Bella’s story is all too familiar. Drugs. Violence. Neglect. Abuse. Adverse Childhood Experiences. If you grow up with them, they cling to you like static, especially if you also lacked Positive Childhood Experiences. Abundant research shows that childhood trauma alters the way the brain develops.

But all is not lost. Relationships have the power to heal the damage done to the brain by trauma.

“For the first time in my life, I truly understood why my life was the way it was. It was both freeing and terrifying, but the women at NAOMI never gave up on me. They came for me again and again.” – Myra*

Childhood trauma teaches kids early on that life is dangerous. The very homes that are supposed to be havens of happiness and support, instead are war zones. Their internal alarm is constantly getting tripped, knocking their Cerebral Cortex off-line, inducing extreme feelings of terror, but leaving few resources to deal with those overwhelming feelings.