Meeting notes are below and attached. We had a great presentation from Kaytie Speziale of the San Francisco Traum-Informed Systems Initiative, and Sacramento ACEs members shared concrete ways that they have collaborated to increase trauma-informed work in Sacramento (links provided). Additional materials from the special presentation will be posted separately.
Meeting Notes for Sacramento County ACEs Connection Network, April 12, 2016
Attending
Shaunda Cruz, Sacramento County Probation
Carolyn Curtis
Peter Dannenfelson
Danielle Foster, City of Davis
Kristina Gelardi, UCD Graduate Student, Human Development
Gail Kennedy, ACEs Connection Network- Northern California Community Manager
Julie Langston, BEAR program and Yolo Resilience Network
Katherine Lehman, Rudolf Steiner College
Donielle Prince, ACEs Connection Network- Sacramento Online Group Manager
Wendie Skala, Kaiser Permanente
Kaytie Speziale (Presenter), SF Department of Public Health
Barbara Stern, Rudolph Steiner College
Introductions
Mindfulness Minute led by Barbara Stern
Announcements
Several great connections have been made through Sacramento ACEs! The goal of increasing community awareness and action around ACEs is off to a good start.
- Bringing Baby Home- Carolyn Curtis will be delivering her workshop in May in Sacramento.
- Public School Institute- Katherine Lehman shared about the Institute she’s convening this summer for teachers
- Family Hui- Barbara Stern connected with the presenters of the Family Hui concept who presented to Sacramento ACES in February. Now they are collaborating with Barbara on hosting a Family Hui in a local Title I public school.
- Inside the Adolescent Brain- Shaunda Cruz works in Sacramento County Probation, and she shared that the Juvenile Court will be going dark (professional development day, no court activity) to increase staff wide attendance at this trauma-informed workshop.
Contact Donielle for blog post help: Stay tuned for an email from Donielle to support members in creating blogs about your organizations. For those interested, I will email you to set up calls to share your organization’s trauma-informed practices. Even if you’re not there yet, to share what your organization does and why you are seeking to build trauma-informed awareness into your practices.
RECAP: Special Presentation on Trauma Informed Systems Initiative in San Francisco
We enjoyed an incredible presentation by Kaytie Speziale, MFT who is the Coordinator for the Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
We will soon post a presentation and a paper about the SFDPH’s efforts. Kaytie has offered to invite Sacramento ACEs members to attend her train-the-trainer sessions she holds with the agencies involved in the initiative. There is also a documentary on this initiative currently in development. When we have full details about each of these great assets, we will share with the group!
Summary of Kaytie’s Presentation
General Background: San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) has taken an innovative approach to addressing the wide-spread impact of trauma on the people we serve, our staff and our organization. In its effort to move towards a healing organization, SFDPH has instituted a multi-tiered approach to embed and sustain Trauma Informed principles into practice and policy. Kaytie Speziale coordinates this initiative for the public health workforce, which includes a half-day training for all 9,000 employees and three learning collaboratives for trainers, leadership and champions.
Presentation at ACEs meeting: Kaytie shared both the rewards and challenges of coordinating a cross-sector effort to develop a trauma-informed system both city-wide, and now regionally. The catalyst for this initiative came from the goal of reducing population-based health disparities. Kaytie shared that public health protocols had not been normed for the kind of populations the SFDPH was attempting to treat.
In the SFDPH quest to develop a more effective approach, the need for training on the basics of trauma became evident. One of the core values of the initiative is that all staff must be trained, not just clinical staff.
Another value that emerged as essential to effective implementation, has been that front line staff, not just leadership, have to be part of the buy-in process to the cultural shift toward trauma-informed practice. Without this buy-in, not much happens passed attendance at a training. In response, they have developed a Leadership training that embodies and supports this value. Membership of the Leadership cohort must include front line staff, who are active participants and decision-makers in how trauma-informed practice will be enacted in the organization.
Kaytie concluded her presentation by stating, “The goal is to create a healing organization… in which reflection is key. To create a healing environment, [attending to] how we treat one another, acknowledging power and privilege. The best intervention is understanding, which increases our ability to respond in an agile way. Compassion is not a billable act.”
A detailed paper, and likely the presentation slides as well, will soon be posted.
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