Rocky Mount, North Carolina Apr 20, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - Rural Opportunity Institute has launched a new youth-created and youth-led podcast. The Resilience Zone (https://open.spotify.com/show/7awThP3STLMJd0IKXAnyKj) is a student-led podcast, supported by educator Andrew Harding, the state champion High School Assistant Varsity Football Coach. 

The podcast focuses on exploring simple, easy-to-use resilience tools, based on the Reconnect for Resilience curriculum, which can be used to balance your nervous system and better respond to the stress and trauma of life. The podcast shares stories of how these tools can be used in real time, told from the perspective of the teenage hosts, Gabby Taylor and Elijiah Sellers. Each episode features a tool and an interview. For example, Episode 5 featured Inez Ribustello, a small business owner and Tarboro community leader, who talks about life after the trauma of losing her friends and coworkers on September 11th, 2001, and how she found resilience in moving back home to Edgecombe County after the attacks.

Elijah Sellers says, "Sometimes we have to go through heavy hitters, right? And we have to put our minds and our brains under this pressure in order for us to come out stronger."

Fans of the podcast can contact Andy Harding at aharding@ecps.us or email info@ruralopportunity.org to provide feedback and ideas for the podcast.

If your organization would like ROI to speak on the impacts of stress and trauma, and the power of using strategies that promote resilience and well-being, please visit https://www.ruralopportunity.org/speaker. 

This podcast was co-produced by Alli Lindenberg of EducationNC. EdNC is your trusted source of information and the architecture for your participation in a statewide conversation about education and the future of North Carolina. 

To listen to the podcast, search for "The Resilience Zone" on any podcast platform. 

About ROI

ROI supports youth, organizations, and communities to interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and design innovative solutions for healing & resilience. At Rural Opportunity Institute, we support people's healing process by educating, reshaping systemic practices, and fostering deep-rooted connections. We know people are not to blame for the trauma and stress that impacts them. Resilience is an inner strength in all humans, regardless of background, and we as people are wired for connection and healing. We strive to end generational cycles of trauma and poverty by preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress for the community in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.

https://www.ruralopportunity.org/about