Trauma and Resilience in Pontiac: Capturing Multimodal Narratives to Educate and Learn From a Community

• In Event: 63.067 - Narrative Research From Multimodal Perspectives

Abstract

This proposal discusses the collaborative efforts between a university and the city of Pontiac to raise community awareness of toxic stress, and to share hope for resilience through narratives. We describe a community-wide communication approach, which leverages community members’ lived experiences to develop resilient and trauma-informed parents and adults who can readily support young children in Pontiac. Every stage of the project was documented using a digital design thinking charrette. Our preliminary results show that participants feel more aware of the issue after participating in a community event organized by the collaborative partnership. While both those who left Pontiac and those who remained mention adversities, the complete picture of resilience emerges from the latter who persisted in Pontiac.

Authors

• Tomoko Wakabayashi, Oakland University

• Sheryl Ruszkiewicz, Oakland University

• James Ross, Pontiac Holonomy Incubaor

• Monica Williams

• Shannan McNair, Oakland University

• Devan Brie Green, Pontiac Public Library