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Testimonial
"I have to tell you how important your work is and how comfortable a climate you bring with you to the group. I’m a very seasoned elder, who knows how to help people find for themselves what they need to thrive, but for myself I fall off of the wagon of daily practice and forget that getting back on track is only a “breath” away, truly! My son is 22 and lives with me. He was in a Russian orphanage until we adopted him when he was 6 and we brought him home to CT. He has Dissociative Identity Disorder from his 1st 6 years being tortured and abused in every inhuman way by his female caregiver in the orphanage. He’s an amazing Soul and we are absolutely each other’s best teacher. I tell you this because I had forgotten, until last night (at a Resilience Café), what a lifeline music has always been for me and I had forgotten that my son had always come to life with music and “silly” dancing as well ! He and I spent the snowy day today listening to songs and artists that we both resonate with and we compiled a playlist that is Our’s Alone. We picked songs that are empowering and slightly rebellious. We sang them loud and moved with every beat ! It was so therapeutic and really fun! Your bingo game opened a door that I have kept ajar for too long. I also realized how much I miss concerts and live music since the pandemic started. Thank you for being the Light Worker that you are 💫 I thank you for your generosity in sharing your gifts, which you do so compassionately." Diane M.
About Rebecca Lemanski, MSW
As a Macro Social Worker, I have dedicated my career to empowering and strengthening families, groups, organizations, and communities. My focus is on resiliency and connection as a way to create change in individuals and communities. I began my career in early childhood education, after earning a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1998. I served as a Lead Teacher for two different early childhood programs - one in a high socioeconomic community and one in an economically disadvantaged community. After working in this field for a few years, and seeing the stark income and wealth disparities, I realized I wanted to make more of an impact in the community, so I began pursuing a master’s in social work and pivoted into the field of Community-Based Services.
I spent 13 years at Community Health Center in Middletown, CT managing Parenting Support Services, working with high-risk families, providing education, advocacy, empowerment and support. Since 2018 I have served as the Director of Middletown Works, a Working Cities Challenge Initiative of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is focused on creating systems change and elevating the voices of low-income single parents in Middletown, especially single moms of color and those living in poverty.
I started Resilience Matters because it does. I created Resilience Matters for you. For me. For all of us. My work is informed by not only my own personal experiences with trauma and abuse, but also the countless other parents, groups, and communities I've worked with who have also experienced trauma and abuse. My childhood was tainted with anger, conflict, addiction, and pain. Can you relate? This caused me to live on high alert as a child, always ready for the next shoe to drop. These experiences wired my brain to be hypervigilant – in fight, flight or freeze mode. I hardly ever felt safe in my body and often felt like I couldn’t relax.
As an adult I wondered why I struggled with certain things; things like unhealthy relationship patterns, experiencing years of domestic violence, abusing alcohol in my 20s to escape my pain and then an unexpected pregnancy. The "aha" moment I experienced in graduate school on ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences), was my key to freedom. That day I learned that I have an ACE score of 4 and that ACEs can cause long-term health issues in adulthood. This gave me relief - relief from thinking there was something wrong with me - that the things I experienced as a child were my fault. I finally understood the "why" behind my behaviors.
Continuing to learn all I could about the science of ACEs, which includes research on resilience, fueled my HOPE and was a catalyst for change. I started making better choices, and stepped into my healing journey. Not only did I make integrating resiliency-building practices a priority, but I also felt compelled to share this “aha” moment with others and to find a way to bring awareness and healing at a collective and community level. In 2017, this vision of promoting “Community Resilience” took root and the Community Resilience Collaborative of Middlesex County (CRC) was established.
I've had another dream though - to open my own business - so I decided to follow that dream and use my skills in a new way - to bridge the gap between personal healing and collective action with a vison that all people can thrive. My focus is "building resilient communities one person at a time", with special priority given to our most vulnerable communities – single mothers, Black and Brown people, youth and children. In 2020, I became Certified as a Community Resiliency Model© (CRM) trainer after attending a week-long training offered by The Trauma Resource Institute in California.
I hold a Master of Social Work Administration (2016) from UConn School of Social Work and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education (1998) from Central Connecticut State University. I am certified in Circle of Security-Parenting and Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) and am also an Adjunct Faculty at Southern Connecticut State University in the graduate social work department. Mentoring future social workers and students is one of the ways I pay it forward.
My specialties include: Community Resiliency, ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) science, Parent Education, trainings, teaching, facilitation and presentation skills, collective impact, community engagement and collaborative leadership.
Resilience Matters is for you. For me. For all of us.
