North Carolina Is “Primed and Ready” to Institute Reforms To Protect Children from Harm, say Co-Chairs Following First Statewide Trauma Summit

More than 550 researchers, advocates, educators, community stakeholders, clinical and practitioner groups, persons with lived experience, legislators, and representatives from state agencies, among others, attended a statewide summit in Raleigh, North Carolina—“Leveraging North Carolina’s Assets to Prevent Child Trauma,” April 27-28.

Diana Fishbein, Ph.D., senior scientist in the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, and the primary organizer of the event, said the purpose of the Summit was to “scaffold community activism with solid research and supportive legislative and agency policies.”

Melissa Clepper-Faith, MD, MPH, who works with Fishbein in FPG, co-chaired the event, and said, “Time spent making connections across all these groups was precious.”

“What became clear is that NC is primed and ready to institute the reforms needed to protect our children from harm. We are ahead of many other states given the dozens of entities working toward this goal. However, there’s a difference between intervening at the level of the risk factor for trauma and focusing our efforts on the underlying social and structural determinants of trauma,” said Fishbein.

“We must move upstream to the roots of the problem, such as the uneven distribution of resources and opportunities, health disparities, racism and discrimination, poverty, violence, and other adversities, to strive to eradicate the sources of trauma before it’s felt”. said Fishbein.

As  founder and co-director of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives, Fishbein says her life, outside of research, "Is devoted to advocate for policies that address the causes of trauma."

"The more than 50 speakers – all but three were from NC –  were all outstanding and 100% aligned with our agenda to activate communities using  solid research and supportive legislative and agency policies,” said Fishbein, adding, “Rather than exhaustion after two days of back-to-back talks, our speakers energized us around a common goal and hope for what we can do collectively to exert a profoundly meaningful impact on child trauma.”

In a post-Summit report to attendees, Fishbein and Clepper-Faith said the Summit was a “call to action to establish a protocol for partnerships across NC that can play an instrumental role in invoking meaningful change to prevent trauma.”

Their report detailed the need for an action plan based on

1. The notion that community activism is at the heart of true change. Community members must be the central decision-makers, as reflected throughout all our discussions and action plans. We want to lift up the voices of “quiet constituents” to be sure they are heard and are co-equal in the co-creation process.
2. The recognition that solid, culturally sensitive research provides the foundation, backing and support for activism at the community level and policy change. That tack ensures our methods are well-tested and that we can expect desirable results.
3. The need for agency-level and legislative policies that are informed by communities and the existing evidence about what works to implement, scale and sustain that change.

“This is the beginning, not the end,” said Fishbein.

The organizers detailed next steps, which include the production of an Executive Summary and 6-8 articles on key topics raised during the summit.

“We will also work on a set of specific policy recommendations to share with the General Assembly, state agencies and local officials. There will be webinars—we welcome the opportunity to work with some of you on specialized topics—meetings, and other follow-on activities,” said Clepper-Faith.

Clepper-Faith and Fishbein also said they advocate for “a task force comprised of a wide range of constituent groups and individuals to co-create a statewide action plan for NC.”

Recordings of the sessions, including the virtual evening dialogue on the eve of the Summit, as well as slides, resources, and other materials, will soon be on three websites, including FPG-UNC, National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice.

For opportunities to become involved and advocate nationally for policies that consider evidence from trauma science, Fishbein invited attendees to visit the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives: https://www.npscoalition.org/. There, speaker Whitney Marris’ training in advocacy is available on the home page by scrolling down for the video “Science Advocacy Training.”

“Another avenue for advocacy at the national and community levels is with the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and practice, CTIPP, directed by our speaker Jesse Kohler, who is the group’s executive director.”

“We also recommend joining and turning to PACEs Connection, which supported the Summit with social media and networking efforts. PACEs Connection works across NC and around the world to raise awareness of the impact of positive and adverse childhood experiences across the lifespan, and to prevent and heal trauma. PACEs Connection helped boost attendance for the Summit as a part of its critical work to promote resilient communities,” said Fishbein.

Summit sponsors and contributors included the FPG, The University of North Carolina Seminar Series, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SmartStart, HopeStar, Child Trust Foundation, Duke Endowment, Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, KB Reynolds Trust, the Campaign for Trauma Informed Policy and Practice, the National Prevent Science Coalition, and summit coordinators, Wake AHEC.