Resilience in Adverse Contexts: Youth and Clinician Perspectives on Navigating Community Violence

Background/Objectives: Community violence remains a pervasive public health challenge that disproportionately affects Black youth, with lasting impacts on physical and mental health. Traditional models often conceptualize resilience as individual “bounce back” capacity, overlooking how adaptation unfolds amid chronic violence and structural inequity. This study examined how Black youth and trauma clinicians understand, navigate, and redefine resilience within contexts of ongoing community violence exposure. Methods: Using a phenomenological qualitative design, the study drew on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with Black youth and clinicians participating in a community violence trauma recovery program in Chicago, Illinois. Data were analyzed thematically to identify patterns in how resilience was described, practiced, and supported. Results: Black youth redefined resilience through adaptive survival strategies—such as hypervigilance, avoidance, and emotional regulation—that functioned as protective responses to continuous threat. Clinicians recognized resilience as relational and context-dependent but reported limited training to address trauma rooted in chronic, community-level conditions. Both groups highlighted the role of collective and structural supports, including family, peers, and community networks, in sustaining adaptation. Conclusions: Findings highlight the need to expand trauma-informed care beyond individual treatment to address structural conditions that perpetuate community violence. Integrating ecological and culturally grounded models of resilience into clinical training and community programming can improve support for Black youth navigating chronic exposure to violence.