Bouncing back from trauma

by Asé Mora

Bounce Back Generation (BBG) is an organization making an impact in the lives of youth based in the Potrero Hill and Bayview Hunters Point communities. A third time grant recipient of Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign, grant recipient organization BBG works to give agency to youth experiencing adverse childhood trauma. 

According to Jennifer Dhillon, founder and CEO of Bounce Back Generation, in 2011, some of the initial programs started by BBG were food programs for children in the neighborhood, student escorts to school, and collaborations with entities such as the local police department to help residents organize their own neighborhood watch. There was also Bridge Housing, a housing developer and manager that preserves existing affordable housing properties in the West Coast. 

Today, the organization’s main work happens over social media, educating youth on overcoming adverse childhood trauma and giving them and their families the coping skills and education necessary to do so. Dhillon shares, “I think in the last few years, and particularly what we see on social media, there’s a lot of using trauma as a way to feel constantly victimized. I think that’s really unhealthy for kids in the long run.” 

The six main principles of BBG used to empower youth growing up in adversity and building resilience to it include physical safety, meaningful relationships, healthy coping skills, confidence and storytelling. These principles are based on the scientific findings and research of Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, award-winning physician and founder of Bayview Child Health Center and Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco. Dr. Harris pioneered the study and treatment of adverse childhood trauma (ACE) amongst youth based in San Francisco’s Southeastern neighborhoods. she went on to serve as the surgeon general of california between 2019 and 2022.

According to Dhillon, the award from Kaiser Permanente’s Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign, derived from the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Mentoring for Health and Wellness Initiative, goes toward funding podcast courses for students. The podcast course initiative was established in partnership with Success Center, a nonprofit organization that offers job readiness training in construction, art and podcast creation as well as GED prep and is designed to teach youth to turn their own experience with ACE into narratives and stories that teach resilience and help with the process of working through those traumas. Dhillon affirms, “It’s basically giving the microphone to young people and saying, talk about your mental health, from your perspective.”

The content that BBG produces is designed to equip underserved communities with the tools to overcome ACE and build resilience towards it. According to Dhillon, the BBG’s biggest contribution has been establishing a foundation for a stronger community through empowering community members to play a more active role in protecting their neighborhood youth. 

Dhillon further explains, “There was almost a sense of panic for a lot of adults in the community that they could see where their kids were headed and didn’t know how to stop it. There are so many things that they had no control over. They couldn’t control their housing. They couldn’t control how they were treated. They couldn’t control discrimination, couldn’t control over-policing in the neighborhood. What they could control was, can we build a more loving and protective environment for the children.” 

Dhillon stated that BBG’s work is centered around fueling youth to break those cycles and teaching youth not only how to process trauma from childhood, but also cultivate it into a productive motivation for positive change. Dhillon reminds us, “We need to acknowledge trauma, we need to heal from trauma, we need to know that it’s very painful and difficult. But we also need to know that you have a right to grow from it because you have a right to [a] good life. So that’s essentially what we’re trying to do is really help a whole generation to bounce back from trauma.” 

Asé Mora is a writing and media intern with the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper and a freelance journalist based in the Bay Area. She is a special reporter on the San Francisco Kaiser Permanente Voices for Mental Health and Wellness Campaign. Asé is a senior at San Francisco State University studying journalism with a minor in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts and Deaf Studies. She is also a staff reporter for Xpress Magazine, SF State’s student-run publication.

The post Bouncing back from trauma appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.