As we continue to deepen our understanding of resilient communities, this week, we focus on the importance of support networks as an essential foundation for addressing and preventing trauma.
Resilience isn’t a one-time option or something that is built and then meant to withstand challenges and trauma; it is an ongoing process of nurturing connections and sharing capacity.
This approach allows for the ebb and flow of access to strategies and capacities at an individual level by developing a network that can collectively share in the burden. While one individual might become overwhelmed by adversity, the connected community distributes resources and capacities that can dissipate and transform the challenge, creating new strengths both collectively and individually.
These strengths allow us to take steps forward, heal, and grow. Let’s discuss the ways support networks nurture resilience (and how you can begin to strengthen yours today)!
How Support Networks Nurture Resilience
There are several ways that connected communities can increase resilience against trauma and adversity, but three that you could begin implementing this week are:
- Emotional Support: Providing Empathy and Validation – When someone is facing challenges or difficult situations, our helpful default might be to offer a solution; this makes sense as humans are meant for healthy connection, and when we are acting in health, we don’t like to see other humans in distress. The downside of this type of help is that it may address a practical resolution without taking into account the effect of the emotional injury that occurs when someone experiences a relational or system breakdown. If we pause on the impulse to “fix it” and instead lean into active listening, we have the opportunity to be part of the healing that allows a person to process through the emotional journey and recover. By providing a safe and non-judgmental space where expression is received and validated, we create an environment where people can collect evidence that they are not alone and that their needs matter to others.
- Practical Help: Sharing Resources, Information, and Skills – Focusing on providing emotional support first does not mean that practical help is less important; it is just as essential! Tangible and instrumental help alleviates some of a person’s cognitive and emotional load when they are experiencing distress. It can be brainstorming a solution, picking up groceries, or connecting resources – the ways in which we can provide support may vary, but the message communicated continues to be that we are not alone and that our needs matter.
- Sense of Belonging: Combatting Isolation by Staying Connected – When we experience a stress or trauma response, our brains and bodies follow the strongest neural pathways and muscle memory patterns that have been developed in our personal histories. Providing safe, compassionate, and repeated experiences of connection helps to strengthen the belief that we (a) know what to do or (b) know who can help. Trauma will tell us we are not alone, but connection affirms that we are seen, heard, and valued. Belonging isn’t just being around others or holding a membership card – it’s about experiencing safety, acceptance, and trust in a network that uplifts and supports us.
Note: it is important to pause here and state that permission is essential. We honor the agency and dignity of the individual when we offer help and listen to the response before we take action. Outside of crises where emergency services are needed, consent matters. Forcing and/or imposing what we might consider as help on people who have not requested or consented to it usually dehumanizes and invalidates the person who is in distress. Two honoring phrases you might consider using are, “How can I help?” or “Would it be helpful if I ______?”
How to Build and Nurture a Supportive Network
The idea of building and maintaining strong support networks can feel really exciting; it can also feel overwhelming and too large of an endeavor.
The good news is that it starts with small, intentional steps toward connection and that TraumaWise is here to support you as you build and nurture your trauma-informed community.
If you are ready to take that first step, we have a free tool to share with you – Your Guide to Nurturing Supportive Networks! Inside, you’ll find actionable tips and tools for identifying your support systems, strengthening relationships, and creating a network that sustains you through life’s challenges.
