Flatland KC: Healing Hate, How to Build a More Resilient Kansas City

By Mary Sanchez & Cody Boston

As a 15-year-old, Berkley Selvin was a prime target of an antisemite’s murderous rampage at the Jewish Community Center campus in Overland Park. 

She survived. 

Not only that day, but through what could have become debilitating survivor’s guilt that surfaced years later. 

How she did so, even finding a sense of purpose that shapes her career choices today, tracks with what science has learned about experiencing trauma and building resilience. 

Especially when it affects children. 

“The human story is never boring,” said Dr. Denise Dowd, with Children’s Mercy Hospital. “It’s a story of resilience. “It’s a story of strength. It’s a story of overcoming.” 

Dowd is part of an expert team formed through the American Academy of Pediatrics that is developing a national Center for Trauma Informed Pediatrics. 

The effort, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a gamechanger that’s been a long time coming, Dowd said. 

As a result, barriers that have long existed between differing fields of science are falling. 

Read the full article via Flatland KC

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