Better Ways to Address the Gun Violence That Threatens Children
In this blog for Psychology Today, "Better Ways to Address the Gun Violence That Threatens Children" Elaine Miller-Karas, Co-Founder and Director of Innovation of the Trauma Resource Institute, writes the following:
"After every mass shooting, the themes are the same—gun control, the internet, and mental illness—and so is the dialog: How did this happen? Why did he do it? What can we do to stop the subterranean secret web that spews hate adding fuel to disturbed and distorted thinking? While mass shootings grab our attention, gunfire takes the lives of more children and teens every year than the Parkland, Sandy Hook, Uvalde, and Columbine massacres combined.
"Other prevention strategies must therefore be adopted to help mitigate the impact of childhood trauma, which may be at the core of the development of distorted thinking that leads to violent behavior.
"Jane Stevens, the founder of PACES Connection, stated, “Healthy people lead healthy lives and aren’t tempted to harm themselves or others. Healthy people have few or no adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and many positive childhood experiences...Although we can’t predict if a kid with ACEs will express their toxic stress outwardly in violence to others, turn inward to harm themselves, or, in some cases, do both, we know enough to say that damage will occur to themselves or others.”
"Trauma is experienced in the body, and as such, strategies to reduce the impact of toxic stress are critical. Toxic stress is the prolonged activation of the stress response, with a failure of the body to recover fully. The toxic stress response affects the neuroendocrine-immune network, leading to a prolonged cortisol response. The resultant immune dysregulation, including a persistent inflammatory state, increases children’s risk and frequency of infections. The toxic stress response is believed to play a role in the pathophysiology of depressive disorders, behavioral dysregulation, PTSD, and psychosis.
"In response to the number of children who die from violence yearly, becoming trauma-informed is critical. It is necessary for the survivors of gun violence, as well as for creating an environment recognizing the impact of trauma on every person. Greater knowledge of toxic stress can help us design prevention strategies to help children, parents, and teachers.
"Helping children learn interoceptive awareness – how to read the sensations in the body connected to thoughts and feelings – can help reduce the impact of toxic stress. SEE practice is based upon the Trauma Resource Institute’s Community Resiliency Model (CRM)®, which integrates information about how traumatic experiences affect the nervous system and teaches children and adults how to develop and embody personal resources through easy-to-learn experiences."