This document discusses resilience in children who experience adversity such as domestic violence. It defines resilience as an inner ability to heal positively despite trauma, maintain competence, and recover from stressful events. Resilience involves overcoming risks, coping well, and developing normally even after intense stress. Factors that promote resilience are protective buffers that can decrease dysfunction and facilitate intervention. Biological factors like the limbic system and prefrontal cortex relate to resilience, as does cognitive perception of challenges.

1. Effects of DV on Children
Resilience
DKelley, MSW

2. Resilience
• “ Environmentally handicapped children
are not inevitably doomed to an inferior
and abnormal psychological
developmental course.
• Whether the handicap comes from
social ideology, poverty, and pathological
environment, or special stressful
experiences, the plastic potential of the
brain offers the promise for positive and
corrective change.” (Thomas, Alexander, 1981)

3. Resilience
• Inner push towards self healing that rests
on positive feelings about oneself
• Positive behavior adaptation when
encountering trauma/tragedy/threats
• Absence of psychiatric distress
• Shows good developmental outcomes and
competence in the presence of adversity
• Innate self righting mechanism

4. 3 Components: Resiliency
• Positive outcomes despite
• High risk status
Overcoming the
Odds
• Shows ability to cope and continue to
function well in life
Sustained
Competence
• Behave and develop normally despite
having experience intensely stressful
event(s)
Recovery
From Trauma
Garmezy, Norman, 1990.

5. Protective Factors
• protective factors not only serve to buffer the
effects of risk, but can also facilitate
intervention by directly decreasing an existing
dysfunction
• (Coie, , 1993, as cited in Green,Roberta, 2001, Resilience Theory and Research for
Social Work Practice, Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers) .

6. Biological Factors
Limbic system is your
emotions and
memory
Hippocampus sounds
the “alarm” in your
brain
Adrenal Glands
*sharper memory
*senses kick in
*less sensitive to pain
Prefrontal Cortex
*psychiatric disorders
*anxiety
* Major depression
Successful Management:
Cognitive Perception