Resiliency is the ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like, and is one of the cornerstones to health and recovery for individuals and communities. Trauma is an emotional and psychological result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter a person’s sense of security, making them feel helpless and vulnerable in a dangerous world. The necessity to treat and heal trauma has never been more evident than in today’s environment and culture. In recovery services, treating, mitigating and preventing trauma is a primary expectation for us at Crestwood. It is the starting point for most people as they embark on their recovery paths. The ability to restore and build resiliency through a variety of trauma-informed techniques, including engagement, resourcing, spirituality and somatic work is the basis for this integrated trauma-approach to services.
The research in neuroscience provides a foundation for the understanding that neuroplasticity and neurogenesis enables the brain to reprogram and develop new pathways for survival and growth. This has led to an understanding that we can expand the resiliency skills, thus enabling people to be less vulnerable to re-trauma, prevent trauma and heal existing trauma. The premise is that if you teach a person to identify and access their resilient innate abilities, aptitudes or inner wellness tools, the individual can practice using these tools as a means to heal and prevent trauma. These tools are skill-based and use a wide-range of evidence-based practices, promising practices and spiritual practices as the building blocks. The practices are integrated and enable the staff at Crestwood to walk with our clients, support and stand behind our clients and guide our clients when needed. The skills and practices are based on the premise that you meet the client exactly where they currently are. This methodology creates a client- centered and culturally-sensitive service model.
Recovery services now have shifted from patterns that created ongoing dependency for clients, to interventions that support resiliency, self-reliance, and prevention. This trauma-informed model of building resiliency enables our clients to become more empowered, more independent of the mental health system, and more intimately connected to their communities. As Crestwood programs seek to build resiliency in our clients, communities benefit from mitigating the trauma from occurring in the first place, reducing the likelihood of diagnosed conditions recurring, and build resiliency through the community.
Trauma-informed care approaches have been the basis of the resiliency skills building. At Crestwood we utilize these trauma-informed care approaches along with culturally-sensitive multidisciplinary approaches and integrating spiritual practices by utilizing evidence-based practices including Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Peer Providers to provide a rich source for mitigating and healing the impact of trauma for our clients. In our Crestwood programs we will continue to work with and support our clients with developing resiliency skills to create a strong foundation from which they can build from and use in their recovery.