[Editor’s Note: This is the second article in a three-part series on Created to Heal: How Neuroplasticity Offers Hope for Children and Their Families. You can find the first and third articles here.]
God created human beings to heal through the transformation of our minds.
In the first article of this blog series, we explored what neuroplasticity is and how early adversity can negatively impact brain development in children. While these negative impacts can be concerning, the remarkable reality of neuroplasticity is that the brain also has an amazing capacity for recovery and rewiring towards more positive development.
However, this healing process doesn’t happen automatically or easily for children affected by trauma or adversity.
We cannot allow abuse or violence to continue and expect that the brain will heal. We cannot move a child from one environment to another and expect growth. Rather, it requires nurturing experiences, stable environments and positive relationships to facilitate reshaping the brain over time.
This is where parents and caregivers play a vital role in the healing of their children.
The brain’s natural healing process
When provided with the right conditions and circumstances, the brain has a profound ability to course-correct from developmental disruptions caused by early adversity.
Research shows that simply removing children from difficult environments and placing them in nurturing, supportive homes can set regenerative processes in motion.
Studies on children adopted from low-nurture institutions illustrate this healing capacity.
When provided a stable, loving family, many children were able to move toward “catch up” in areas like cognitive skills, attachment, emotional regulation and physical growth. The more positive their new environment, the more significant their developmental recovery.
Of course, that doesn’t mean everything will be perfect.
Children who have experienced early adversity may still have struggles. However, while the brain may retain some “scars” from their early experiences, its neuroplastic nature means children are not doomed to poor outcomes if provided the right experiences and relationships to get their crucial developmental processes back on track.
The presence of early adversity doesn’t determine outcomes for the rest of a child’s life.
The pivotal role of caregivers
So what facilitates this neurological remodeling for children affected by adversity?
There are numerous factors that can influence the brain’s ability to heal, from removing the adversity to a child’s self-talk to a safe environment and more. However, as we consider the evidence, nurturing, attuned caregiving stands out as a key catalyst for healing and a strong buffer against lasting damage from toxic stress and trauma.
From birth, responsive caregivers help regulate children’s stress responses, providing buffering care that prevents adversity from becoming toxic. They offer predictable routines and personal care that strengthen critical neural pathways. Through warm, sensitive interactions, they help facilitate skills like emotional regulation after disruption.
Supported by stable, caring adults, children don’t have to cope alone with adverse experiences. This means more than it may seem on the surface. Suffering is hard, but suffering alone is harder.
In his book The Soul of Shame, Curt Thompson writes, “My simple desire is to remind us of what has been understood for three millennia or more about the nature of suffering. The way forward is through it- not around it- all within relationships.”
We were created for relationships, and walking with others in suffering has protective and even bonding qualities.
Children are no exception; they are not meant to go through difficult experiences alone. The very fact of being “with” a child who has experienced adversity has power.
Building a foundation for healing
As parents and caregivers, we are vital to supporting healing through neuroplasticity in the children we love and care for. We provide protective, corrective relationships that get developmental processes back on track. This relational process can be built on certain foundational elements.
Forming secure attachments that build trust and attunement.
Humans are biologically hardwired for connection.
Over time, a child develops an attachment to a specific person whom she trusts to take care of her. This adult becomes that child’s “attachment figure” because the adult consistently responds to her needs.
Humans are created to form and sustain these enduring, nurturing, attachment relationships with others. This model is the foundation from which she builds all her other relationships, including her relationship with God.
When children lack a healthy attachment relationship, it can have serious consequences related to healing. However, we are able to see improvement in attachment relationships with biological parents, as well as the ability to develop attachment relationships to non-biological parents such as foster, adoptive, and kinship parents.
Buffering stress through predictable, nurturing care routines.
When children have experienced adversity in their young lives, we often see an elevated stress response.
In the face of stress, our body moves into fight, flight, or freeze mode. This is a very effective system when used once in a while, such as in a car accident or if a cougar is chasing after us. However, it is not intended to be used in perpetuity, and it comes with some consequences.
Children who have experienced early adversity outside of the safety of a secure attachment may have their stress response stuck in the “on” position. We want to help them to get to a place of calm and safety, where it can switch to “off.”
One thing that can support that process is to create a calm, structured environment for them to grow in. Daily routines, predictable responses, and enough margin to get bored on occasion can set the stage for new growth and development.
Modeling and facilitating crucial skills like impulse control.
Many of our responses, especially as we move beyond infancy, are “caught not taught.”
If a child is screaming swear words, they learned that somewhere. If they are taking a deep breath when they really want to hit the kid who just took their toy, they learned that somewhere.
Modeling good coping skills, impulse control and godly character can go a long way to helping our children develop the right kinds of pathways that counteract some of their early experiences.
Creating a culture of truth, goodness and beauty
We are formed by what we take in.
Children that have experienced difficult settings may not intuitively recognize what is truly good, but we can lead them in the right direction.
Scripture encourages us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things,” (Philippians 4:8).
Surrounding our children with goodness, truth and beauty through nature, art, music and other experiences will help to recalibrate their minds and their expectations.
The nurturing impact of caregiving
Ultimately, caregivers can help reconstruct many of the neural pathways and circuits impacted by adversity through their warm, engaged, day-to-day care and support for the child’s needs.
While some children may require therapeutic services to address severe needs, caregivers are a core part of the intervention and healing process. Their consistent nurturing reworks neural pathways day by day.
So far, we’ve learned about what neuroplasticity is, why it matters for children in adversity, and the vital role parents and caregivers play in helping their children to heal from hard things. In the final blog of this series, we’ll look at some specific strategies for leveraging neuroplasticity to create environments that facilitate recovery for children impacted by adversity.
The brain’s regenerative capacities are extraordinary, and caring adults are key catalysts of its healing power.
– Dr. Nicole Wilke is the Director of the Center on Applied Research for Vulnerable Children and Families.
Interested in learning more? Created to Heal: How Neuroplasticity Offers Hope for Children and Their Families, a newly published book from the CAFO Research Center, explores how brains form, how they respond to their environments, how they heal, and practical steps we can take to promote brain recovery in people who have experienced early adversity. Purchase your copy today!
