Historical Trauma: Context and Effects

Summary

The video script delves into the concept of historical trauma, its impact on African American and Native American communities, and its intergenerational effects. It discusses the physical and psychological repercussions, including increased health risks and societal disparities. The narrative follows Dr. Helen Kim's work with a young mom, illustrating the challenges of navigating a system intended to help but often exacerbating trauma. The story emphasizes the need for systemic change, focusing on community engagement and trauma-informed practices to foster healing and resilience.

Takeaways

• 🛠️ The United States has inflicted historical trauma on African American and Native American communities through slavery, genocide, colonization, and forced relocation.
• 💔 Historical trauma involves collective, cumulative emotional wounding across generations from cataclysmic events targeting entire communities.
• 🧬 Trauma is incorporated in the body, altering gene function and being transmitted across generations, affecting descendants even without direct trauma exposure.
• 📉 Manifestations of historical trauma today include significant disparities in poverty rates, arrest rates, academic achievement, home ownership, and employment rates between African American/Native American communities and whites.
• 👶 Historical trauma leads to individual trauma in new generations, often in the form of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like abuse, neglect, mental illness, and early death.
• 🚨 Those with high ACE scores are at increased risk for various health issues, including smoking, hepatitis, alcohol abuse, STDs, and suicide attempts.
• 🔄 Current systems designed to help people often perpetuate structural racism and historical trauma, causing further harm to those already oppressed.
• 💔 The story of a young mother, M, illustrates how systemic failures and biases contribute to ongoing trauma and hinder the healing process.
• 👩‍⚕️ Dr. Helen Kim's attempt to help M through a supportive letter backfired due to systemic and personal biases, highlighting the need for trauma-informed, culturally sensitive approaches.
• 🔄 To effect meaningful change, systems must shift from reactive to preventative approaches, prioritizing community-led reforms and upstream investments in child, family, and community well-being.

Q & A

What is historical trauma and how does it affect communities?

Historical trauma refers to collective cumulative emotional wounding across generations resulting from cataclysmic events that target a whole community. It affects communities by being incorporated in the body and altering gene functions, which can be passed on to future generations, leading to ongoing issues like discrimination, health and income disparities, and even genetic changes.

How can historical trauma be transmitted over generations?

Historical trauma can be transmitted over generations through changes in gene function that are incorporated in the body. These changes can be passed on to one's children, allowing those who have not directly experienced the trauma to still feel its effects.

What are some examples of current manifestations of historical trauma in the United States?

Examples include higher poverty rates for African American and Native American children, disproportionate arrest rates for low-level offenses, large achievement gaps in education, and significant disparities in home ownership and employment rates.

What is the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) on health?

Adverse childhood experiences can lead to a higher risk of smoking, hepatitis, alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, and suicide attempts. These experiences can cause chronic toxic stress, affecting brain function and physical health.

How does the trauma of one generation affect parenting and the next generation?

Trauma from one generation can lead to neglectful or abusive parenting patterns, vulnerability to social stressors, and a higher likelihood of becoming abusive under such influences, thus perpetuating a cycle of trauma in the next generation.

What role did the 1956 Federal Highway Act play in the trauma of North Minneapolis?

The 1956 Federal Highway Act led to the construction of Interstate 94, which resulted in the deconstruction of the community fabric and vitality of areas like North Minneapolis and St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood. This disrupted a once vibrant and economically stable community, leading to increased poverty and violence.

How did the system's practices contribute to the trauma of the young mom 'M' in the script?

The system's practices, such as requiring M to attend programs that cost money and resulted in her losing her job, placing her baby in the hands of strangers for transportation, and poor communication between caseworkers and caretakers, added to M's stress and trauma, making it difficult for her to focus on her child and heal.

What is the role of Dr. Helen Kim in the story presented in the script?

Dr. Helen Kim is a psychiatrist who runs a program serving pregnant and postpartum moms with depression and trauma. She aims to help these moms protect and nurture their children and to parent with awareness, love, and compassion.

Why did Dr. Kim's letter to the court cause further harm to M?

