What You Can Do

It takes a village to build resilience. Learn how you can help reduce the impact of ACEs in your home, workplace, and community.

Individuals

Everyone has a role to play to prevent and reduce ACEs. Strong, active communities provide crucial support. It’s community members like you who can help create the connective community fabric that can help children develop the skills, resources and coping strategies that act as protective factors in times of need.

Parents

Parents can be an essential ally to reduce or prevent ACEs in children. There are a few things a parent can do to reduce ACEs below.

Parenting in a Pandemic

Be kind to yourself.
Parenting can be hard. It may be really challenging right now.

We see you.
You are enough. You are doing your best. No one can do it all.

During this time of uncertainty, it is especially important to take care of yourself. When your needs are met, you are more able to meet your child’s needs.

Learn

about ACEs and be part of breaking the cycle

Develop and maintain

supportive, healthy relationships

Practice

mindfulness (being in the moment)

Take care of yourself

try to get enough sleep, eat healthy food and exercise regularly

Spending time with children builds connection

It is normal to feel stressed right now. The pandemic has been very difficult for children and parents.

Connections with a supportive parent or other caregiver help to protect children from stress and build resilience. These connections are often small actions that parents and other caregivers don’t realize have a huge impact on a child’s wellbeing.

Try to spend one-on-one time with your children daily. Short periods of time together can increase their sense of safety and security. Your love, support, and patience will help them to manage their stress, and feel loved and secure.

Spend quality time together
Get to know their friends
Give them opportunities to try new things
Ask for their help to prepare food to share
Assign them age-appropriate chores
Model calming exercises like art, reading, meditation, and listening to music

Service Providers

Service providers often interact with children and adults experiencing the negative effects of ACEs when they are at their most vulnerable. Creating safe spaces without triggering trauma responses can take effort, practice and skill. These 12 skills will help to enable positive interactions with clients. However, these skills may not be appropriate for every client, depending on their risk of harm.

Provide safety

in your interactions

Manage reactions

minimize signs of discomfort

Be transparent

about your intentions

Be Person centred

following the client’s lead

Communicate limits

of your role

Be a witness

rather than an expert

Honour the person

and their unique story

Be humble

it’s a learning journey

Don’t assume

Ask what you can do to help

Know your power

work to shift imbalances

Create experiences

of acceptance and openness

Know your values

check in with yourself

ACEs & Resilience Learning Modules

Human service providers can increase their knowledge about adverse childhood experiences and resilience by taking the ACEs and Resilience course. This online course includes the following 5 modules:

Module 1: An Introduction to Adverse Childhood Experiences
Module 2: The Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences
Module 3: Resilience
Module 4: Taking Action to Prevent and Reduce the Effects of ACEs and Build Resilience
Module 5: ACEs and Resilience Practice Case

Educators

Teachers and educators have the power, through their relationships with students and influence on the school environment, to help children grow into resilient adults. Mentally Healthy Schools are places that prevent and reduce risk factors and promote protective factors to foster resilience and build positive mental health for students and educators. Adverse Childhood Experiences are examples of risk factors some children might be dealing with. While mentally healthy schools are essential for these students and other kids who are struggling, they are also important for all students.

Educators create Mentally Healthy Schools when they:

Remember that being curious about children’s experiences and what they are struggling with is not meant to pathologize students or parents. Many factors influence how children behave, feel and interact with those around them.

We support educators efforts to create the conditions for all students to be able to thrive at school, outside of school and for the rest of their lives.

Through action and interaction, educators can develop a positive, mentally healthy environment for students as they learn and develop.

Many of Mentally Healthy Schools elements are echoed in other models. For instance, The Compassionate Schools1 model contains behaviours and principles that help develop student resilience:

Always empower students
Provide unconditional positive regard
Maintain high expectations
Check assumptions, observe, and question
Be a relationship coach
Provide guided opportunities for helpful participation

Early Childhood Educators

Stress is a normal part of childhood but excessive, prolonged stress can interfere with the normal development of young children. Early childhood educators can play a critical role in mitigating the adverse effects of stress on children including excessive stress associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences and other challenging life events when they:

Ensure that supportive and caring relationships with children and their families are their number one priority. By maintaining intentional and respectful communication with families, early childhood educators can become more informed of the child’s family circumstances. The early childhood educator can then adapt the environment and interactions in response to any changes that a child may be experiencing within their family context.

Are emotionally and physically available when children are showing that they are in need of a supportive adult.

Connect with each child as a unique individual and build upon their strengths and competencies.

Engage in warm and responsive interactions with children.

Provide nurturing and inclusive environments that offer children a sense of belonging and opportunities to engage in positive interactions with others.

Cultivate healthy social-emotional connections by acknowledging children’s feelings, responding positively to their cues and supporting children to co-regulate their emotions and actions.

Integrate practices that model and build resiliency.

Use flexible thinking to meet up with children’s minds and experiences. Many factors influence how children feel, and engage with others. Consider the “why” behind behaviour. What could children’s behaviour be trying to communicate to you? How could you respond to support the “why”?

Invest in self-care. Recognize your own stress and find ways to reduce it.

Support the Community Resilience Coalition

The Community Resilience Coalition is a grassroots community organization committed to making ACEs & Resilience training and other resources and programs financially accessible to all. We are currently funded through one-time grants and contributions.

If you are in a position to do so, please consider a financial contribution to support the Community Resilience Coalition. Note: All contributions are collected by Family & Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington on behalf of the Community Resilience Coalition. Your contribution will support the development of learning opportunities and resources for adults who care for and about children, and the creation of a community where all children and adults have nurturing and supportive relationships they can rely on.

If you are mandating the training modules for people who work or volunteer at your organization, please consider making a contribution that matches the value of this new knowledge to your organization. To discuss alternative contribution options or how the Community Resilience Coalition can support your organization’s training and development, please contact us.

^1.Wolpow, R., Johnson, M.M., Hertel, R., Kincaid, S.O. (2016). The Heart of Learning and Teaching: Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success. Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Compassionate Schools.