November 27th, 2016

The recent Royal commission into Institutional response to child sexual abuse, opened up a Pandora's box for many recipients of childhood abuse in various forms. 

There is no doubt that each person responds differently but often the pain is the same. The impact of these experiences are often both significant and long-term. We as a society have continued to ignore and stigmatise the  experiences of children and adults living with the effects of childhood trauma and abuse. We had a culture of secrecy and silence due to the emotions of shame, grief and fear. 

With advances in Science we can now understand the plasticity of the brain and its way of adapting. We as a society can reverse this trend by applying Post Traumatic Growth principles, by adopting a Person centred approach by focusing on resilience built by having the opportunity to  feel safe and validated in our narrative, to discuss, process and make sense of our experience. 

Tedeschi's research shows that Post Traumatic Growth can lead to increased personal strength, openness, closer relationships, greater confidence, empathy and often increased spirituality. 

Harvard University has released these videos to show how advances in neuroscience provide us with a better understanding of the impact of early childhood experiences on our body and brain.  
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