Building a Trauma Informed System of Care Toolkit

Building a Trauma Informed System of Care

Endorsements of the Johnson City Model Durham, North Carolina

Becky Haas is a terrific resource for any community beginning to plan a trauma informed system of care. She does a great job making brain science understandable along with the extensive health effects of adverse childhood experiences and other human trauma that is not buffered by a caring adult. Becky has so many stories from her work in developing the Johnson City model, that the numerous applications of a trauma informed system of care be come evident across many sectors--schools, public health, social services, emergency medical services, and criminal justice. Her one day in Durham, NC sharing this replicable model to community leaders and then leading a training for practitioners in the health and social services has helped to galvanize support for moving forward with the development and implementation of a Durham Community Resilience Plan. Ellen Reckhow Durham County Commissioner Wake County, North Carolina Wake County is home to 12 municipalities, including the capital state of Raleigh, and more than 1 million residents. The ACEs Resilience in Wake County Initiative launched after a spring 2017 film screening of Resilience that spurred many organizations to ask, "What are we going to do about ACEs and to build resilience?" The Initiative is comprised of cross-sector organizational partners coming together to prevent future ACEs and build resilience for those who have experienced trauma. The vision is that Wake County community members value and practice resilience skills to improve their health, well-being and success. In January 2019, the ACEs Initiative hosted Becky Haas, Trauma Informed Administrator of Ballad Health, for a keynote discussion about creating trauma-informed communities in order to learn from the successful Johnson City, Tennessee model. Following her keynote message, Becky then provided a four- hour SAMHSA training, Trauma Informed Approach, Key Principles and Assumptions. Nearly 300 community leaders gathered for the keynote and about 200 for the training. During this pivotal event, Becky laid out practical steps to take in order for the community to move from awareness of ACEs science to taking action. As a result of learning these next steps, organizational partners are now committed to advancing a community of trauma-informed care by using the method Becky furnished.

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