ABSTRACT
As children and adults begin to recover and heal from the impact of trauma exposure and toxic stress, they begin to experience post-traumatic growth. Post-traumatic growth simply means that they can recognize the feelings, reframe responses, and move forward. Post-traumatic growth often includes increases in emotional processes, interpersonal processes, cognitive regulation, and mindset. As children initially begin to demonstrate post-traumatic growth, recognize the changes and separate the growth from the trauma itself. Gratitude and forgiveness have been cited by researchers as skills that only support an optimistic mindset but also reduce feelings of anxiety and the negative impact of stress. Developing gratitude can begin with the simple act of finding something to be grateful for every day. Begin by helping children to understand what forgiveness. Explain that forgiveness is about ignoring feelings like anger. Post-traumatic growth often includes increases in emotional processes, interpersonal processes, cognitive regulation, and mindset.
