Established via Senate Bill 2482 and signed into law on July 12, the new office is charged with providing a cross-sector approach — bridging public, private and nonprofit entities — to help prevent young people from spiraling downward due to childhood toxic stress and early traumas. Read more

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Breaking down silos is a good thing, particularly if the well-being of children and youth is at stake. That’s why it’s so vital that the newly created state Office of Wellness and Resilience succeeds in meeting its mission: to facilitate and nurture a broader, more coordinated approach to reduce children’s traumatic experiences.

Established via Senate Bill 2482 and signed into law on July 12, the new office is charged with providing a cross-sector approach — bridging public, private and nonprofit entities — to help prevent young people from spiraling downward due to childhood toxic stress and early traumas.

Those traumas run the gamut: physical, emotional or sexual abuse; mental illness; incarceration of a household member; domestic violence; separation or divorce in the household.

Success for the Office of Wellness and Resilience would mean a reduction in the number of children who end up incarcerated, homeless, in prostitution or in other tragic situations, including suicide.

Traditionally, work to prevent or address such traumas has been silo-based within state agencies, such as the Department of Education or Department of Health, as well as within nonprofit organizations.

Optimally, this office — launched in the Governor’s Office but expected to be attached later to a state department — will be able to identify common issues and unmet needs across agencies, and cut through red tape to find operational solutions and funding efficiencies. Toward this mission, it will get a running start, aided by findings of a trauma-informed care task force formed last year and operational till July 2024.

With an initial budget of up to $894,528, the Office of Wellness and Resilience will have an executive director, five full-time employees and two contracted consultants.

Along with the cautious optimism, however, comes trepidation. All too often when it comes to government, good intentions can go awry, with bureaucracy hindering more than it helps. An annual legislative report required of the new office should help to keep it on course.

The fervent hope is that all involved will work to keep the best interests of the kids at heart. When interagency conflicts arise, as they surely will, the trick will be to rise above to seek solutions — seeing not the silos, but the possibilities in working together.

There’s simply too much at stake: young lives at crossroads that can turn desperate without support or intervention. Optimizing resources in order to help guide keiki past dark times — that should be the lodestar to keep everyone moving in the same, positive direction.

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