Adverse Childhood Experiences: Implications for Transforming Our Systems of Care (3 min)

Brenda,

I created an organization Washington Coalition for Responsible Justice this past year so that we could get all the groups talking .. I have slowly been reaching out and "gathering names" and we are planning on holding a sit down in the next year. We have so many hundreds of little organizations that do the same kind of work but I strongly believe that together our voices will be heard. I have also spoken with our big organizations .. faith and others and I think that they just need direction .. and a lot of education to see how trauma has a consequence in every aspect of our society. I think that we have to start someplace and Washington is a great place to begin and maybe set the groundwork for other states. I am blessed to have some pretty strong connections in all of these significant fields and I have the time to reach out and share so we will see what happens. Thanks to Chris and his information gathering I have more than enough "evidence" that shows what a critical issue this is. This is a piece I wrote to get things off the ground and have gotten a lot of positive  response from it http://www.washingtoncrj.org/news/  . 

Loren

Loren, I too find it hard to believe that important community components lack the connectedness to get synergism on the issue of childhood trauma's impact on lives...at every stage...and how to educate communities to protect from further trauma!  For me, a large empty hole exists where our biggest community institutions live: public school systems, major faith organizations and the like who HAVE the respect, credibility, and power to be real educators (not to mention role models) for how our communities need to change to combat trauma and it's symptoms and manifestations.  I'd LOVE to find a leader in every community with the courage enough to take this issue on, present it, and win major support.  That's someone I would dedicate myself to tirelessly.  Sadly, the courage component, as well as the social/emotional intelligence to really get this, is absent.  And that mystifies me greatly.  Brenda

I find it amazing that the criminal justice system, the social workers and the psychologist, all are working with the same issues yet they do not really communicate or maybe they just forget to pay attention to each other !

That's super you found something you can use, Loren! Yes, so true, we need to stop the intergenerational cycle of transmission. Hopefully, multiple agency involvement will help.

This is exactly what I have been looking for to get the ball rolling to achieve what I believe that we should be doing. I think it is a complete circle from birth, through school and sadly into the criminal justice system and then the cycle will continue to the next generation !!! 

Congratulations, Heather!  It's a pleasure to hear these points expressed so clearly.