RICHMOND, Va. -- It was a packed house as over 900 people made their way to the Richmond Convention Center Thursday morning to learn about and discuss child trauma.
The event is called Voice's for Virginia's Children: Childhood Trauma and Resilience Summit.
Guests were informed about adverse childhood experiences and the serious effects childhood trauma can have throughout a person's life
and even into the next generation.
Well known Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris and First Lady Pamela Northam, as well as several senators and delegates, made an appearance at the event.
One of the big takeaways from the summit is to change the conversation when it comes to kids and trauma, by not asking what's wrong with you, but what happened to you.
"We need to be having these conversations with everybody. Stop everybody on the street, needs to understand. I think those two questions, it's not what's wrong with you, but why are you acting this way, was sorta undergirding that. So how do you begin to have those conversations at your dinner table, with people who might not think about it in their work," said Kathleen Banfield, United Way South Hampton Roads.
The summit was created to build off of this year's general assembly session, where legislators started to address childhood trauma, as well as to create a space for practicing the change within our communities and at the state policy level.
The summit will continue until 4:15 p.m. on Thursday.
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