#ResilienceWeek is Over…Now What?
On Nov. 19, UNC-TV broadcasted a statewide viewing of the RESILIENCE documentary, as part of #ResilienceWeek. The Twitter Town Hall that followed the broadcast directly engaged almost 8,000 people, with more than 985,000 people reached! Based on the engagement #ResilienceWeek, the ongoing community conversations, and their is plenty of energy around addressing childhood adversity and promoting resilience.
More than 80% of Smart Start local partnerships are already currently collaborating on resilience efforts in their local communities, and more than 20 other partnerships indicated their communities have a plan of action related to promoting resilience. Local partnerships are also collaborating on resilience efforts with numerous other community sectors and institutions including child welfare early care and education, family support services, law enforcement, faith communities, county commissioners, K-12 education, health, and mental health.
With all this momentum, it can be hard to know where to start or how to continue. We know that at the core of building resilience, is building supportive and nurturing relationships across communities and institutions. When we think about building community resilience, the work doesn’t necessarily need to happen in new programs or additional services, but there should be a system-level integration of strategies that promote resilience. At the 2019 Southeastern ACEs Conference, one of the presenters, Dr. Christina Bethell, framed her presentation with the notion that “We Are the Medicine,” implying that we are resilient by nature and we have the tools and capacities already to support our communities. Her recent research about positive childhood experiences affirms this and is directly related to the collaborative and family-centered work that the Smart Start network does every day for young children and families.
As we begin to understand and map the collaborative community-level work happening to promote resilience and address adversity among young children and families across the state, we want to know the work that you are involved in and what is currently exciting your community. Reach out to Elizabeth Byrum for questions and to share your work!
