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square bulletTrauma Informed Oregon Happenings January 2017

January 30, 2017

From Mandy Davis, LCSW, PhD, Director, Trauma Informed Oregon

Happy New Year!

As Diane Yatchmenoff mentioned in her last blog, I am stepping into the role of Director of Trauma Informed Oregon this month. Diane and I have been working together for over 14 years and our Trauma Informed Care work has been an exciting way to combine our strengths and passions. Her contributions to the field are invaluable and have provided a foundation for change well into the future. I will miss her daily presence, look forward to her continued support and guidance, and try not to interrupt her retirement too much.

Focus of Trauma Informed Oregon Work

Trauma Informed Oregon’s work continues with a focus on hearing about what you are doing, and what you need to create environments where families, workforce, and communities can heal and thrive. Ana Hristić has joined Trauma Informed Oregon and will be focused on building training and education capacity. This will give me time to attend to other areas of interest. Here is an example of a few items I will be focusing on in the future, and I hope you will share your thoughts and ideas as well.

  • Visiting your programs and areas to find out what is working and what is challenging so we can provide better support and resources.
  • Connecting with programs across the country to learn different implementation strategies across a variety of industries (judicial, healthcare, education, communities).
  • Increasing resources that are linguistically appropriate and culturally relevant.
  • Building capacity across the state for those implementing Trauma Informed Care and teaching about Trauma Informed Care.

Updates

I will use this newsletter/blog to keep you updated about what is happening with Trauma Informed Oregon or topics that you might find interesting. Here are a few from the past few months.

  • In November I attended a conference focused on Building Human Resilience for Climate Change sponsored by the International Transformational Resilience Coalition (ITRC) (full disclosure, I am now a steering committee member). It was an inspiring gathering of public health, mental health, climate scientists, faith communities, traditional healers, disaster responders, and culturally specific providers. One of my “takeaways” was the importance of building resilient communities (schools, neighborhoods, organizations, etc.) before a tragedy/disaster occurs so that we are able to more effectively repair, restore, and recover.
  • I have been talking with many of you and working in groups to develop resources that better illustrate the intersectionality of Trauma Informed Care with other models and initiatives such as restorative justice, the equity lens, anti-oppressive practice, positive behavior intervention supports, etc. This is becoming increasingly important as the need to prevent initiative fatigue and develop sustainable strategies grows. I look forward to sharing products that emerge from this work and hope for your feedback.
  • I am currently developing an online course for graduate social work students on Trauma Informed Care. I am being challenged in so many ways on this project—from having to plan ahead regarding readings and assignments (no last minute lecture writing) to learning online technology. The amount of work it takes to do this is no joke but I am starting to see so many benefits technology can provide to better connect us. P.S. I am also working on curriculum for a “face-to-face” course that will be open to a variety of disciplines.