Dr. Kim's letter, which detailed M's abusive past and struggles, was used in court without her permission or prior review. This public exposure of her trauma without her consent led to feelings of humiliation and increased conflict with her mother, exacerbating her stress and trauma.

What is the importance of community involvement in reforming systems to address historical and generational trauma?

Community involvement is crucial as it ensures that reforms are informed by the voices of those most affected by historical and generational trauma. It allows for the development of policies and practices that are more responsive to the needs of the community and can help break the cycle of trauma.

How can systems shift their focus to be more preventative and supportive of child, family, and community well-being?

Systems can shift their focus by creating child and family-centered, trauma-informed policies and practices, reducing toxic stresses, supporting parent-child relationships, and promoting resilience and protective factors. This involves making upstream investments in communities and switching from a reactive approach to a preventative one.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Historical Trauma in the U.S.

The United States has a long history of inflicting trauma on African American and Native American communities through slavery, genocide, colonization, and forced relocation. This historical trauma, often denied or concealed, has lasting effects seen in discrimination, health and income disparities, and even genetic changes in descendants of the oppressed. Historical trauma involves collective emotional wounding across generations, with research on Holocaust survivors showing that the children of survivors display symptoms as if they experienced the trauma themselves.

05:01

🏠 Current Manifestations of Historical Trauma

Historical trauma manifests in various social and economic disparities. In Minnesota, poverty rates for Native American and African American children are significantly higher than for white children. African Americans and Native Americans face higher arrest rates for low-level offenses and large gaps in education and employment compared to whites. These disparities perpetuate individual trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse and neglect, leading to severe health and social outcomes. Current systems often exacerbate rather than alleviate these issues, reinforcing structural racism and historical trauma.

10:04

👩‍⚕️ The Story of M and Baby B

Dr. Helen Kim, a psychiatrist, shares the story of a young African American mother, M, whose baby B is in foster care. M has faced significant trauma, growing up in a chaotic and abusive environment. Despite her efforts to improve her life, M's interactions with systems designed to help her often cause additional harm. M’s case illustrates how systemic practices can re-traumatize individuals, making it difficult for them to heal and succeed.

15:07

🏘️ The Impact of Urban Development

M's story continues with a discussion on the historical trauma experienced by North Minneapolis, a once vibrant community disrupted by the construction of Interstate 94. This urban development led to increased poverty and violence, disproportionately affecting African American residents. M, growing up in this environment, faced numerous challenges, including abusive relationships and homelessness, which were compounded by systemic failures and lack of support.

🔄 Repeated Trauma and Systemic Failures

M's situation worsened as systemic practices continued to fail her. Despite her efforts to comply with her case plan, she faced numerous obstacles, including homelessness and financial strain. The systems in place often forced her into situations that increased her stress and trauma, hindering her ability to focus on her child and improve her circumstances.

📉 The Consequences of Chronic Stress

Chronic toxic stress in an unsupportive environment has profound negative effects on mental and physical health. M's perpetual state of stress affected her ability to be present for her child, leading to further trauma. Dr. Kim wrote a letter to advocate for M, but without her permission, which caused additional harm and highlighted implicit biases. The system's fragmented and unresponsive nature often harms those it aims to help.

🤝 Steps Toward Systemic Change

To create meaningful change, reforms must be informed by those most affected by historical and generational trauma. Mill City Kids aims to partner with communities to articulate and implement reforms that promote well-being. System leaders are encouraged to engage in dialogue about historical trauma and structural racism, identify harmful policies, and explore long-term changes to support community and family resilience.

🔄 Shifting Focus to Preventative Approaches

Significant, long-lasting change requires a shift from reactive to preventative approaches, focusing on child, family, and community relationships. Advocating for trauma-informed policies and upstream investments can break the cycle of trauma, supporting resilience and protective factors in communities.

Keywords

💡Historical Trauma

Historical trauma refers to the collective emotional and psychological damage inflicted on a group of people over generations due to significant historical events, such as slavery, genocide, and colonization. This trauma affects entire communities and can lead to lingering effects like discrimination, health disparities, and altered genetic functions. The script discusses how African American and Native American communities continue to suffer from these effects today.

