Toxic stress is harmful to all of us and, over the last few months, it’s obviously increased around the world. But not all kinds of stress are harmful; good stress helps us in a variety of ways including building resilience. Some, but not all, types of negative stresses result in long-term effects.

For children, learning how to deal with all types of stress is critically important, as lessons learned and effects of some types of stress can have lifelong implications. Our guest in this episode has researched and published information on the impact of adversity and toxic stress in childhood. She offers a wealth of information about how families and communities can take steps to help improve children’s lives both now and for the future.

Guest for this episode:

Rebecca McFarland is the family and child development agent for K-State Research and Extension’s Frontier District, which has offices in Garnett, Lyndon and Ottawa.

Links to resources:

• Understanding the Impact of Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress
• News story: K-State expert: Communities can help reduce children’s stress
• K-State Research and Extension homepage
• K-State Research and Extension COVID-19 Resources page
• Kansas State University COVID-19 updates

The Extension Files is a product of K-State Research and Extension, which is Kansas State University’s outreach and education system. We have an office in every one of Kansas’ 105 counties.

The goal for K-State Research and Extension is to be everyday Kansans’ trusted source for relevant, unbiased research and information to help people, businesses and communities solve problems, develop skills and build a better future.

In Kansas, extension agents’ expertise and deep network of connections cover a wide array of topics:

• food (from livestock and crop production to preparation and preservation)
• families and community
• 4-H youth development
• finances
• health in all stages of life
• gardening
• landscaping
• … and much more

Check out the K-State Research and Extension website to learn more. The quickest way to find us on Facebook and Twitter is to search for #KSRE.

To provide feedback about this podcast, email us at ksrenews@ksu.edu.