Tagged With "Elevating Foster Parent Training"
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Rockstar Recognition
Benchmarks’ PFE would like to take a moment to “shout-out” one of the Rockstar members of our ClevePart Partnership. Alison Clark is the Permanency Planning Program Manager at Cleveland County DSS and one of our amazing trauma champions. Alison recently received the Local Government Credit Union Innovation Award for 2018 for her efforts in a local initiative she developed to boost foster parent recruitment and adoption efforts in the county. The innovative initiative that landed Alison the...
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SaySo and Karen McLeod Honored at NC Child’s Voices for Children Breakfast
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...
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The Sacramento Violence Intervention Program, Trauma & ACEs
On May 22, I had the opportunity to experience a presentation by DeAngelo Mack on the Sacramento Violence Intervention Program, Trauma and ACEs. The presentation was at Kaiser Sacramento and was directed to residents in the organization. I have worked with @DeAngelo Mack, @Chris Cooper and @Esmeralda Huerta through Resilient Sacramento for the past few years and have admired their work in the community, this was the first opportunity I had to attend...
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Tonier Cain Deserves an Evidence-Based Apology
Tonier Cain spoke at the Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence conference last month in North Carolina. If you don't know her name you might recognize her as the woman featured in the Healing Neen documentary ( which is must see). I am just starting to recover from her speech. Seriously. It was hard to stand after she spoke. When I did, I went right to a yoga mat in the self-care calm room for a while. I took off my high heels and curled up in a ball for a bit. I'm still digesting her words.
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Training: Ways of Sharing Resources
This is saved as a blog post and there's an attachment. Sharing resources as a blog post is easier to make visual.
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Why We Suck (at Self-Soothing & Self-Care): Dr. Dawn O'Malley
Without coffee and yoga, I'm kind of a jerk. These are my personal "puppy uppers and doggie downers" and prevent me from being cranky, quick to cry, and ready for conflict. Coffee and calming make life more manageable. Humans seem tolerable. Without helpers I might veer into hating humans for being so needy which is not a great trait for a parent, partner or a professional. Or a self. My partner says coffee and exercise are acts of kindness, services he does to promote public safety. In...
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A Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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ACEs science can prevent school shootings, but first people have to learn about ACEs science
The shooting in Florida isn’t only a gun regulation issue. It’s a systems change issue. All of our systems have to change their approach to changing behavior — whether it’s criminal, unhealthy or unwanted behavior — from a blame, shame and punishment approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, ACEs science.
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Benchmark's Member-Only Annual Meeting
Last week Benchmarks hosted their Member-Only Annual Dinner and Meeting at the beautiful Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC. Benchmarks’ President and Chief Executive Officer, Karen McLeod, presented awards to Representative Josh Dobson, Senator Ralph Hise, and Stephanie Gilliam, DHHS Chief of the Mental Health Licensure and Certification Section at the Division of Health Services Regulation for their tireless work for the children and families of North Carolina. Susan Perry, Chief Deputy...
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Benchmarks PFE Conference August 17th & 18th in Statesville, NC
It's time again for the Benchmarks Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Conference, and ACEs are on the agenda! The conference will be on August 17th & 18th in Statesville, North Carolina. There will be keynote speakers, two breakout sessions, and a screening of the film, Resilience . Two of the keynote speakers are Tonier Cain and Dawn O'Malley! I'll be speaking as well about how ACEs science fuels personal and social change. Topics to be covered in the break-out sessions are as follows:...
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Broken Places Strengthens Cleveland County
In the historical novel, A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway made a significant observation regarding trauma and resiliency. He wrote “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger in the Broken Places .” These very words inspired Roger Weisberg, writer, producer and director, to create a unique film that reexamined four decades of film footage in relation to the impact of toxic stress on children. Thus, the film, Broken Places, was produced by Weisberg who invited the viewer into the...
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Cleveland County's 12th Annual Minority Health Conference
Saturday, PFE’s Program manager, Jasmine Cain was invited to speak at Cleveland County’s 12th Annual Minority Health Conference which was hosted by the county’s Public Health Department and put on by the local Minority Health Council. Each year the conference focuses on educating minority leaders and members in the community about issues facing African American and other minority groups locally. The conference also serves as a platform to address and discuss disparities faced by minorities...