💡Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma is the transmission of the emotional and psychological effects of trauma from one generation to the next. This occurs through changes in behavior, coping mechanisms, and even genetic alterations. The script highlights how children of Holocaust survivors exhibit symptoms as if they had experienced the Holocaust themselves, illustrating the profound and lasting impact of such trauma.

💡Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood, such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction. These experiences can lead to significant health and social problems later in life. The script describes how ACEs increase risks for various health issues and contribute to the cycle of trauma.

💡Structural Racism

Structural racism refers to the systematic discrimination and unequal treatment embedded in the policies and practices of institutions. This form of racism perpetuates disparities in areas like employment, housing, and criminal justice. The script details how current systems designed to help people often reinforce structural racism and historical trauma, causing further harm to oppressed communities.

💡Systemic Reform

Systemic reform involves changing the underlying structures and practices within systems to address and rectify issues like structural racism and historical trauma. The script advocates for reforms driven by the voices of those most affected by these issues, emphasizing the need for community involvement and evidence-based practices.

💡Toxic Stress

Toxic stress is the excessive or prolonged activation of the stress response system in the body. This can lead to harmful effects on brain development, behavior, and physical health. The script explains how chronic toxic stress from unsupportive environments can negatively impact a person's ability to function and parent effectively.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the ability to recover from or adapt to adversity and stress. Building resilience involves creating supportive environments and relationships that help individuals and communities cope with and overcome challenges. The script discusses the importance of promoting resilience through child- and family-centered policies and practices.

💡Protective Factors

Protective factors are conditions or attributes that help individuals deal with stressful events and mitigate risks associated with trauma. These include supportive relationships, community resources, and healthy coping strategies. The script emphasizes the need for policies and systems that foster protective factors to break the cycle of trauma.

💡Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and integrates this understanding into all aspects of service delivery. It aims to create environments that do not re-traumatize individuals and support their healing and recovery. The script mentions the need for trauma-informed policies and practices to better serve affected individuals.

💡Community Engagement

Community engagement involves working collaboratively with community members to address issues, build capacity, and create meaningful change. The script calls for engaging with communities to identify and implement reforms that align with their needs and empower them to heal and thrive.

Highlights

Historical trauma is a collective emotional wounding across generations due to cataclysmic events targeting whole communities.

Trauma can be incorporated in the body and alter gene function, affecting descendants who did not directly experience the trauma.

Manifestations of historical trauma include discrimination, health and income disparities, and genetic changes.

Historical trauma's impact is evident in the high poverty rates and arrest rates for African American and Native American children.

Achievement gaps between racial groups for 12th graders have changed little since the 1960s.

Historical trauma contributes to intergenerational trauma, affecting parenting and leading to adverse childhood experiences (ACES).

ACES increase the risk of various health issues, including smoking, hepatitis, alcohol abuse, and suicide attempts.

Current systems intended to help people can inadvertently create new trauma through structural racism and historical trauma reinforcement.

The story of 'M' illustrates the challenges faced by individuals within systems designed to help but causing further harm.

North Minneapolis experienced trauma through the construction of a highway, leading to increased poverty and violence.

M's personal story shows the cycle of trauma within her family and the impact of adverse experiences on her life.

The healthcare and social systems failed M by causing additional stress and not providing adequate support.

Dr. Helen Kim's experience with M highlights the importance of considering the impact of systemic practices on individuals.

The need for a shift in systems to be more trauma-informed and responsive to the needs of those they are designed to help.

The importance of community involvement in reforming systems to better serve those affected by historical and generational trauma.

The necessity of changing policies and practices within organizations to mitigate the negative impacts of current systems.

The role of system leaders in engaging in dialogue about historical trauma and structural racism to inform organizational change.

The potential for upstream investments and community-focused policies to break the cycle of trauma and promote resilience.

