May 2016 Resilience Coffee Notes

Present Mike and Sharon Herron, Carrie Douglas, David Lloyd, Paula Smith, Amelia Siders, Emily Quinn, Lance Morgan, Sharon VanDrie, Carey Curran, Deb Frisbie, Sarah Hubbell, Erika Solomonson

• Conversation about a support group for parents who are parenting a child with ACES (adoptive, foster care or otherwise)- Amelia Siders of the Child Advocacy Center and Paula Smith of Child and Family services offered to work on a series.
• Amelia mentioned that Child Advocacy Center had done a parent series previously
• Discussions about therapeutic parenting support for parents to learn how to respond not react
• Discussion that secondary trauma should identified and supported
• Question- How do we support adults with adversity who struggle?
• Much discussion about healing defendants in criminal cases so they won’t harm again if and when released
• Discussion about the juvenile change. Now 17 year olds in Michigan are considered juveniles in criminal court – must be treated as minors, no more 17 year olds in adult jails
• Discussion about compassion but accountability for people who need help- those who harm others
• Prison system needs to address trauma
• Programs in prisons have funding and then end like MPRI
• Discussion about how church’s are making a difference
• Discussion and explanation offered about what wrap around is, how it works, and why it is needed to keep children in their home
• Susie Greenfelder discussed her trying to bring a program called, “Open Table” to the area. It is a place for anyone to receive support even without a diagnosis
• Question- How do access employers? We should be training and educating employers. They can either pay now or pay later to care for employees
• We need to build a more compassionate community
• Carol Greilick offered a 10 year goal- hire a Chief Resilience Officer for our region or the state