By the time Jayden is 11, he already knows how to stay alert.
He knows how to tell what kind of evening it is going to be by the sound of the front door closing.
He knows when his mom is stretched too thin to answer questions.
He knows how to act tough at school and invisible at home.
He knows how to carry more than a kid should have to carry.
And now school is out.
For some kids, summer feels like freedom. For kids like Jayden, summer can feel like exposure.
The structure is gone. The meals at school are gone. The teachers who notice when something seems off are gone. The stress at home does not disappear in June. Sometimes it gets louder. He has more hours inside the same walls, more time around the same tension, more space for boredom, frustration, fear, or loneliness to grow.
From the outside, people might think what a child like Jayden needs most is discipline, better choices, or more grit. But more and more research tells a different story.
ACE Study: Childhood Trauma Leads to Lifelong Effects
Years ago, the landmark ACE study showed that childhood trauma can have serious lifelong effects, increasing the risk of major health problems, addiction, depression, and suicide. That research mattered because it named something painful and true: childhood adversity can leave a mark. But newer research has added something deeply hopeful. It shows that children are not only shaped by what wounds them. They are also shaped by what strengthens them. Positive experiences can have a real protective effect. They can help children heal, build resilience, and move toward a different future.
HOPE Framework: 4 Kinds of Experiences that Help Protect and Heal Children
That is where the HOPE framework comes in: Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences. It highlights four kinds of experiences that help protect and heal children: supportive relationships, safe environments, opportunities for emotional growth, and social engagement that creates a sense of belonging. Researchers found that children with the most positive childhood experiences were 72% less likely to suffer poor mental health than those with the fewest. In some cases, children with significant trauma but strong support from family and community fared better than children with little adversity but no meaningful support.
Jayden does not know any of that language.
He would not say “protective factors.” He would not say “positive childhood experiences.” He would not talk about nervous systems or resilience. He just knows what it feels like to brace himself all the time. He knows what it feels like to expect disappointment before anything even begins.
So when a Youth Works mentor invites him on a summer outing, he shrugs like it does not matter.
But he goes.
At first, he hangs back. He makes jokes before anyone else can laugh at him. He pretends not to care what the plan is. But little by little, something shifts.
On the van ride, somebody hands him the aux cord and actually lets him choose the music.
At the zoo, a mentor walks beside him without peppering him with questions. They just notice things together. A tiger pacing. A grizzly in the water. A younger kid pressing both hands to the glass in wonder. The mentor listens when Jayden talks. Really listens. Not like an adult waiting to correct him. Not like someone trying to fix him. Just someone who seems genuinely glad he is there.
And that matters more than most people realize.
The article describes how practitioners using the HOPE framework have seen that healing happens through relationships. One pediatrician said, “We heal through relationships. That’s how we really make change.” That is not sentimental. It is evidence-informed. Supportive relationships help children believe they are seen, valued, and not alone. For a child who has learned to survive by staying guarded, even one consistent, caring relationship can begin to loosen the grip of fear.
A few weeks later, Jayden shows up for a community clean-up day.
He does not come because he is passionate about picking up trash. He comes because his friends are going, because a mentor texted him that morning, because there will be food afterward, because some part of him has started to trust that Youth Works will do what it says it will do.
He spends the afternoon sweating in the sun, joking with other kids, filling bags, making fun of one leader’s terrible work gloves. Then everyone gathers around picnic tables for a BBQ.
It looks simple.
Hot dogs. Chips. Laughter. A paper plate balancing on his knee.
But underneath that ordinary moment, something holy is happening.
Jayden is not just being entertained. He is contributing. He is belonging. He is having an experience of being part of something good.
That matters because the research behind HOPE points to more than just the need to reduce pain. It points to the need to build positive experiences that help children develop agency, connection, and emotional strength. The framework is intentionally focused not only on problems, but on strengths. One doctor in the article explained that with HOPE, she now has an “evidence-informed plan to amplify what the family is already doing.” That is a profound shift. It means kids are not reduced to what has happened to them. They are seen for what can still be built in them.
Then comes camp.
Jayden almost does not go.
Part of him wants to. Part of him is curious. But kids who have lived through instability often do not rush toward the unfamiliar. Hope can feel risky when you are used to being let down.
Still, he gets on the bus.
At camp, he is away from the noise of home. Away from the patterns he has memorized. Away from the version of himself he feels forced to be all year.
There are counselors who know his name by the second day. There are other kids laughing in ways that do not feel cruel. There are late-night conversations where somebody talks about Jesus like He is not distant from hard stories. Like He sees kids who are angry, guarded, sad, confused, and trying to act tougher than they feel. Like His love is not reserved for kids with tidy lives.
For maybe the first time in a while, Jayden is not just surviving the day. He is inside it.
He hikes farther than he thought he could. He tries something new. He misses a shot during a game and nobody mocks him for it. He sits by a campfire and feels, if only for a moment, that there might be another way for his life to go.
Youth Works Providing Story-Changing H.O.P.E. Experiences
This is how change often begins.
Not all at once.
Not with a dramatic movie-scene breakthrough.
Not by erasing the hard parts.
It begins when a child gathers new evidence.
Evidence that adults can be safe.
Evidence that joy is possible.
Evidence that community can be healthy.
Evidence that they are more than the chaos around them.
Evidence that they are loved by God.
The New York Times article shared that over 100,000 health and social service providers have been trained in HOPE, and that since Dr. Robert Sege published his initial findings in 2017, more than 50 retrospective studies and five longitudinal studies have linked positive childhood experiences with lower risks of mental illness, cardiovascular disease, alcohol misuse, teen pregnancy, recidivism, insomnia, and even inflammation markers. That does not mean one camp trip fixes everything. It means positive experiences are not fluff. They are formative. They are part of how healing happens.
By the end of summer, Jayden’s circumstances may not be entirely different.
Home may still be complicated.
Money may still be tight.
School may still bring challenges.
Some wounds may still be tender.
But Jayden is not walking into fall empty-handed.
Now he has names of adults who showed up.
Now he has memories that are not shaped by fear.
Now he has moments of confidence to look back on.
Now he has friendships rooted in something healthier.
Now he has glimpsed a version of life that feels bigger than survival.
And that matters.
Because stories do not only change when pain is removed.
Stories also change when hope is introduced.
Youth Works: Summer of Change
That is what CLDI’s Youth Works program is doing every summer.
A zoo trip is not just a zoo trip. It is wonder, curiosity, conversation, and exposure to a bigger world.
A pool day is not just a way to pass the afternoon. It is joy, laughter, movement, and positive connection in a child’s own neighborhood.
A BBQ after serving the community is not just dinner. It is dignity, purpose, teamwork, and belonging.
Camp is not just camp. It is space to breathe, to be known, to encounter the Gospel, and to imagine a different future.
These experiences may look small on a budget line. Admission. Snacks. Fuel. Food. Fees.
But in a child’s life, they can become turning points.
Because when a child is consistently surrounded by safe people, healthy community, meaningful experiences, and the love of Jesus, their story begins to bend in a different direction.
Not instantly.
But truly.
One summer may not fix everything.
But one summer can begin to change everything.
Will you help us give HOPE to kids like Jayden? Fund a summer of change here!