Transcripts

the United States has a history that has

inflicted trauma on African American and

Native American communities over

hundreds of years this historical trauma

often distorted denied or concealed is

seen in slavery genocide colonization

forced relocation and other traumatic

events of generations past which have

lingering and profound consequences

today but what is historical trauma

historical trauma has to do with

collective cumulative emotional wounding

across generations resulting from

cataclysmic events these events target

not just individuals but rather a whole

collective community the trauma is held

personally but can be transmitted over

generations trauma is incorporated in

the body and alters how genes function

these changes can be passed on to one's

children those who have not directly

experienced a trauma can feel the

effects generations later in the form of

discrimination and stereotypes

cumulative health and income disparities

and even changes at the genetic level

and those who are descendant from the

oppressed intergenerational trauma has

been best studied in the research on the

offspring of Holocaust survivors and can

be summed up in one sentence the

children of survivors show symptoms

which would be expected if they actually

lived through the Holocaust

what are some current manifestations of

these past traumatic events poverty

rates for children under 18 in Minnesota

are four times as high for Native

American children and nearly five times

as high for african-american children as

for white children in Minnesota from

2012 to 2014 African American and Native

Americans were nearly nine times more

likely than whites to be arrested for

low-level offenses like trespassing

disorderly conduct and lurking across

the country black-white achievement gaps

for 12th graders remain unacceptably

large changing little since first being

reported in the Coleman report of 1965

Minnesota has the second largest home

ownership rate in the country but also

the third highest disparity in home

ownership rates between white households

and households of color the Twin Cities

metro has one of the highest overall

employment rates among other large metro

areas yet American Indian employment

rates are among the lowest at nearly 25

percent below that of whites while the

black employment rate is nearly 13

percent below that of whites historical

trauma leads to new generations of

individual trauma often in the form of

adverse childhood experiences or aces

which can include physical emotional or

sexual abuse physical and emotional

neglect mental illness of a household

member separation of a parent due to

divorce or incarceration early death due

to drug and alcohol abuse in the home

and other traumatic events if we

consider just the health consequences of

such events those with at least four

categories of aces show 2.2 times the

risk of smoking 2.4 times the risk of

hepatitis 7 times the risk of abusing

alcohol 2.5 times the risk of sexually

transmitted diseases and 12 times the

risk of attempting suicide in addition

to the hardships passed down from

generations of trauma current systems

that are designed to help people are

actually creating new trauma our systems

and societal practices perpetually

reinforce structural racism and

historical trauma

which causes harm to those who have been

most oppressed over time no city kid

seeks to catalyze a process whereby we

all identify our role in seeing and

changing harmful policies and practices

in the short-term and collectively

advocate for a longer term investments

and community and family capacity to

heal and thrive

this is a story of how a good person

working within a system designed to help

people create new trauma my name is dr.