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Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Information Session
Rowan County is excited to take the next steps across all sectors to foster a resilient community. We will be offering the Community Resiliency Model™ Trainer Training on January 27th - 31st, 2020 . The location will be in downtown Salisbury at St. John's Lutheran Church. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided for trainees for the entirety of the training. You can download the training flyer here. The Community Resiliency Model™ (CRM) of the Trauma Resource Institute trains community...
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Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Orientation Training: Trauma-Informed Communities (TiC), Trauma-Aware Communities (TaC), Trauma-Responsive Communities (TrC)
Last week, Benchmarks hosted an all-day orientation training on the Community Resiliency Model (CRM) for twenty-two participants in Salisbury, North Carolina. This orientation is a prerequisite for the sixteen participants who will be attending the four-day train-the-trainer training offered by the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI), which will be held in early July in Thomasville, North Carolina. Since Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) staff have been very supportive regarding the...
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Personal stories the set tone of hearing in U.S. Senate HELP Committee on Opioid Crisis Response Act
Jennifer Donahue, Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, testifies before the HELP Committee (Jennifer Perry to her right) ____________________________________________________________ Some seasoned advocates say legislators are influenced by stories while their staffs are swayed by data. There was some of both at the April 11 hearing on the draft Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 of the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee but it was the personal stories that...
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PFE Booster
Have you ever needed a boost ? Perhaps it was just a little help to make you taller or did you need a few encouraging words that could help redirect your path? The staff at Cleveland County DSS were showing signs that they needed a boost up after implementing the Partnering For Excellent (PFE) initiative in Cleveland County, NC almost four years ago. With changes in leadership, staff and organizational structure, including the welcome of a new director, along with general fatigue and...
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PFE Presents at The 32nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health
Earlier this month, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Program Manager, Jasmine Cain and Ollie Harris Behavioral Health Center's Director, Katie Munger presented in collaboration at the 32 nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health in Tampa, Florida. This collaboration began in an effort to assess the need for trauma-informed behavioral health services for adults in Cleveland County. As a result of Benchmarks’ PFE goal to...
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Researcher Engages With Policymakers and Providers to Help Children Cope With Trauma [today.duke.edu]
A decade of work with children damaged by horrific experiences has shown a Duke researcher that the first step forward is ensuring the child knows that trauma is not destiny. “It’s saying something bad happened to you, not that you’re a bad kid,” says Katie Rosanbalm , research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy . For the past 10 years, Rosanbalm has been working with local school systems and child services agencies in North Carolina to better identify and treat children who...
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New Name- More Great Work
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...
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Introducing Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol
According to leading research, 99% of children entering the foster care system have experienced trauma in their lifetime, and few of those children receive the trauma-informed healthcare they need to recover and prosper. These children are more likely to not only suffer short-term from their trauma, but long term as well. Children who do not receive effective, holistic healthcare experience a lifetime of mental health disorders, substance misuse, and physical illnesses, including diabetes,...
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Expanding Trauma Services in Foster Care
Benchmarks is thrilled to announce the addition of two new counties to our Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) project—Burke and Rutherford Counties! Burke and Rutherford began partnering with us this summer. The two counties will work together, with Partners Behavioral Health Management and Benchmarks, to prioritize children in their foster care system who need to receive trauma-informed clinical assessments. In addition to providing their foster care system with these assessments, the...
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Rockstar Partner Highlight: Davidson County DSS
As we all are aware, COVID has presented its own set of challenges to the wonderful work we all do with the children and families we serve and our Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) child welfare partners are no different in this regard. During the pandemic child welfare agencies across North Carolina have had to contend with the ever-changing needs and demands of their communities. From helping families get set up with supportive concrete supports during times of financial...
