Welcome to the 22nd WCP Congress Program Scheduling

This symposium invites audience interested to learn about trauma and its consequences. It will also share experiences and discuss different resilience building approaches at various stages of life. Traumatic events can have acute and chronic consequences on an individual's mental and physical health. If the stress is not managed, it can result in medical, psychological, and emotional morbidity resulting in increased rates of illnesses throughout lifespan. Different traumatic events including exposure to violence remains a major public health concern globally and there is a dire need to develop culturally sensitive understanding to help in development of effective protocols. Resilience is important for a person to bounce back from the trauma and move ahead in life. The foundation of resilience is to promote positive psychological well-being, minimize the impact of risk, and enhance the protective factors that increase a person’s ability to deal with the challenges of life. Resilience further leads to Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) in which positive psychological changes occur after surviving a traumatic event or highly challenging life circumstances. In this symposium we would give an overview of trauma and its implication on mental health across the lifespan. We would then share experience from a LMIC of treating post-traumatic stress following exposure to violence. Finally, we would conclude by talking about culturally relevant resilience building strategies to encourage post-traumatic growth and recovery.