In December of 2015 Yolo County Sheriff’s Office applied for SAMHSA’s “How Being Trauma Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses Train-the-Trainer” event (http://www.samhsa.gov/gains-ce...ustice-professionals). With the support of Yolo Probation, Yolo Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA), Yolo County Administrator’s Office (CAO), the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Yolo District Attorney, Yolo Public Defender, and Municipal Police Chiefs we were one of 6 jurisdictions (out of 58 applications) to be awarded the training opportunity!!
The training occurred on May 4th & 5th at Woodland Community Center. In attendance were 20 participants from the following agencies: Sheriff’s Office (sworn deputies and correctional officers), Probation, Davis PD, Woodland PD, Winters PD, Public Defender, District Attorney, Health & Human Services, CommuniCare, Turning Point, & Yolo Resiliency Network/CASA. The event began with SAMSHA trainers delivering the 4-hour interactive training to the entire group. The remainder of the 2-day training involved participants learning and practicing how to deliver the training so that they could bring the information back to their own agencies.
The SAMHSA training emphasizes how developing an awareness of trauma and its impact on behavior can provide criminal justice professionals with an opportunity to deescalate situations and actually make their jobs easier. Additionally, and perhaps even more importantly, the training explains how being trauma-informed can actually increase safety for criminal justice professionals as well as those individuals involved in the criminal justice system. The training also lays out 4 basic things that individuals involved in the criminal justice system need in their interactions with criminal justice professionals: Respect, Information, Safety, & Choice. Since these basic responses are beneficial to individuals with and without trauma histories, the training encouraged participants to apply a universal assumption of trauma. Finally, the training lays the ground work for participants to work within their organization to improve policies and procedures to make them more trauma-informed.
The participants who attended and completed the training are now certified trainers in “How Being Trauma Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses”. If you are interested in having a trainer present this training to your organization, you can search for trauma-informed response trainers in your area by clicking the link below:
http://www.samhsa.gov/gains-ce...ns_tt_state_value=CA
Yolo County is very grateful to SAMSHA for this training opportunity they provided and we are excited to see how our county utilizes this valuable information.
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