As discussed in a previous article, in recent years, researchers have discovered the existence of intergenerational trauma.
Intergenerational trauma usually manifests itself in one of two ways:
- Trauma survivors become more likely, due to their experiences, to perpetrate trauma on the next generations
- Children of trauma survivors are negatively impacted in various areas of life, even without facing trauma.
The good news is that, in addition to discovering the existence of intergenerational trauma, researchers have also identified factors that can prevent it. And, the Church is in a great position to promote many of these factors in her ministry.
This article will discuss the factors that can prevent intergenerational trauma and ways that the Church can promote them.
The Research
Researchers have found that the following things can prevent the transmission of trauma and its impacts from one generation to the next:
- Resolving parent trauma (1)
- Strong attachments between parents and children (1)
- A mother having a supportive relationship with an adult when they were a child (2)
- Parents having a positive and supportive romantic relationship with each other (2)
- A person perceives that they have social support (2)
- Higher satisfaction with parenthood (2)
Four Ways That The Church Can Promote These Factors
#1: Connect People to Healing Resources
One way that the Church can help parents find healing after trauma and prevent intergenerational trauma is by connecting people to healing resources.
The first step is for ministers to gather a list of Catholic healing resources. Here are a few ways to create your list:
- Consult our list of Catholic healing resources
- Reach out to therapists in your community and get to know them. Add them to your list if you find them to be trustworthy.
- Research local nonprofits or ministries that may have programs for various types of trauma, such as support groups or shelters.
- If your parish or diocese has any ministries that may be appropriate, such as Stephen Ministers or grief groups, you can list those as well.
Once you have gathered your list, you can begin to connect people to these resources. Here are a few suggestions for how to do that:
- Post the list on your website, in the bulletin, and on any parish bulletin boards as a source of information.
- Provide the list to anyone who discloses trauma to you.
- In marriage, baptismal preparation, and other ministries where old trauma may be brought up, mention that that is a possibility, and provide a list of resources.
When providing these connections to healing resources, it is important not to force people to share their stories. Your job is to connect, not become a therapist.
#2: Promote Strong Marriages
As a Church, we do a great job of preparing couples for marriage. One thing we can do to prevent the cycle of trauma is to further lean into our promotion of strong marriages. Things like improving our marriage preparation to teach practices for strong marriages, connecting new couples to mentor couples, and having marriage ministries help to promote strong marriages.
#3: Promote Strong Attachments
Attachment theory teaches that early relationships between parents and their children provide the foundation for our emotional regulation and relationships. When parents respond consistently and warmly to their children’s needs, they form secure attachment bonds. When this doesn’t happen, problems can arise in emotion regulation and relationships.
As a Church, we often encounter new parents as we prepare them for their child’s baptism. This preparation could be a great time to provide a brief overview of attachment theory and how to promote attachment. For example, Dynamic Catholic includes a parenting inventory in its baptismal program that addresses attachment.
#4: Create Strong Communities
Strong relationships help to prevent the cycle of trauma. Through our ministries, we can strive to connect people with one another.
Simple things like praying together and sharing intentions, fostering sharing about one’s life, fun community activities, and more can help your ministry become a catalyst for a strong community.
Conclusion
These four suggestions are practices that most parishes and apostolates naturally engage in. Through changing our intentionality in these practices, we can prevent the intergenerational transmission of trauma.
What is one thing you can do in your ministry to promote the factors that prevent intergenerational trauma?