Blog
Trauma Informed Oregon Happenings December
Trauma Informed Oregon Happenings December
December 16, 2014
From: Diane Yatchmenoff, Ph.D., Director, Trauma Informed Oregon
Updates
We recently sent an update letter to colleagues and stakeholders all over the state. If you did not receive a copy, and would like to be kept informed of our plans and activities, please use the Contact page on the website to request to be added to our distribution list. We’ve corrected errors in email addresses as we’ve discovered them, but be sure to let us know if you’re not hearing from us so that we can check again or add you.
One of Trauma Informed Oregon’s plans is to hold four regional community forums in spring 2015, similar to our October kickoff in Salem. We are planning to schedule these during early spring in Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, the North Coast and the Northeastern part of the state. We hope to offer training, consultation, or information about implementation of trauma informed care in conjunction with the forums. We’ll be reaching out to our partners in the children’s Systems of Care sites, healthcare, home visiting programs, youth and family advocacy organizations, the Early Learning Hubs, and other stakeholder groups to be sure we are as inclusive as possible in our invitations to attend. If you would like to participate in the planning in your region or would like to get on the distribution list, contact us at info@traumainformedoregon.org.
Coordinated Training
Requests for training and technical assistance continue to come in from many child- and family-serving systems. We’re especially pleased at efforts to coordinate these requests and integrate them with other new or ongoing initiatives.
Mandy Davis (co-director of Trauma Informed Oregon) will be training the Washington County Department of Human Services staff on trauma informed care as part of a larger package of trainings in the rollout of Differential Response (an alternative approach for families referred to child protective services, intended to keep children at home and families out of court).
We’re also working with OHA’s Maternal and Child Health section on a plan to offer consultation and training for home programs around the state. Robin Hill-Dunbar, Workforce Coordinator for the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, will be meeting with local MCIECHV partners to assess their needs and interests in participating.
Additionally, we will meet with Children’s System of Care (SOC) site coordinators from 13 Coordinated Care organizations in mid-January to make them aware of training opportunities for wraparound teams and their community partners. An understanding of the impact of adversity and trauma aligns directly with the principles of wraparound and family-centered care that are the hallmarks of SOC work, so we’re very pleased to connect with this critical part of the children’s mental health system.
Ongoing Technical Assistance
TIO Co-Director Mandy Davis continues to provide consultation and technical assistance, through support from the Casey Family Program, to Casey teams in southern and Central Oregon and is also working with the Homeless Youth Continuum in the metro area, as well as the Multnomah County Juvenile Services Division (JSD). JSD has committed to a self-review and planning process to create a culture of trauma informed care across the entire county juvenile justice system. Mandy also recently completed a second training with Clackamas Behavioral Health Care, and staff there are progressing with a trauma informed care workgroup. CBHC also has developed a trauma policy that you can access here.
Creating Sanctuary
Mandy and I were pleased to connect with Trudy Townsend this week while she was in Portland as part of the Sanctuary Institute training team for Morrison Child and Family Services. Trudy is now a certified trainer for the Institute. We are also excited that Morrison has joined Trillium Family Services, also in the Metro area, with a commitment to full implementation of the Sanctuary Model. It was great to hear from Trudy about the changes they are seeing in The Dalles in this third year of the transformational work they’ve been doing. Trudy says the process has changed dramatically how multiple systems are working together and how many stakeholders view their community.
Partnering to Support Improvements in Health Care
Dr. Teri Pettersen and I recently met with the Care Oregon Health Resilience team to talk about screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences in health care settings. Dr. Pettersen is a pediatrician, recently retired from the Children’s Clinic, who along with her partners, pioneered the use of the ACE screening tool with families of infants in their practice. Teri is on the Leadership Team for Trauma Informed Oregon and will be making more trainings available this next year as part of our work around the state.
We have also started a partnership with the La Pine Health Clinic in Deschutes County. The medical director and staff are excited about the potential for trauma informed care to improve the quality and coordination of care. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with them, and we’re impressed with their energy and commitment, especially given the current challenges of health care reform. Pacific Source, the Coordinated Care Organization for Deschutes County, is an important partner in this effort.