I have been asked to deliver a 3-hour program focusing on trauma-informed communities. Seeking any advice on how to approach this. Also, while I am here, do folks see "trauma-informed community" and "compassionate community" as one and the same? Thanks!
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I try to incorporate pieces of information and other training into my own - giving proper credit and seeking permission when necessary of course. I have used courses from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network https://learn.nctsn.org/course/index.php?categoryid=3 information from the Child Trauma Academy http://childtrauma.org/cta-library/ and information from resilient communities USA.
There are a million different directions you can go. I would offer establishing a firm foundation about ACEs, toxic stress and the health effects, then incorporating broader concepts of well-being for the community with specific actions that members can undertake to improve their neighborhoods. That will eat up your three hours! ha ha
HI Mike- Just to add to Tina's suggsetions, the Self Healing Communities report that includes outcome data on the evaluation that was done in WA State might be useful for you to include in your presentation.
Good luck!
Hi Mike. I actually have the same presentation in October. My soap box is a shift from intervention to prevention. I site my own research demonstrating that community resilience is a better buffer against trauma than individual resilience in children and is as good of a buffer for adults. What I continually struggle with is finding a way to help people move away from fixing a trauma and toward building a resilient community that supports everyone. I could talk about this for days, but if we could have one more person out there focused on systemic changes that would be so helpful. The role needs to be on changing how we interact with people NOT just treatment. Are our organizations set up to be supportive for staff and "clients" (students, patients, community members, ...). You only have three hours so start with what Tina offers:
I would offer establishing a firm foundation about ACEs, toxic stress and the health effects, [here I would add our research from WA state demonstrating community is what matters...e-mail me and I can send you the abstract] then incorporating broader concepts of well-being for the community with specific actions that members can undertake to improve their neighborhoods.
I think by the time you get past the foundation, people's brain are spinning. I would go in with something like "Oprah notes we need to stop asking what's wrong with you and start asking what happened to you....I would add, what can we do in our settings to create a system of support? (or something like that) Then have then brainstorm. You won't get to the answer, but you will plant a seek.
