Pennsylvania’s Executive Deputy Attorney General, Rob Reed, came to Lancaster on August 22nd to meet with a group of local non-profit and community coalition leaders who have been working to make their respective organizations and coalitions “trauma-informed”. Representatives from many sectors of the Lancaster County community attended, including professionals working in education, healthcare, mental health/behavioral health, criminal justice, housing, city and county government, family and children’s services, human services, and others.

Rob shared the statewide vision for making Pennsylvania a “trauma-informed state” and outlined the work he and others at the state level are doing to form a Pennsylvania “Trauma-Informed Network.”  

He indicated that they hope to announce and begin the launch of the new PA Trauma Informed Network later this autumn. The initiative will start with several conferences that will bring together representatives from many different community sectors, including education, healthcare, criminal justice, human services, the faith community, businesses, and others.

Then, they will launch pilot initiatives with 7-8 counties across Pennsylvania that have already been investing time and resources into becoming “trauma-informed.”

“We’ve been hearing at the state level about the great work many of you are doing here in Lancaster County,” Rob said, “and we hope Lancaster will want to be one of our first pilot sites for the new statewide initiative.”

This could be a significant opportunity for Lancaster city and county. This meeting was the beginning of a broader, community-wide conversation about making Lancaster County a trauma-informed county. We’ll be following up with those who attended this initial meeting and others to determine how we can get the ball rolling locally to coordinate and collaborate in our efforts. Watch this site for more information soon!