Helen Kim I'm a psychiatrist at a large

inner-city hospital and the director of

a program that serves pregnant and

postpartum moms with depression and

trauma our goal is to save and improve

lives by helping distressed moms protect

and nurture their children and to help

them parent with awareness love and

compassion I'd like to share with you

the story of a young mom who will call

m/m has a four month old baby bee who is

in foster care she was referred to our

mother baby mental health program for

evaluation and treatment M is a 22 year

old african-american woman striving for

a better life despite her difficult

upbringing she grew up in North

Minneapolis in a family with generations

of trauma within a neighborhood that

itself had experienced historical trauma

which now manifests in violence and

poverty how did North Minneapolis

experience trauma as a neighborhood the

area was once vibrant and economically

stable up until the US government passed

the 1956 Federal Highway Act this led to

the construction of interstate 94 now

one of Minneapolis a--'s biggest

highways and the deconstruction of the

community fabric and vitality of areas

like North Minneapolis and st. Paul's

Rondo neighborhood the residents were

black often poor and politically

marginalized so their neighborhoods

represented a path of least resistance

for the construction of the highway

today the overall rates of poverty in

North Minneapolis are much higher than

that of the rest of the city and higher

still for its african-american residents

getting back to em she has seen

experienced and overcome a lot to be who

she is today a young woman seeking more

from life but in order for her situation

to improve she will need to be helped

not harmed by organizations and systems

set up to serve those facing harsh

realities M grew up in a very chaotic

home with a mother who was very young

Moody and abusive and a physically

violent father who left when M was very

young her mother later met another man

who moved into the family's home and was

physically abusive to M's mother and

also M & M's older sister

and finally couldn't take the chaos and

violence at home so as a teenager she

dropped out of high school left home and

met a boy named Dee a teen who himself

had dropped out of high school

his parents were addicted to drugs and

failed to care for him all through his

life he had grown up in a family with

generations of trauma as well

when dnm met it was love at first sight

she said they were their own family and

they tried to make it on their own they

lived in cars they couch hopped they

moved into a shelter they got jobs at a

fast food restaurant

the relationship brought stress

including physical abuse but they were

also fiercely loyal to one another then

M&D unexpectedly got pregnant the

fighting between them got worse as the

stress got higher as a result D started

using drugs and became more violent he

came home hi multiple times

african-americans are one third to one

half as likely as White's to have access

to mental health and addiction treatment

three months later they delivered a

healthy baby boy B they still had no

outside support and we're living in the

family shelter although they were doing

their best neither had healthy parenting

models to guide them the stress

continued to heightened after B's birth

they were struggling to make ends meet

and DS drug use was increasing one night

he came home hi and really said in on em

somehow during the altercation the baby

sustained a skull fracture about 1/3 of

parents who were abused as children

continued a pattern of neglectful or

abusive parenting another third remained

vulnerable to social stressors and are

more likely to become abusive under such

influences M screamed for help and

called 9-1-1 and the baby was rushed to

the hospital where he lost consciousness

and had a seizure M thought the baby

would die but fortunately be recovered

over the subsequent weeks all the while

D was nowhere to be found and M was at

the hospital alone eventually baby B was

discharged not with his mother M but to

an emergency foster home so M no longer

had her baby and she then learned that D

had been arrested and was in prison for

M the only good news was that the

emergency foster home was a very caring

household and M felt really good about

baby B being there M trusted the

emergency foster mother to take care of

and protect baby B M now without a

partner or a child suddenly lost

eligibility to stay at the family

shelter and found herself homeless again

the system that was set up to help keep

a roof over her head was now putting her

back on the street unsure of what to do

she decided to move back in with her mom

this was a really hard choice because

her mom was furious at M for losing her

baby to the system her fear and anger

came out in these vicious arguments that

made living there even worse

during all of this M was also required

to comply with her case plan which

included attending the mother baby

mental health program five hours a day

for four days a week meeting with a

parent educator once a week and

attending a weekly domestic abuse group

that cost twenty-five dollars per

session to comply with this case plan M

had to miss work and lost her job in

addition the cost of the group therapy

posed a problem because when she lost

custody of her child she also lost

access to her Minnesota family

investment program cash assistance the

baby meanwhile was being shipped back

and forth between the foster home

daycare and M's parenting classes this

was in accordance with her case plan and

approved by her assigned caseworker baby

B was regularly placed unaccompanied in

the back of a cab driven by a stranger

to have a child placed in the hands of a

stranger is something that would cause

any mother great distress this was a

very traumatic experience for M that she

had to endure repeatedly since this was

the only way for her to see her child

additionally due to poor communication

between her caseworker and the variety

of caretakers the baby did not always

arrive where and when M expected which

further increased her level of fear the

baby would sometimes arrive crying or

completely emotionally shut down in an

unreactive dissociated state of stress

the caseworkers were often busy and

unavailable when M tried to tell them

about these issues to me it became clear

that the system was asking her to be a

more protective parent while at the same

time forcing her to do things that go

against her protective instincts as a

