Tagged With "community"

The 2019 Voices for Children Breakfast was hosted by NC Child earlier this month. Members of the child advocacy community came together to celebrate achievements in their work with families and children and recognize leaders who have made a difference. SaySo (Strong Able Youth Speaking Out) was awarded the first-ever Community Voices Award. SaySo is a statewide association of youth aged 14 to 24 who are, or have been, in the North Carolina foster care system. As youth who have first-hand...

Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence Project Director, Jenny Cooper, had the opportunity to talk about everything from ACEs to Resiliency at North Carolina's Child Fatality Prevention Summit. The Summit was the first of its kind in the state and brought together Community Child Prevention Team and Child Fatality Taskforce Teams from throughout the state. While the morning plenary session spoke of ACEs and the high rates of ACEs in North Carolina, Jenny's presentation took the opportunity to...

At Partnering For Excellence, we stress the importance of collaborating and working together to ensure the best possible care for those that we serve. Oftentimes, we have multiple departments/organizations that act as "silos" and don't communicate with one another despite usually caring for/treating the same populations in similar capacities. As an initiative, we work to bring together county level Department of Social Services, Managed Care Organizations, and local providers. By doing so,...

Authored by Keesha Corbin, Partnering for Excellence Project Coordinator Walking through the doors of the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, there was a bustle of excitement. Everyone came to life during the first presentation by Mary Lynn Barrett as we sung together as an audience. Next came the presentation that everyone had been waiting for, Dr. Felitti, the researcher that gave a new meaning to the work of so many in the audience. Looking around the audience, I saw many...

Jenny & Keesha: It's great to read this and to hear about Judge Tepper's work as well as how exciting it was to hear Dr. Felittl! I hope I can hear each of them speak some day! Thanks so much for sharing! Cissy

Greetings! You haven’t heard from Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) since our world changed in March. We have been busy on the ground making sure that our social services system and mental health system had all of our attention as we worked to navigate these uncertain times. As we make our way to a “new normal”, we are back and better than ever. In the near future, you will see a revamped site with information about another exciting project being shared. To that end, we are...

For most, COVID-19 has completely changed the way people approach their everyday activities, such as attending school. This disruptive turn of events has drastically changed the way education is being delivered, with many school systems switching to a virtual or remote learning platform. For many children and families, these needed yet significant changes have added challenges that many are seeing impact children’s ability to succeed in school. In response to this, our newest Benchmarks’...

Everyone knows about TiCTaCs right? The tiny little breath mint candies that come in the adorable little boxes? They are typically found in the grocery store checkout aisles and gas stations. They’re offered in a variety of colors and flavors! So why are we sitting here talking about candy? This tiny treat is often mentioned during our work with DSS agencies and other community agencies. These fun little candies appear to have very little significance, but they have a much bigger meaning in...

Organizational culture is the overall personality of an organization. This is comprised of attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and the values of an organization. An organization’s culture shapes and controls the interactions within the partnerships between agencies. Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (The Center) internal organizational culture is reflected and filtered down to our communities through the daily work we do. The Center strongly values advocacy for the child welfare,...

Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) project works closely with local child welfare agencies to implement trauma-informed shifts in the community. This is done through educating the community on the effects of trauma while also working with local child welfare agencies to screen youth who become involved and connect them with a Trauma Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessment (TiCCA). As a result, we know many of our youth in foster care experience higher rates of trauma than their...

For those who may not be aware, July 1, 2021, North Carolina (NC) launched a large transformation within its Medicaid program, referred to as Medicaid Transformation. Prior to this transformation, Medicaid recipients’ physical and behavioral health needs were handled as separate issues because of “ how” and “ where” funds were managed. For recipients, this separation often resulted in service dis-cohesion for those with co-morbidities or co-occurring mental and physical health needs. Since...

Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (CQI) staff members are always learning new skills and honing current ones as they go about their daily project work. Over the years, staff have been enhancing their knowledge in child and adolescent brain development and further developing competencies in trauma-informed and resilience-focused work. These specific knowledge and skill sets are consistently applied across our project work within our child welfare and mental health systems. Though CQI...

Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) project works to align local private providers, LME/MCO partners, and local Departments of Social Services, as well as the community to better address the trauma-related needs of children and families encountering the child welfare system. Research shows that addressing trauma early on is imperative to bettering the outcomes of those who have experienced it. With so many children and families having trauma exposure, we recognized a need to...

Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration will add Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Trainings to its’ regular training offerings in 2023. Our team is thrilled to have completed the training by the Trauma Resource Institute© in this trauma-informed, resiliency-focused wellness model. CRM is an affordable, adaptable, and portable model that can be taught to anyone as young as the age of three. The only requirement needed to learn these biologically based skills is that a person has a nervous...

PACEs Connection is excited to kick off our 2023 Creating Resilient Communities (CRC) Annual Accelerator Program.

July is a time to celebrate all summer has to offer by building bridges and innovating with community to get to the heart of trauma-informed awareness and resilience building. This month, we’ve added new July dates to the summer 2023 *CRC* curriculum—but that’s only half of the good news. Last year, the CRC began as a pilot program. Now that it's evolved, what better time to bring accelerator participants together in a PACEs Connection CRC community than the summer? We are proud to announce...

Awareness about health outcomes are as much about the long-term impact caused by adverse childhood experiences as they are by positive childhood experiences. By providing education on trauma-informed awareness and resilience building frameworks, the CRC Accelerator certification is a tool for both.

As we head into our full CRC curriculum this January, we invite current and future CRC Accelerator participants to join us with collective care and self care in mind.

In late 2023, recognizing the prevalence of trauma among the youth in their care, Alexander County leadership took proactive steps to address this pressing issue. Collaborating with Benchmarks, they embarked on a journey to equip their Department of Social Services (DSS) staff and foster parents with the tools and knowledge necessary to support these vulnerable individuals effectively. Understanding the profound impact of unaddressed trauma on young lives, Alexander County DSS sought to...