It is hard to believe we are in the last month of 2023. This year, we have seen plenty of growth and many challenges. The continued growth of trauma-informed policies and practices has brought much hope for the future. We know there needs to be continued support for folks working at the state and local levels across systems throughout the country and worldwide.
Our December CTIPP CAN call discussed how CTIPP has grown to play our role in building the movement, what we have learned this year, and our strategies and plans for growth moving forward as we enter 2024.
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
00:00:05Before we dive into the slides, you can access the Spotify playlist on the QR code that had the songs that we were playing early on, as well as others that have been curated for the trauma-informed movement, hopefully uplifting songs that are validating. If there are any other songs that you would like to suggest that we add, please send them to laura@ctipp.org for consideration. We don't include any songs with explicit language, and we do love the continued co construction of that playlist. Um, so for this call, we are going to be looking back at lessons learned over the last year and a lot of work that we have done, as well as looking ahead to where we see this work continuing to grow and emerge and want to recognize now. And we will recognize again later that the in the information that has been shared through our network, the, the, the difficulties, the strengths, the triumphs that people are seeing all throughout this movement continue to inform the growth of CTIPP as an organization, as we want to be here to support the movement at large. And so just want to say in advance, thank you. And I know that I will say that again throughout the call. During this call, just want to give a quick agenda, because it's going to be a lot of content in a pretty abbreviated amount of time before we get to the point where we have a reflection activity, some breakout rooms for those who want to stick around, and that's going to be starting off with some team developments in 2023 for both our staff and board, a recognition of some impressions and themes that we've seen over the course of the year. And then we're going to run through some content highlights that you can see on the screen there before looking ahead to 2024 and beyond. And then, like I said, we'll get into the breakout activity. We'll share some links and QR codes for all of you to be able to refer to. And then we will wish everyone a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year. Um, as we enter into the last stages of 2023, which I'm just going to pause before I get into the presentation too much and just say that it is wild how fast 2023 seems to have gone by. And it's it's just absolutely insane to me that we are in, uh, the December CTIPP can call. Um, but there has been a large emphasis at CTIPP on building a more trauma-informed organization. And a big part of that is that we have continued to further prioritize the people who drive our work. As staff, we have focused on our processes and ensuring that we are taking better care of ourselves and each other, as well as building our team. When we first hired staff in 2022, one of the team members was Jen, who I know many of you remember who was hired to lead our government affairs efforts when they went back to Capitol Hill to lead legislative efforts for a freshman representative's office at the beginning of this year, rather than rushing to refill that position, we reimagined with what we had learned, what the movement most needed to support the emerging trauma-informed movement at large. While Jen's work was incredible in their role, we realized that we needed to focus on supporting advocates at all levels of the movement and develop an infrastructure that drives broad advocacy through a trauma-informed approach. Before we prioritize directing advocates around specific federal opportunities, this is important, and we look forward to building capacity to filling this position again someday to strategically leverage policy opportunities. But we recognized that we needed to focus on building a stronger foundation around advocacy and coalition development. First, in September, Antron McCullough, who was at a training right now that unfortunately conflicts with this call, joined the CTIPP team as our director of empowerment and engagement. He brings a wealth of lived and professional experiences that add tremendous depth to our team. A primary focus of his right now is supporting youth advocacy, which you will hear more about later in this presentation. Many of you know Whitney, our director of Trauma-Informed Practice and systems transformation, and Laura, our director of communications as well, who have been on the team since before 2023. And in addition to our staff, our board of directors also elected a new executive committee. The original executive committee had remained largely the same since our founding as an organization back in 2015, and this is a huge step forward for CTIPP. We're grateful for the commitment of the original executive committee members who volunteered so much of their time to the health and well-being of the organization, and are grateful to the current Executive committee members who will continue to. Ride our mission forward. I want to personally thank Sandy Bloom, Diane Waggoner Hall, Suzanne O'Connor, David Sherman, and Marcia Morgan, all of whom are still on the board of directors for their long commitment to the Executive Committee, as well as Lena Pasquale, Tina Brooks, Laura Porter and Dave Ellis for stepping into their new roles on the Executive Committee to support our continued growth and commitment to the movement at large. Not pictured on this screen for space purposes only, but still incredibly important to the well-being of our organization, are the other dozen board members who you can find on the team page of our website, who volunteer their time and talents and have for a long time to promote CTIPP’s mission. There will be more to come about our staff and board processes and procedures in the future as we try to support the trauma-informed movement through our lessons learned as an organization so far. But I just wanted to take a moment to honor the people who drive the work that we will be discussing throughout the call today. The team is incredible and I appreciate them very deeply with all of my heart. There are so many themes that we have seen across the field over the course of this year. I've had the pleasure of getting to travel