Thanks to all who participated in the this past week's webinar on trauma informed policy with our guest speaker Jonathan Purtle, DrPH, Assistant Professor at the Dorsife School of Public Health at Drexel University. Jonathan outlined a very useful typology of trauma informed policies one of which is "trauma preventive policies." Jonathan describes these as "policies that are not necessarily designed with the explicit intent of addressing traumatic stress, but have great potential to do so by reducing exposure and promoting resilience. " Examples include policies to prevent gun violence and child abuse or policies to promote quality early childhood education.
Just days after the webinar, Clare Reidy stumbled upon this San Diego Reader article that exemplifies trauma preventive policy making in action! The article describes how more than 100 citizens from the City Heights Neighborhood showed up at a city planning meeting to protest a plan to sell alcohol at a 7-11 Store adjacent to Cherokee Elementary School. Protesters used the science of ACEs and data showing that the neighborhood already has many more liquor outlets per capita than the citywide average to make their point. An impassioned statement by Godwin Higa, principal of Cherokee Point Elementary, known for its strong commitment to trauma informed practice made a significant impression:
"Cherokee Point is a "trauma-informed" school, where teachers and staff work under the premise that some of their students have been traumatized by some aspect of life's ugliness. That view of students results in more support and far less punishment....My 500 students do not need to be affected by this...We are already subjected to crime. We have children coming to school walking by dead bodies. My 500 children need your voices [to support them] as well."
As Clare points there is good evidence that reducing alcohol outlet density through the regulatory process is an effective strategy for increasing neighborhood safety.
The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends the use of regulatory authority (e.g., through licensing and zoning) to limit alcohol outlet density on the basis of sufficient evidence of a positive association between outlet density and excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. http://www.thecommunityguide.o
The planning meeting ended abruptly without a victory, this time, by the neighbors- but the battle is not over. Kudos City Heights Community in San Diego for standing up for safety and advocating for a trauma informed preventive policy in your neighborhood!
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