Meeting Notes May 10, 2016
Attending
Chris Cooper, Wellspace Health
Carolyn Curtis
Alicia Doktor, Sacramento Public Library
Sarah Duncan, Sacramento County Child Protective Services
Kristina Gelardi, UCD Graduate Student, Human Development
Susan Jones, San Juan Unified School District
Julie Langston, BEAR program and Yolo Resilience Network
Katherine Lehman, Rudolf Steiner College
Imani Lucas, Health Education Council
DeAngelo Mack, Wellspace Health
Niku Mohanty, Sacramento County Child Protective Services
Latina Price
Donielle Prince, ACEs Connection Network- Sacramento Online Group Manager
Wendie Skala, Kaiser Permanente
Barbara Stern, Rudolph Steiner College
Kathryn Taylor
Introductions
Mindfulness Minute led by Barbara Stern
Announcements
- We introduced our Steering Group structure (described below); and we have a new name to replace our “placeholder” name: We are now Resilient Sac! Stay tuned for opportunities to help us design our logo!
- We will now be following (learning) the TIPS format for meetings, adapted from its use in schools. TIPS helps organizations develop and sustain focus because “people aren’t tired from solving problems- they are tired from solving the same problem over and over”.
Presentation of the Steering Group Structure (Donielle)
A steering group has been identified. Please click this link to view the Steering Group template (and offer comments on that page).
The initial target area subcommittees (Action Groups) have been identified, and we are still looking for people to join each subcommittee. Feel free to suggest additional committees.
Initial Committees:
- Policy
- Trauma-Informed Schools
- Community Outreach
Feedback from the Workgroup including an excellent suggestion that we form a Health Care Action Group, given that we have so much representation from that sector in our local membership.
Julie suggested that planning and holding community events can be a great task for the Community Outreach Action Group, allowing Resilient Sac to immediately work toward the goal of increasing awareness of ACEs in the community.
DeAngelo raised the point that sooner rather than later, Resilient Sac should form an Action Group on raising cultural awareness in ACEs work. This is work being tackled in the Bay Area and we have an opportunity to assume a real leadership role in bringing this focus to the Sacramento area.
Wendie summarized that the goal of developing these structures and incorporating a more intentional meeting format, is to support Resilient Sac is meeting a need in the community. As people hear about our work, they want this information, and we want to be maximally prepared to share it. People know about the band-aid solutions when working with populations who have a trauma background; ACEs is the salve we want more people in our community to have access to.
Action Group Reports
Trauma Informed Schools (Susan Jones)
Susan presented to us the same presentation slides that she uses when she first starts working with a school site. Click here to see the presentation slides.
The great thing about the presentation at our meeting, is that Susan shared more than just the slides- she shared her thinking and pedagogical approach to getting the message across to a particular audience that had limited prior knowledge of ACEs. It was very helpful to get this perspective in order to consider making presentations to other groups with a similar background.
Susan has found that the key to success when working with schools is to get to know each site individually, and to start where they are at. Top down dictating does not work.
Another important aspect of her approach with school sites, is that she does not overwhelm them with information. The components of the presentation are: an overview of ACEs, a description and implications of the ACEs study, and she shows the compelling clip of Nadine Burke Harris’ Ted Talk.
She also explains the Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS), a formal curriculum schools can use to begin to work differently on discipline and classroom management. Susan’s goal is to teach school staff how PBIS as a tool, fits into a broader effort to improve student behavior by increasing their emotional regulation skills.
Susan made the important point that changes in educational law requiring that schools provide behavior supports was a critical facilitator. Educational law pushed schools to begin to make the necessary, and often difficult, cultural shift toward a different way of “managing” student behavior. Districts in California now have to create behavior teams so that they can show they are capable of responding to student behavioral needs.
Susan’s presentation concluded with information about progress in the San Juan Unified School District where she works as a Behavioral Specialist. Susan says, “Relationship is the answer”.
Some of the tools to help build this relationship in schools include restorative practices; music; movement; and teaching about stress in the body, a host of strategies that Susan draws from to teach these skills to both staff and students.
Policy (Imani Lucas)
Imani presented on the Defending Childhood Initiative. He and Wendie had attended a presentation on the initiative that stimulated a lot of ideas about how to effectively do community wide work to shift cultural mindset on solving social problems.
The premises of the initiative are included on the graphic below:
Please join us for our next meeting on June 14, 2016.
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