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Worth the Effort: Building Resilience in Social Workers
Let’s talk ·R·E·S·I·L·I·E·N·C·E! Resilience is an individual’s ability to overcome adversity, and it is influenced by many factors. A person’s resilience is strongly impacted by their environment and support systems within their lives. A supportive environment, relationships, and connections with other trusted and dependable human beings can make a tremendous difference in the lives of children and families who have endured toxic stressful and traumatic situations. We know how important...
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Benchmarks Unveils New Infographic
Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence redesigns the local child welfare/behavioral health system, changing the way DSSs, MCOs, local providers, and the wider community understand trauma and the need for accessible, appropriate mental health services for children, youth and families who have experienced potentially traumatic events. PFE aims to lead communities to an understanding of the importance of trauma-informed and trauma-responsive communities, to create a lasting change in the...
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Standardized Assessment Protocol Spotlight: Surry and Yadkin Departments of Social Services
Over the past year, Surry and Yadkin Counties' Departments of Social Services have partnered with Benchmarks' Standardized Assessment Protocol pilot to bring about positive outcomes for children, ages 4 and up, in their foster care program. Both Surry and Yadkin joined the project before CoVID-19 changed every aspect of their jobs. What began as an in-person implementation project, quickly, and without warning turned into being completely virtual-- all while partnering with a coordinator...
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Rock Star Partner Highlight: Easter Seals UCP
While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many unique challenges, it has also been a catalyst for creative solutions to help support those who need it most. This week we would like to highlight the work of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partner, Easter Seals UCP. Easter Seals UCP is working in partnership with PFE in Pitt and Craven county DSSes and Trillium, the area’s LME/MCO. Easter Seals UCP has taken on the challenge to help their clients and staff navigate the pandemic,...
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Bridging the Academic Gap During the Pandemic – Tutoring & Caregiver Resources
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’...
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Prioritizing Partnerships with Aligning Values—An Introduction to Youth Villages
Youth Villages opened in 1986, and now provides children’s mental health services across 24 states in over 100 locations. They take pride in increasing positive outcomes for the children and families who participate in their services. In 2018, they reported 88% of the children they previously served are living successfully at home with their families 12 months after completing their programs! Youth Villages offers various programs for children and families involved with foster care. They...
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Resilience: The Foundation of a Strong Child-Welfare System
Resilience, which is defined as the capacity to recover from difficulties, is a vital tool in building a strong child welfare system, but what does that really mean? It is easy to say that resiliency is important, but effectively utilizing systems and tools for children and families as well as the employees who serve them is a different challenge. Through the latest research, we know resilience is made up of many different factors, from one’s genetics to their environment and support...
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Social Workers are Essential: Highlighting National Social Work Month
The month of March brings an abundance of things to celebrate, including National Social Work Month! The National Association of Social Workers dedicates March as a time to celebrate the incredible social work profession and to educate others on the many contributions made by social workers in our communities. This year’s theme “Social Workers are Essential” calls our attention to the indelible role of the social worker in responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Indeed, for...
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Book Club: One Way Life-Long Learning is Encouraged in the Center for Quality Integration
Benchmark’s Center for Quality Integration, made up of the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) and Partnering for Excellence (PFE) teams, prioritizes learning about trauma and its effects on the children within child welfare systems. Both PFE and SAP seek to assist children who have experienced trauma in improving their outcomes and access to trauma-informed services. To be a champion of trauma-informed systems, the team must prioritize lifelong learning about the topic. One of the ways...
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Rockingham County Youth Services Rockstar Spotlight
Rockingham County Youth Services (RCYS) is a local county government agency in Rockingham County, NC that provides counseling and other community alternatives for school-aged youth and their families. RCYS began in Rockingham County in 1979 as a program for troubled youth. Since then, the agency has evolved to provide programs that include counseling for children and adolescents, parenting classes, as well as programs ranging from teen court to substance abuse prevention. The evolution of...
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Exploring the Impossible Imperative
Every year our Benchmarks Center for Quality Improvement (CQi) team carefully selects books for our team to read as a part of our “book club”. The goal of this book club is to increase our team’s knowledge, expertise, and understanding of the systems and individuals we aim to serve through our work throughout the state. Last week, staff wrapped up the club book “The Impossible Imperative: Navigating the Competing Principles of Child Protection” written by Jill Duerr Berrick. We know when...
