National Geographic produced a documentary a few years ago called “Stress: A Portrait of a Killer.” It’s available online and takes an hour to watch.
It is an hour well spent.
Stress in the Lives of Resource Parents
We know through an abundance of research that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a lifelong impact on our social, emotional, and physical health.
As adults, it would sound a bit strange, though, to refer to our current negative experiences as “adverse adult experiences.” Instead, we simply talk about “stress.”
And we have stress in abundance, don’t we? Resource parents see and hear about the horrors a person can inflict on another human being. We are stressed by having to juggle countless meetings, court hearings, after school activities, car pool lines, homework, and doctor’s appointments. All this on top of family stressors, work stressors, and financial stressors.
What I like about this documentary is how clearly it shows how my stress today is physically impacting me and, just like ACEs, how it will impact the rest of my life. The documentary highlights research conducted in North Carolina, California, Great Britain, East Africa, and the Netherlands. It describes the impact of stress on various populations, including mothers caring for children with disabilities, baboons and macaque monkeys, people in the workplace, and on children in utero.
My Challenge to You
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is watch the entire documentary. There are so many elements that all tie together, it’s important to stick with it until the end.
Bring a healthy lunch to work, and watch it during your lunch hour if you cannot find any other time. But it would also be good to watch as a family and then discuss it.
This documentary will give you a deeper appreciation for how stress affects hormone levels, body weight, brain cells, immune system, memory, arteries, and even chromosomes! And that deeper appreciation (in addition to being mind-blowing at points) might actually add years to your life.
My hope is that everyone watches this free, online video. But if that is not possible, here is its bottom line message: stress is not an abstract concept that is “just in our heads.” It is something real, measurable, and dangerous to our health.
We must all prioritize stress reduction. In the workplace. In our homes. In our schools. In our community. Everywhere!
For stress we cannot avoid, we must learn ways to keep it in perspective, to manage it better, and to find stress reduction options that work for us.
Our very lives depend on it.
Watch the Video Online
Jeanne Preisler works for the NC Division of Social Services on Project Broadcast, an effort to help the child welfare system become more trauma-informed.
Foster parent training: “Helping Youth Reach Self-Sufficiency”
Do you have teens in your home? Are you worried about what will happen to youths in foster care once they leave the child welfare system? If so, you are not alone.
The NC DHHS LINKS program and Independent Living Resources teams up every year to conduct a three-day training seminar called “Helping Youths Reach Self-Sufficiency.” Youths aging out of foster care face enormous challenges. Statistics indicate they have higher than normal rates of homelessness, unemployment, incarceration, mental illness, and are undereducated. We are trying to change those odds in North Carolina with programs such as SaySo, LINKS, and Helping Youths Reach Self-Sufficiency (HYRSS)
Foster parents working with private and public agencies are invited to apply to attend this training for free. However, there is a hook (there’s always a hook). If you attend the training, you will be asked to return to your home county and share what you’ve learned. The materials you receive at the training will help you share the message and encourage all caregivers to teach life skills to all youths and allow them to practice those skills at home.
HYRSS accepts 24 participants per session (two parents per agency). Over the years, caregivers have shared their new-found knowledge with thousands of other caregivers through statewide conferences and through informal conversations over coffee.
Caregivers attending HYRSS increase their learning by an average of 220%. The course is taught by a foster/adoptive couple and a young adult who was previously in care. Caregivers say they find the weekend training “invaluable, inspirational, and rejuvenating.”
HYRSS will next be held from Fri., Oct. 23 (starts at 3 p.m.) through Sun., Oct. 25, 2015 (ends at 1 p.m.). To apply, complete the form at right or visit www.ncswlearn.org. You may also visit https://www.ilrinc.com/about-ilr/training/nc-links-programming/
| “Helping Youth Reach Self-Sufficiency” Residency Training Registration FormIndependent Living Resources, Inc.411 Andrews Road, Suite 140, Durham, NC 27705 (919) 384-1457 or fax (919) 384-0338 Fill out this form (please print) and mail or fax to above address. Registration Deadline: September 18, 2015 Registrant Information: (Parenting partners from same household may register together) Participant #1 Name:_______________________________________________________ Participant #2 Name:_______________________________________________________ Home Address:____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ City:______________________________ State:_________ Zip:_____________________ Phone #1:__________________________ Phone #2:______________________________ Email #1:__________________________ Email #2:_______________________________ Agency:__________________________________________________________________ Agency Social Worker:______________________________________________________ Do you have training experience? q yes q no How do you plan to use the skills learned in this seminar? When do you anticipate conducting your first foster parent training? Place: Country Inn & Suites, Burlington, NC Times: Fri., 10/23: 3 p.m. – 8 p.m. • Sat., 10/24: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. • Sun., 10/25: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
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