Omni Family Institute (OFI) will be launching its first annual summit in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 5, 2025. The summit theme, “Cultivating Growth: Transforming Communities Together" aims to engage a national audience focused on improving foster care systems. Attendees will discuss and recognize how communities are beginning to implement evidence-based practices to reduce children entering foster care by building trauma-informed resilient communities. This event is designed for state and local government representatives, nonprofit leaders, and advocates seeking to enhance their knowledge and foster collaboration.
Internationally recognized trainer, organizational coach, and trauma-informed care subject matter expert Becky Haas will lead the summit with what has become her “signature message” of Building Trauma Informed Resilient Communities. Becky is unique to the field of trauma informed experts and trainers. Since 2014, she’s developed highly sought out sector specific courses based on best practices with the intent of equipping a diverse range of professionals. These courses which she delivers regularly on an international level cover police, adult and juvenile justice system professionals, educators, healthcare, the faith community and more. Two of these courses have received accreditation in Tennessee for professional development CEU’s. In 2023, she was invited to record her Trauma Informed Policing training for the Virtual Academy which a national repository of training for members of law enforcement.
The following is an interview with Mindy Kiser, President/Executive Director of Omni Family Institute (OFI) and Becky Haas to better explain the summit goals.
Mindy, can you briefly introduce yourself and tell what Omni Family Institute is about.
As the President/Executive Director of Omni Family Institute (OFI) and a TBRI practitioner, I am committed to transforming evidence-based care for those impacted by the child-welfare system. OFI's vision is to make interventions easy to learn, practical to implement, and realistic to maintain through hope, empowerment, and trauma-responsive tools. Our foundation is Together Facing the Challenge, developed at Duke University, along with other programs like Hope Centered Caregiving, Regulate to De-escalate, and Closing the Circle. Learn more at Omni Family Institute.
Mindy Kiser, President/Executive Director of Omni Family Institute (OFI)
Please describe the goal of the Summit and what sets this event apart from other conferences on ACEs. Also, who should attend?
This is Omni Family Institute’s first annual summit, and we are both excited and a bit nervous. We currently work with over 150 agency sites across 31 states. We hope to have many of our current affiliates attend as well as attracting new child and family serving professionals who work to address these same goals. Our vision for the summit is to bring people together to learn and to network. OFI sees the amazing work our partners do with children and families nationwide, and we believe sharing these experiences will enhance all our services. Our goal for the summit is to foster collaboration and learning around evidence-based practices emerging in communities to better support children, youth and families in hard places.
Why have you invited Becky to provide a keynote and training and the first Omni Family Institute Summit?
I heard Becky's presentation for the first time last year at a conference in Ohio where she was a keynote following Dr. Bruce Perry. Within five minutes of her talk, it was clear that she had a unique approach. Having studied trauma impact and healing methods extensively through research and literature, I recognized that Becky effectively conveyed complex concepts in an understandable and practical manner. She provided real-life examples of being trauma-responsive in various settings. Becky's message is impactful as it simplifies a challenging topic and emphasizes actionable steps, we can take to support community healing.
As a national organization focused on improving outcomes for those affected by the child welfare system, why does Becky have a message relevant to the Summit theme: “Cultivating Growth: Transforming Communities Together”?
While OFI aims to provide caregivers with tools for use at home, it requires the collective efforts of the community to support a child's healing. Additionally, fostering trauma-responsive communities can reduce the number of children entering foster care. By understanding and addressing the impact of childhood adversity on children and families and promoting protective factors, communities can play an essential role in prevention, which is the ultimate goal.
Becky, briefly introduce yourself. Can you describe how your pioneering work in Northeast Tennessee and now as an international consultant helping develop trauma informed resilient communities, qualifies you for this event?
As a regular contributor in PACEs Connection since joining in 2016, no one has been more surprised to see my story unfold than I have! My story began in 2014, as the Director of a grant-funded Targeted Community Crime Prevention Program aimed at reducing drug related, violent crime and recidivism at the Johnson City Tennessee Police Department I first heard of the connection between childhood trauma as a significant risk factor to addition and other life disparities. I was privileged to hear Dr. Joan Gillece, Director of the SAMHSA funded National Center for Trauma Informed Care speak, and at the same time SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach had been released. Among its recommendations were that communities address trauma by viewing it as an important component of effective behavioral health service delivery. Additionally, it was SAMHSA’s guidance that communities should address trauma through a multi-agency public health approach inclusive of public education and awareness.