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Breaking the Stigma: Notable Names with a Child-Welfare Experience
May is National Foster Care Month--a month where we are intentional about acknowledging children, families, volunteers, mentors, policymakers, child welfare professionals, and other members in the community who are involved in Foster Care. An important topic, and one worth discussing, is helping children break the stigma associated with being in Foster Care. Considering all the trauma that can be experienced by children within the child-welfare system, foster children might feel as though...
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Yes! Because We Care!
YES! A resounding YES! This is the standard response given from Children's Homes of Cleveland County (CHCC) when asked about opportunities to come together to learn, grow, and develop in a safe, stable environment for children and families. After all, these are the words penned in the mission statement of the organization, but it is worth noting that this organization strives in every way to live this out. As a trauma informed agency, Children’s Homes of Cleveland County has been a leader in...
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May is Mental Health Awareness Month
The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health awareness applies to every individual, no matter their background. Mental health needs are discussed more often for adults, but it is equally important to remember that infants and children have their own unique mental health needs. A common theme the past few years regarding mental health awareness has been widely expressed using the phrase “No Health Without Mental Health.” This is very true; it is impossible for one to be...
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Nazareth Child & Family Connection: Empowering Youth and Families
Nazareth Child and Family Connection has been a vital member to Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partnership since 2012. While they offer amazing services to the children and family involved in the project, Nazareth is also a huge contributor to innovative and best practice in and around their community. Nazareth was founded in 1906 and has since continued to provide an array of services to meet the needs of children and families located in Rowan and Davidson Counties. Their...
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Self-Care for Resource Parents
Self-care is the golden key to obtaining personal wellness. As a parent, I have seen how practicing self-care can really make a difference between surviving and thriving. Every stage of parenting has its unique challenges, but often resource parents experience additional stressors that naturally come with caring for children involved in child welfare. Whether it is helping a child prepare for a family visit, dealing with another delayed court date, or a long sleepless night, foster parents...
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An Introduction to Support, Incorporated
We are pleased to announce one of our partnering clinical agencies for Burke and Rutherford counties within the Standardized Assessment Protocol project--Support, Incorporated! Support, Inc, which was founded in 2001, is located in Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, and Catawba County and is contracted with several Managed Care Organizations within North Carolina. Support, Inc has a strong clinical model that incorporates behavioral practices and ecosystemic principles—they aim to combine both...
Member
Shawn Squirewell
Member
Karen Koch
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CTSHealth
CTSHealth was established in 2001 as a continuity of care service in Charlotte, NC. They had an initial interest in foster care awareness which has ultimately led to additional service implementation. Most recently, these additional services included participation in Benchmarks’ SAP project. CTSHealth provides community support adult services, outpatient treatment services, and rehabilitative behavioral health services. They strive to implement trauma-informed and trauma-aware services by...
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Interpersonal Violence Effects on Mother and Her Unborn Child: Implications from the Womb throughout the Lifespan
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. During this month, efforts to increase awareness regarding interpersonal violence are more prominent via media outlets and community events. Though interpersonal violence affects many different groups, a particularly vulnerable group are pregnant women. According to research by University of California at San Francisco, twenty percent (20%) of women experience violence during pregnancy. Experiencing interpersonal violence is more common...
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Pitt County Department of Social Services Hosts Annual 'Bready Bear' Event
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...
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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Trauma
The month of October is Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Awareness month. As systems and the people who make up those systems become more trauma-informed and trauma-aware, there is more attention drawn to the intersection and differences between this disorder and trauma. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD, is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects adults and children. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders amongst children ages 2-17...
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Warning: Positive Changes Ahead!
Benchmarks is pleased to announce the implementation of a new project which seeks to improve the lives of children in the child welfare system. In conjunction with Vaya Health, a Medicaid managed care organization in North Carolina, we are excited to begin this important work. We believe this project has the potential to greatly impact the services children receive, the way professionals work together, and enhance the lives of the families we serve. Benchmarks has proven success in project...