The Resilience & Recovery of Former Child Soldiers

Name: The Resilience & Recovery of Former Child Soldiers
Start: 2026-01-26T16:00:00-06:00
End: 2026-01-26T17:30:00-06:00

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. CT

This event explored the long-term impact of war on child development, the ethics of cross-cultural trauma research, and how evidence-based interventions can support recovery in the most challenging circumstances.

Theresa S. Betancourt in Conversation with Dean Sandro Galea

See a recording of the conversation.

What happens to children who experience the unimaginable? How do they build lives after war? And what can their stories teach us about resilience, recovery, and the power of human connection? Through a decades-long longitudinal study following former child soldiers in Sierra Leone from adolescence into adulthood, Theresa S. Betancourt, ScD, MA, has demonstrated how rigorous, ethically grounded research can illuminate pathways to resilience and inform interventions that honor cultural contexts while achieving meaningful impact. This event explored the long-term impact of war on child development, the ethics of cross-cultural trauma research, and how evidence-based interventions can support recovery in the most challenging circumstances.

This event — held online January 26, 2026 — was co-sponsored by WashU School of Public Health and the Program in Public Health & Society in Arts & Sciences, and was part of the WashU Ideas, Discourse, and Exploration (WIDE) Speaker Series.