Description: Becoming trauma-informed involves recognizing the pervasive nature of trauma and its profound impact on health, development, and wellbeing across the lifespan. This workshop emphasizes the importance of considering that individuals you interact with on a daily basis may have experienced trauma, which may then influence how they show up in the world. Similarly, it is critical to understand the ways in which our own trauma histories may be showing up in the work we do. Trauma can affect individuals at any age, and children are particularly sensitive to its effect. Intergenerational transmission of trauma highlights the need for understanding both parental and child trauma histories. Safe, stable and nurturing relationships with caregivers are one of the greatest buffers against the negative effects of trauma for young children. By promoting resilience and healing in caregivers, we may be able to mitigate or even prevent the negative effects of trauma for children, potentially for generations to come. A trauma informed approach can foster relationships that do not cause additional traumatization and can foster healing experiences. Becoming trauma-informed is a process and we hope that in our time together, participants will gain knowledge and strategies they can apply on their journey of becoming trauma-informed.
Trainer: Kristin Meola is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), originally from Boston, MA and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kristin has spent her career addressing the effects of trauma on children and families in a variety of child and family serving systems. After spending her early career in community mental health, Kristin shifted her focus to early intervention/prevention and systems transformation where she felt she could make a greater impact. In her current role as a HealthySteps Specialist with Duke Children’s Primary Care, Kristin supports families of children ages birth to three to promote healthy child development and wellbeing. Through the HealthySteps Model, an evidence-based program of the Zero to Three organization, Kristin aims to foster early relational health and promote early identification and support for social-emotional concerns via direct practice with families and professional development for medical providers and staff. Kristin’s also serves as a member of Duke’s NC-PAL Early Childhood Team, where she provides training and consultation to North Carolina’s Children’s Developmental Services Agencies (CDSAs) across the state to increase their capacity for identifying and addressing social-emotional concerns within the early intervention program.
Trainer: Dr. Michelle Scotton Franklin is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine and core faculty at the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Science in Nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and achieved dual certification as a family nurse practitioner and family psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. She completed her PhD at the Duke School of Nursing followed by a postdoc at Duke-Margolis. Dr. Franklin was a 2014 UNC-CH Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) fellow, a 2018-2020 Duke-Margolis Scholar, and 2021-2022 Duke Center for Research to Advance Healthcare Equity Research Scholar Development Awardee. Dr. Franklin develops interventions and health policy solutions to address health disparities and facilitate improved health and well-being of people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families. Dr. Franklin leads the North Carolina Psychiatry Access Line (NC-PAL) I/DD program which works with pediatric providers in primary care settings to provide trainings and supports to assist practices in delivering high-quality care for patients with I/DD and their families.
Learning Objectives:
By end of the program, participants will be able to:
- Describe and understand at least 1 potential adverse effects of childhood trauma across the lifespan.
- Identify and explain at least 1 reason why young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of trauma.
- Identify at least two trauma informed approaches for working with children and families.
- Identify at least 1 prevalence of trauma experienced by the intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD) community and their families and strategies to assess for and prevent potentially traumatic events.
References:
- Center on the Developing Child. (2007). InBrief: The Impact of Early Adversity on Children’s Development. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-the-impact-of-earl…
- Garner, A., & Yogman, M. (2021). Preventing Childhood Toxic Stress: Partnering With Families and Communities to Promote Relational Health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052582
- Narayan, A. J., Lieberman, A. F., Masten, A. S. (2021, April). Intergenerational transmission and prevention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Clinical Psychology Review, 85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2021.101997
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach (HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma14-4884.pdf