Dr. Arline T. Geronimus coined the term “weathering” to describe the effects of systemic oppression—including racism and classism—on the body. In 2023, she published Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society to shine a light on the topic and offer a roadmap for hope. This summer, she joined us at the 2024 NCA Leadership Conference to share her research with child abuse professionals who have dedicated themselves to helping children go on to live happy, healthy lives. This is the conversation Dr. Geronimus had with Teresa Huizar, the CEO of National Children’s Alliance and host of One in Ten podcast, in a plenary session at the conference.

Topics in this episode:

Origin story – 03:15

What is weathering? – 10:10

Physiological stress (not just three minutes of terror on the savannah) – 17:12

When weathering starts – 28:33

Our expectations of caregivers – 33:16

Cost of resiliency – 40:20

Solutions – 54:16

Links:

Arline T. Geronimus, ScD, professor, health behavior and health education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society, by Arline Geronimus (Little, Brown Spark; March 2023)

Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D.

The video version of this conversation will also be available on NCA's YouTube channel.

For more information about National Children’s Alliance and the work of Children’s Advocacy Centers, visit our website at NationalChildrensAlliance.org. Or visit our podcast website at OneInTenPodcast.org. And join us on Facebook at One in Ten podcast.

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