CRI Celebrates its Ninth Birthday!

CRI is excited to share that the CRI Team celebrated our ninth birthday, having been first seated as a Team in February of 2010. Research confirms that intentional, creative acts of celebration are powerful organizers in family and organizational culture and provide stability in times of stress or transition. Thus CRI held a small party with a themed cake, sang happy birthday, and enjoyed time together honoring our work and growth. CRI also welcomed guests Dr. Dario Longhi and Dr. Marsha Brown, both longtime supporters of CRI's evaluation process and data.  

Celebration also releases the powerful “happy” hormones (endorphins, dopamine, serotonin) so we started off pumping those hormones while having our cake and eating it too! 

CRI's official founding is hard to pinpoint, but the seed was planted after Teri Barila attended a conference in 2007 with Dr. Robert Anda. She recalls, "when people ask me, when did CRI start, it is hard to answer. But I attribute [it to] the Fall 2007 conference in Winthrop, when Dr. Anda said, 'Go home and make something happen.'" Teri calls this the “multiple exposure” factor, because earlier exposure to this material kept Teri is her cognitive “this is a research study” mode rather than seeing the broader “let’s put this in practice mode”, or the “connection” mode to a full community application.

"So that was the nucleus," Teri remarks. Ultimately, within the next few years, she built up CRI, submitting to Sherwood Trust in March 2009 to begin the official formation. She had meetings with stakeholders, and ultimately created a partner team that met for the first time in February 2010. 

Since the founding, CRI has delivered hundreds of presentations, developed strategic products to aid the community, attended and hosted our own conferences, participated in documentaries, and much more. We reflect on our progress, and have even outlined a model of where we've had success.

We are so grateful for what we have achieved and all who have supported and worked with us along the way. Happy birthday CRI!