and mission, visit www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org

Welcome to Regulated & Relational, the new bi-monthly podcast from the Attachment & Trauma Network.