Nearly 300 impassioned and committed people crowded into the Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center last week to launch Trauma Transformed. Known as T2, the regional effort – representing the San Francisco Department of Public Health and seven Bay Area counties – is funded by a four-year, $4-million grant from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Youth, families, health directors and public health leaders from the seven counties participated in the celebration. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee committed to partnering with communities to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and poverty.

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris emphasized how understanding the research about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are the basis for understanding trauma.

Louise Rogers, San Mateo health chief, accounting the tragic stories of systems-involved youth and the county’s process of responding to their trauma, said, “It all starts with local stories.”

Toni Tullys, Santa Clara Behavioral Health dept. director, urged leaders to “get out of the way” and “support resources for community based organizations, families, and young people.”

Alex Briscoe, director of Alameda County Health Care Services, heralded the regional center to be the “holy grail of behavioral health,” and a “tool for racial justice,” yet only if done humbly and carefully. “Trauma-informed care is not just a response to pathology, but a social justice issue”, he noted.

National youth leader Sinead Anderson, a member of Youth in Mind, founded and steered by youth affected by the mental health system, bluntly told the crowd : “I am ACEs.” What doesn’t work to help troubled youth, she said, were truancy laws that put parents in jail, and “home hospitals” that prescribes pills for youth with clinical depression, but no support. Her recovery, she said, came about through developing safe, stable relationships with adults and peers; gaining knowledge about her history through African-American studies classes; and advocacy.

Citing trauma as the language of feeling and behavior in her work with families, Dr. Alicia Lieberman, director of the UCSF Child Trauma Research Program, said, “Through broken hearts we can transcend pain.”

Michelle Campbell-Mateo, speaking on behalf of traumatized families, said, “I am the evidence.” She told her story of coming from a generation that had been traumatized, and how she very passed some of that trauma to her daughter. She advocated for more peer educators and family resilience coaches.

Clifton Hicks, founder of Urban-Based Adventures and a psychiatric social worker for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said, “Interventions don't matter if kids and families don’t feel felt.” He recounted stories of families constantly relocating in search for a sense of community, and called for regional conversations on trauma outside of silos. 

Lynn Dolce, curriculum developer and trainer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Trauma-Informed Systems Initiative, wrapped up the ceremonies by asking those attending to commit to four precepts: be open, promote healing, trust each other, and collaborate.

“The regional trauma center is an opportunity for the San Francisco Bay Area to create a state and national model for collaboration and change,” she said.

For more info please see attached T2 summary, T2 Launch Event Program, T2 Launch Event Speaker Bios, and visit T2 online at www.t2bayarea.org

Correction to original post: Toni Tullys, Santa Clara Behavioral Health dept. director spoke on behalf of Rene Santiago, Santa Clara County Health and Hospital System deputy director.