Young people who are aging out of foster care at the Hope Center in Raleigh often present themselves very well, said a social worker for the agency. That’s because they’re used to concealing the devastating life experiences many have endured.
“They’ve learned it; it’s a skill,” said Meredith Yuckman, program director at the Hope Center at Pullen last week. “That’s where relationships are important, building trust with our staff so that they can get beneath that mask.”
Toxic experiences young people may hide are key to one of the most compelling medical realizations of recent decades: that adverse experiences in childhood, even those that aren’t remembered or expressed, can have a strong negative effect on physical and mental health.
[For more on this story by Thomas Goldsmith, go to https://www.northcarolinahealt...es-childhood-trauma/]
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