UofL’s Resilient Families Project: Sharing the Science of Resilience in Flint, Michigan

Following the Flint Water Crisis, the Resilient Families Project* team here in Louisville sought to connect their work in risk, resilience, mindfulness and happiness to the community of Flint, MI. Eleven students from UofL’s Resilient Families Project (RFP) team @Wayside Christian Mission’s Hotel Louisville have been working since last June to collaborate with members of the Flint community to plan and launch a Resilience Summit in Flint, Michigan. This work was supported by a grant awarded to Dr. Lora Haynes by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) (an international organization for professionals in psychology) to engage in the teaching and application of the science of psychology.

Following months of planning meetings with a 23-member Resilience Summit Planning Committee in Flint, and weekly UofL RFP Travel Team meetings here in Louisville, this collective effort culminated in a full 3-day resilience conference – a first for Flint – titled, Triumph over Trauma:  Celebrating the Resilience of our Community. This summit took place March 14–17 and was sponsored by: 

  • Genesee Health System
  • the Genesee Intermediate School District
  • ReCAST (a Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma grant provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA))
  • Hurley Children’s Hospital
  • Safe Kids of Greater Flint

 The summit involved over 800 attendees from the following three tracks:  

  • Community (youth, young adults, parents, grandparents, seniors, representatives from faith-based organizations)
  • Education (principals and school administrators, university and school support staff, K-12 teachers, early childhood educators, charter school personnel, bus drivers, lunch room staff, home school liaisons) 
  • First Providers (public health professionals, nurses, pediatricians and physicians, mental health professionals, home visitors and outreach workers)

Attendees came from the city of Flint, Genesee County, and from as far away as Washington, D.C., Maryland and California. Our very own Dr. Barbara Burns[1] joined us – all the way from Santa Clara University – and presented on her Resilience Toolkit.

At the conference, Dr. Lora Haynes presented 2 keynote addresses, and the 12-person travel team was responsible for presenting 4 breakout sessions, hosting a World Café conversation on resilience, facilitating a discussion of the documentary Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope[2], and supporting conference presenters and staff wherever possible.

The team was introduced to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha[3], to the CEO of Genesee Health System, and to the Superintendent of the Genesee Intermediate School District. The team also attended a Public Health Symposium held at the University of Michigan–Flint, and (thanks to our friend Kris Johns[4] at UM-Flint) met with professionals and community members outside of the conference. The team spent time with key management and staff at the Genesee County Health Department and the Plumbers Union to discuss their efforts in response to the Water Crisis. The travel team toured Flint and the surrounding area (thanks to our friend and tour guide, Adil Mohammed, a past student of UofL Speed Scientific School!) which included parts of the city that continue to be most affected by the crisis, and had lunch at Flint’s award-winning Farmer’s Market. The team also delivered donations of bottled water, lead testers, door prizes and gift bags, UofL and Louisville ‘swag’, t-shirts, and snacks.

Kudos to this adventurous team from Louisville!

