Survival is often mistaken for resilience. For many young people who grow up experiencing trauma, family violence, neglect, and substance use within the home, survival becomes a necessary response rather than a choice. While survival strategies may look like independence, strength, or coping from the outside, they often mask ongoing fear, hyper‑vigilance, and unmet needs.

In this keynote, Jasmine Pilling, a proud First Nations woman and national youth advocate, shares her lived experience of growing up in environments shaped by family violence, instability, and parental substance use. Speaking with care and without graphic detail, Jasmine explores how trauma shaped her early life, how systems often misinterpreted survival behaviours, and how stigma and silence can allow harm to continue across generations.

Rather than framing “breaking the cycle” as a single moment of resilience, this presentation unpacks the deliberate, supported, and relational processes that made change possible. Jasmine reflects on the role of safety, choice, consistency, and culturally grounded support in interrupting patterns of harm and shifting from survival toward healing.

She also discusses the importance of understanding substance use as a health issue rather than a moral failing, and the impact this reframing can have on families, services, and prevention efforts.

Drawing on both personal experience and her work in national youth advisory spaces, Jasmine highlights where systems often fail young people, particularly First Nations young people, and where they can do better.

The presentation challenges services to move beyond crisis‑driven responses and instead invest in early, trauma‑informed, and culturally safe approaches that prioritise trust, continuity, and agency.

This keynote offers practical insights for practitioners, policymakers, and leaders committed to preventing intergenerational harm and creating systems where survival is no longer required for young people to be seen, supported, and safe.

Three Key Learnings:
1. Survival is not the same as healing
Behaviours often labelled as “coping” or “resilience” may be trauma responses. True healing requires safety, support, and time, not just endurance.

2. Breaking cycles requires systems to change, not just individuals
Young people do not break cycles alone. Early intervention, cultural safety, trust‑building, and long‑term support are critical to preventing intergenerational harm.

3. Reducing stigma around trauma and substance use is essential to prevention
When substance use and family violence are understood through a health and trauma lens rather than blame, families are more likely to access support and cycles of harm can be interrupted earlier.