mother repetitive highly stressful

experiences like these caused changes at

the genetic level affecting one's

response to stress and adversity this

was a new form of trauma that M had to

navigate and one that was a result of

system practices in a lot of ways M

could never focus on the baby because of

her perpetual stressed state of

fight-or-flight her struggles with money

her negative interactions with systems

her travel back and forth to an unsafe

neighborhood all left her in a

heightened state of reactivity a trauma

response which made it very difficult

for her to be present even when she did

have supervised visits with the baby

chronic toxic stress in an unsupportive

environment leads to unregulated release

of stress hormones the result is

profoundly negative effects on the brain

including executive function attention

and memory and also detrimental effects

on physical health until the system

backed off M had little opportunity to

succeed or to heal as her psychiatrist I

thought I could write a letter that

would spell out how we needed first to

safely and stable house m to help her

lower her stress response and allow her

to increase their capacity to parent B

until then she couldn't learn the

necessary skills because of her

threatened highly reactive State I did

not see her as someone with mental

illness but rather an individual with

complex trauma who was being reach Ramat

eyes by systems that were set up to help

her the system itself had become a

threat to her success so I wrote a

letter about how the system needed to

back off in order for m to regain her

ability to focus on B I also mentioned

how she was doing a great job in therapy

and had overcome a lot of her own trauma

after growing up in a difficult and

abusive home the letter was intended to

be used in court to make a case for Em's

efforts during her next custody hearing

I failed to ask M for permission to

write this letter and unfortunately M

didn't get a chance to read the letter

before her court date because I didn't

have time to show it to her and if I'm

really honest with myself I thought I

didn't need to because I thought it was

a pretty good letter when my into the

court room she felt as though everyone

the judge the opposing attorney the

system caseworker her public defender

everyone was reading this letter except

her the judge later praised her in front

of everyone for overcoming so much and

trying to be a good parent

despite her horribly abusive childhood

unbeknownst to the judge and mother was

also in the courtroom she was shocked

and felt completely attacked exposed and

humiliated especially after stepping up

to help take care of M and her baby

Emma's mom was furious and the two of

them nearly got into a fistfight upon

leaving the next day em said to me in a

very gracious way with tears in her eyes

dr. Kim I wish you didn't write that

letter it made my life so much worse my

mom threatened to kick me out of the

house we almost got into another

fistfight I got her to calm down but

that letter made things so much worse

for me I wish you hadn't written it this

was a very painful thing to hear from em

I let her know that I was sorry for how

much I had hurt her we had some tears

together am said to me it's okay dr. Kim

we're gonna put this away and move on

afterward I reflected on how brave and

was to tell me how I had hurt her with

my letter and how generous she was to

forgive me for my mistake I thought

about what would have happened if M had

been a white educated professional woman

what I have dared to write a letter

without her permission or to send it to

her lawyer without showing it to her

first if I'm totally honest with myself

I have to say no I wouldn't have I do

have my own implicit racist bias and

that somehow her being young and black

affected what I felt I could do for her

instead of with her although my

intentions were good I caused her

further harm I realized one can have

good intentions yet harmful impact

MD and be interacted with a system that

was not only fragmented but also not

responsive to their needs as a result

the system harmed rather than helped

them systems are composed of people and

practices so in order to shift systems

we first need to shift people ourselves

once we shift ourselves we can begin to

explore practices that help more and

harm less we cannot change the past

however we can change the way we see

each other and how systems can help

people but how now what

as a first step we must realize that

meaningful reforms need to come from the

voice of those most oppressed by

historical trauma and generational

trauma and aligned with best practice

and evidence community members need to

work through trauma and the

fight-or-flight response before they can

see an articulate reforms that can truly

activate their own power to heal and

thrive

to this end Mill City kids will partner

with communities through community

representatives who can work with them

in their trauma to articulate meaningful

reforms that will advance child parent

and family well-being the use

representatives will provide guidance to

system leaders and collectively build a

reform agenda in a parallel process we

are asking system leaders to join in a

dialogue and engagement process with

other system leaders about historical

trauma and structural racism in the

context of children pre nailed to age

five and implications for their

organization host conversations within

their organization looking at the impact

of current system policies and practices

and how they are negatively impacting

people identify within their team

policies and practices that could

immediately change to better serve

people and explore and partnership with

community longer term changes that we

might collectively pursue to build

capacity and communities and families to

serve their own many of our current

investments are in systems that focus on

the impacts of trauma

rather than child family and community

relationships that can protect against

such impacts to make significant

long-lasting change it is imperative to

shift

our focus to systems and communities as

well as to switch our mentality from a

reactive approach to a preventative one

we can advocate to reduce toxic stresses

support parent-child relationships and

promote resilience and protective

factors by creating child

family-centered trauma-informed policies

and practices and systems as well as

making upstream investments and

communities we can break this

destructive cycle