  • Danielle Deal, University of Louisville, Double Major in Psychology and Political Science, former Bonner Leader, former Intern for Mayor Greg Fischer’s Office, current RFP team lead for 0-3-year-olds
  • James Armes, B.A. University of Louisville, Major in Psychology, Minor in Anthropology; former RFP Intern, current RFP team lead for teens/tweens
  • Jordan Blaine, B.A. University of Louisville, Major in Psychology, Minor in Philosophy; former RFP Intern, current M.S.S.W. student in UofL’s Kent School of Social Work, current M.A. student in University of Louisville’s Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies w/concentration in Bioethics, current RFP volunteer
  • Savanna Cooper, University of Louisville, honors student, Major in Psychology, Minor in Social Change, current RFP team lead for 4-6-year-olds
  • Catherine Leinenbach, University of Louisville, Major in American Sign Language Interpreting Studies, Minor in Psychology, current RFP student volunteer w/ teens/tweens
  • Mimi Stanis, University of Louisville, Major in Nursing, current RFP student volunteer w/ adults
  • Elias Chavez, University of Louisville, honors student, Major in Mechanical Engineering, Minor in Social Change, member of the Service Living, Learning Community, past RFP student volunteer w/ 4-6-year-olds
  • Brittany Phillips, University of Louisville, Major in Sociology, Minor in Pan-African Studies, current RFP team co-lead for 7-9-year-olds
  • Kassidy Haynes, Meyzeek Middle School, youth MST representative, BETA Club, current RFP student volunteer w/ 0-3-year-olds
  • Valerie Mansfield, B.A., Associate Minister, Unity of Louisville; Co-Director of the Resilient Families Project (RFP) @ Wayside Christian Mission’s Hotel Louisville
  • Lora D. Haynes, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville; Director of the Resilient Families Project (RFP) @ Wayside Christian Mission’s Hotel Louisville; Departmental Director of Internships and Service-Learning; Departmental Director of Distance Education
  • Nannie Croney, B.A., University of Louisville, Double Major in Pan-African Studies and Political Science, Minor in Communication, current M.S.W. student in University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work, current Wayside Christian Mission and RFP Practicum Student (did not travel to Flint)

 

 “I think probably the most that I learned from Dr. Mona was just looking at how hope means everything in a community that has nothing.”

~quote from an RFP Travel Team Member regarding Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha’s Resilience Summit presentation

 Since returning from this trip, the RFP travel team has been focused on efforts and opportunities to sustain this work – to share their experiences, grow their network of connections, and continue collaborations with friends and colleagues in Flint and here in Louisville. Six members of the original team have committed to travel to Flint for another four days (May 8–11). They will be attending the Genesee County Health Department’s full-day Public Health Conference at the University of Michigan–Flint on May 9th, and will be meeting with members of the Genesee Intermediate School District and the Michigan Association of School Nurses. This team will also be attending a Pediatric Public Health Initiative Update Meeting at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine in Flint. Additional time will be spent engaging with community members about their personal experiences with the Water Crisis – to explore how their crisis and recovery efforts have been driven by resilience, happiness and hope. This team will continue to learn, engage, and share resources surrounding individual, family and community resilience – from multi-generational and life-span perspectives – with the aim of continuing to address the current crisis and future recovery in Flint, especially for Flint’s youngest members.

  

*UofL’s Resilient Families Project (RFP), now completing its 6th year, is directed by Dr. Lora Haynes from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and co-directed by Rev. Valerie Mansfield from Unity of Louisville. This semester alone, RFP is facilitated by a 29-member team committed to sharing the science and practice of resilience, mindfulness and happiness through our weekly programs with children and families in Wayside Christian Mission’s emergency shelter, and with women in drug and alcohol recovery programs who are housed at Wayside’s Hotel Louisville.

 For more information, please contact Lora.Haynes@Louisville.edu and check out our Resilient Families Project details and team members here:

  • TWITTER (#RFPinFlint)   Twitter @RFPLou

…in the media:   UofL’s Resilient Families Project @Wayside Christian Mission’s Hotel Louisville:

  • Live TV Interview with Heather French Henry for the Heart of Gold Series @ WHAS Regarding our Resilient Families Project programs @WCM’s Hotel Louisville for the Partnership for Compassionate Louisville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WnGuwPY9D8 (@ minute 17:50 in 30-minut episode)   (November 2015)

[1] Barbara Burns, Ph.D. is Professor and Director of Child Studies at Santa Clara University in California. Until she took that position in August of 2012, she was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville for 23 years.

[3] Mona Hanna-Attisha, M.D. is a pediatrician and public health advocate, and is best known as a primary whistleblower in the Flint Water Crisis. She is Director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Hurley Medical Center and Assistant Professor in Pediatrics and Human Development at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine.

[4] Kristopher Johns is Program Manager for the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center in Public Health & Health Sciences at the University of Michigan-Flint.