So, with that in mind, I partnered with East Tennessee State University Psychology Professor, Dr. Andi Clements to “train our town” as she agreed it was also a good idea. Fast forward to 2017, after training over 4,000 regional professionals all while still doing our day jobs, we wrote to Dr. Joan Gillece asking to host a webinar in 2018 of other cities who were following these SAMHSA recommendations. Her reply read, “Though many communities across the nation are beginning to implement some of these SAMHSA recommendations, Johnson City clearly stands out as a leader in embracing this model” and asked if we’d host a forum instead to share our story. In September of 2018 we hosted a forum in Johnson City which was attended by leadership from SAMHSA out of their Atlanta office, Dr. Gillece, Delaware First Lady, Tracey Quillen Carney, Tennessee’s First Lady at the time, Crissy Haslam as well as people from 20 states. During the forum Dr. Clements and I shared how we’d trained professionals and then over the course of the afternoon, about a dozen of those professionals shared what they were now doing within their various sectors to implement trauma informed practices.
Upon returning to Delaware and sharing her findings in Johnson City with Governor Carney, he signed Executive Order 24 proclaiming Delaware as a Trauma Informed State. Later First Lady Carney would write this testimonial for a Building a Trauma Informed System of Care Toolkit that Dr. Clements and I co-authored in 2019 for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services. “The Johnson City model of trauma informed care has been a tremendous inspiration for First Chance Delaware and many of our partners. Understanding trauma is a pre-requisite to any strength-based work with children, families, and communities; and a multi-agency public health approach is the only way to get there. The Johnson City system of care is a great example of how to integrate the development of formal support with the promotion of public awareness, in a science-based, goal-oriented, and sustainable shift in culture. That's what cities really need.” - Tracey Quillen Carney, First Lady of Delaware. Since her visit to Johnson City, I’ve been pleased to make several visits to Delaware as recent as last year returning twice to train SRO’s and Constables for the Delaware Department of Education.
2018 SAMHSA Forum in Johnson City, Tennessee - Delaware Former First Lady, Tracey Quillen Carney, Becky Haas, and Tennessee Former First Lady, Crissy Haslam.
Following the SAMHSA Forum, within a few months, I was recruited to the largest healthcare system in our region as their first Trauma Informed Administrator to begin raising awareness of childhood adversity as a social determinant of health in rural Appalachia. In 2020, I began my full-time consulting work, but I have never changed my message or methods.
As a mother and a grandmother, creating more resilient communities to better support children and families in hard places has now become my mission. In both 2023 and 2024 my consulting work took me to 11 US Cities and in 2024 overseas to West Yorkshire UK. In every city, I share the vision of what a trauma informed resilient community can look like. With proper training, police, teachers, health professionals, justice professionals, the faith community, non-profit organizations and more, begin to implement sector specific trauma informed approaches as recommended by their peers. As a result, I’m hearing from SRO’s who share they are slowing down on writing so many student citations and instead getting to know students and serve as mentors instead. Social workers or mental health workers are now partnering with law enforcement on ride along to do on the spot crisis evaluations. Educators in trauma informed school districts who significantly reduced forms of discipline that sent students away from schools. Community organizations are being trained how to use the SAMHSA Six Guiding Principles of a Trauma Informed Approach for more effective service delivery. I’m seeing trauma informed courts and was honored in 2024 to speak at the Connecticut Judges Institute. Librarians who teach “serve and return” to parents in preschool reading groups, and park and recreation programs who teach “safe sitter classes” to young athletes showing up with a toddler sibling at their side. You might be thinking, “do you feel cities have arrived?” No. But I can assure you, for many from Nevada to North Carolina, the train has left the station!!
In 1979, U.S. Surgeon General Julius B. Richmond who served under President Jimmy Carter, declared violence a public health crisis of the highest priority, and yet 46 years later that crisis remains. It’s time we act! By understanding trauma, the science of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study and the Positive Childhood Experiences (PCS) study, we are no longer in the dark on how to move forward. By shining a light on these resources, we CAN and MANY COMMUNITIES ARE beginning their journey to create resilient communities and organizations. We are long overdue for a national awareness campaign — like public health initiatives on how seat belts and car seats save lives, smoking causes cancer, and hand washing prevents the flu. Education is needed within every professional sector on how childhood trauma leads to adult life and health disparities including addiction. Only then can we help those who feel paralyzed by their pasts to achieve the healthy lives they deserve.
This is what attendees of the “Cultivating Growth: Transforming Communities Together” hosted by Omni Family Institute will learn. Participants will hear from Becky Haas on Building a Trauma Informed Resilient Community and receive a snapshot of how some cities are beginning to move in this direction. Also, she will be teaching her Basics of Trauma, ACEs, Resilience, and Keys to Using Trauma Informed Approaches Course. This course has inspired many organizations and communities with practical steps to take the science out of theory and put it into practice. There will be opportunities to build your network with other community leaders eager to do the same!
Make plans now to join us for Omni Family Institute’s Summit “Cultivating Growth: Transforming Communities Together”. Participants can expect to:
- Gain actionable strategies to implement trauma-informed practices
- Connect with like-minded professionals and organizations
- Empower your team to build stronger and more supportive systems for those impacted by the child welfare system
- Networking opportunities with others from across the country
Here’s a link for event details and how to register: Growth Summit 2025 - Omni Family Institute
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