This Stark PSA Shows How Childhood Stress Can Linger as an Adult

Stress and adversity do not exclusively impact adults. In fact, what is known is that adverse childhood experiences are increasingly common amongst younger generations and can have a severe effect on early brain development, manifesting mental, physical, and behavioral disorders. That’s why the Center for Youth Wellness and Evolution Bureau have launched a campaign to raise awareness about toxic stress and promote early intervention. "Toxic stress is a health issue where children's biography becomes their biology. That's why the primary goal of Stress Health is to help parents recognize the powerful force they can be in preventing and reversing the impacts of toxic stress in their children," explains Jabeen Yusuf, Director of Marketing and Communications at Center For Youth Wellness and overseeing the Center's public education initiative. In a two-minute short film called “The Things We Carry,” we follow a young boy as he initiates what appears to be his morning routine. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he takes on the hefty task of cleaning up the remnants of what seems to have been a particularly violent night between his parents. [kickout id="1"] It’s a genuinely daunting image, watching this young boy clear away empty beer bottles and stray pills, making an ice pack for his abused mother, tucking in his likely hungover father, and numbly assessing a new hole in the wall. What is even more disheartening is a look at where he stores the trash bag filled with debris: a closet filled to the ceiling with similar bags, a startling symbol of just how often he has had to navigate this nightmare. In the second act of the short film, we see the young boy as an adult, waking up next to his wife. He walks to a closet similar to the one from his childhood, still filled with piled garbage bags, though not quite as packed. “When I was a kid I used to think if I could just grow up, if I could just get through, I could leave all this behind,” he narrates in a voiceover. “But that’s not how it works. Everything that happened is still a part of me.” However, there is still a moment of hope as we then see the man removing a bag and disposing of it outside, just before returning to his happy wife and baby. To end with the image of him actively breaking the cycle of abuse and effectively clearing away some of his baggage is a powerful reminder that we can rise above hardship with the right resources and support. The campaign will run through 2019 and will rely heavily on digital media, aiming for millennial moms born between 1981 and 1996, who accounted for 82 percent of childbirths in 2016. The short film will be available alongside 15, 30, and 60-second versions on digital platforms as well as the Stress Health website. CREDITS: Client: Center for Youth Wellness CEO/Founder: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Executive Director: Chris Padula Chief Medical Officer/VP of Innovation: Dr. Jonathan Goldfinger Director of Marketing & Communication: Jabeen Yusuf Agency: EVB Chief Creative Officer: John Reid Chief Operation Officer: James Gassel Senior Producer: Kimberly Grear Producer: Tori Robertson Art Director: Will Hammack Copywriter: Dave Stich Production Company: Variable, Brooklyn Director: Lloyd Lee Choi Director of Photography (DP): Daniel Stewart Executive Producer: Tyler Ginter, Alex Friedman Producer: Justin Realmuto Editorial: Cartel Edit, Santa Monica Editor: Andy McGraw, Matt Berardi Executive Producer: Lauren Bleiweiss Producers: Greer Bratschie, Ail Reed Music: Hook & Line Composer: Bryan Senti Color Grade: Motion Picture Company Colorist: Mark Gethin Producer: Rebecca Boorsman Sound: One Union Recording Eben Carr, Matt Wood Executive Producer: Vickie Sornslip