A child exposed to trauma, especially in early childhood has a longer reaching impact on their development than previously believed.
That is the premise of the hour-long documentary Resilience: The biology of stress and the science of hope is bringing to the Roxy Theatre for a special Oct. 29 screening.
Admission is free and popcorn will be provided. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. with the film to begin at 6 p.m. Due to the topic entrance is restricted to those 16 and older.
After the screening a representative from Early Childhood Development Support Services will lead a discussion of the movie.
Communities for Children is a not-for-profit organization whose focus is on early learning and childhood development of children from infants to five years old and is comprised from both individuals and representatives from other organizations.
The organization started in about 2012 from seed money from the provincial government.
“They were doing a study to be able to address the deficits in children from zero to five in all areas of the province and through that they created a report of how we can support families with young children,” said CFC co-ordinator and Alberta Health Services health promoter Terri Flemmer, adding they are so excited they have the ability to show this documentary to the public.
The documentary, created by filmmaker James Redford and released by KPJR Films, aims to call attention to the lingering effects of what he calls Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, on adult health.
“Brains just don’t exist we have to build them,” said Rhonda Waggoner, Parent Link co-ordinator. “Just like we are able to positively impact brain development, research is now showing that ACEs have the same impact and what happens to the brain can have wide reaching implications to the rest of our health.”
That is what the documentary attempts to show using the research of Robert Anda, an epidemiologist who has worked with the Centers for Disease Control, and Vincent Felitti, the former chief of preventive medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego. Their findings — that certain risk factors, such as growing up around physical, sexual or substance abuse, have a strong correlation with major health problems in adulthood.
“As they say in the film a child might not remember the trauma, but the body does. There are effects from toxic stress,” Waggoner said.
CFC board member and PHPS early learning liaison Kim Messmer agrees, adding the trauma can range from a child going through their parents divorce to a tragic event such as losing their home to a fire, can have long lasting ramifications and it is important to understand that.
“By recognizing that and not judging someone we can use science to predict future behaviours and hopefully find ways to mitigate and intervene,” she said.
Resilience: The biology of stress and the science of hope is just one event CFC is planning for the public on brain development. Early in the new year they are planning to show another KPJR documentary and sequel to Resilience called Paper Tigers.