to more than a dozen states this year, meeting with many communities who are driving this work forward. There are unique qualities and opportunities for each group, but there are also emerging challenges that folks doing this work across all levels seem to be facing. We could highlight more than just the three that I will discuss, but we wanted to keep this part short so that we could get to the other sections of the call later on. The first theme is that trauma and trauma-informed care are growing tremendous momentum. There is a lot of good that comes along with this, but this also raises concerns when there is not a consistent definition or understanding about what trauma-informed really means. There seems to be, in some places, a watering down of what it means to be trauma-informed in a lot of spaces, which can threaten the validity of the movement at large. This is normal for emerging movements, but we need to be thoughtful about ensuring that we know what trauma-informed work is and is not a single training, a checklist mentality. Believing anything other than being trauma-informed relies on an ongoing commitment to a process of learning and growth over time. Embedded in the six principles that SAMHSA lays out and other values that communities have outlined for themselves is not sufficient to being truly trauma-informed. Not only does this threaten the movement, but can also perpetuate harm to survivors and trauma impacted people and communities who come into supposedly trauma-informed environments where they may be traumatized or retraumatized without opportunities for true reparation and healing. We need to ensure that we are promoting truly trauma-informed work, and that we integrate principles into a process that layers and loops learning over time, not just claiming a term as a selling point. Whitney, I know that you do so much in this space in context beyond just what I see. So not to put you on the spot, but if you wanted to share anything else about that point, I just open the space up for you for a second.
00:08:17Appreciate it, but don't think I could have said it any better myself.
00:08:21Appreciate that Whitney. I will take the pat on the back and continue forward. Second, there is a serious lack of sustainable financial flow for people to do this work paid which forces competition instead of collaboration. I know this from experience as I have volunteered and been on loan to see tips since I started working with this organization in 2017 and have still not been paid by the organization because of a lack of financial support. I am not the only one as. Additionally, Whitney and Laura are part time with CTIPP as well because of limited funding in this area. We know that this is an issue that impacts folks in this work all across the country and around the world. I say it a lot. We need to be congruent with what we are working to promote in this world, and exploiting passion and talent with low or no wages for work that is tremendously difficult, cannot sustain transformative change. The current economic opportunities of this field again force competition instead of collaboration, which collaboration we know is a trauma-informed principle itself. There are so many folks who want to be in this work and have so much to offer, but there is simply not enough funding to support full time engagement for the work to grow thoughtfully. While recognizing that this needs to change, we also want to take a moment to honor and thank the many folks who have supported and continue to drive this movement forward, despite the many challenges that we face in this important work that we all do. It's not going to change in the short term, but is certainly something that we recognize, want to honor and work to change moving forward. And finally, at least for this call, we see, recognize and will continue to work to address the different contexts, necessitate different approaches to promote trauma-informed policies and practices. In many cases, we want to create conditions for all individuals, families, and communities to thrive, and we need to recognize that there are diverse contexts that we need to approach thoughtfully. It has been challenging to watch advocates burning out because of the power structures that they are working to influence and support. We recognize that different communities and cultures have different opportunities, needs, resources, and desires, and we cannot have a one size fits all approach all across this very diverse country. We cannot compromise our principles and values, while also we must find strategic opportunities to make progress in new and different areas. We want to create a world where everyone truly has the opportunity and support to thrive. So we need to be able to meet people where they are as we move forward. I wish I had a more full answer, but I do know that promoting connection and collaboration can help navigate difficult times, and that when we put our minds together and truly collaborate across diverse lived experiences, wonderful innovations and beautiful strategies emerge again, I recognize that there are more than just these three impressions and themes from the field at large. Later on in this presentation, you will hear about how we are integrating these learnings and more into how we are aligning our priorities and work in the future. Right now, though, let's take some time to reflect back on and recognize the tremendous work and content that was developed by the team this year. In working to level set language and create meaningful resources for the field to promote advocacy and practice in a number of spaces. We developed a lot of resources this year and had a couple distinct campaigns that we will highlight. I want to acknowledge that what we will cover over the next eight slides is just a piece of the work that has been accomplished this year, but are the longer form elements of the work that was accomplished and the foundation that we will continue to build upon in the future. In January of 2023, CTIPP launched a national campaign, Hashtag Take on Trauma, to urge the newly sworn in 118th class of Congress to support policies that create conditions for individuals, families and communities to thrive. More than 1000 advocates signed on to this letter, with nearly 800 comments left by advocates about why supporting trauma-informed policies were so important to them, and these were sent to congressional offices. A video was also produced with elected, elected officials from both parties at the federal level discussing why trauma-informed policies are a priority for them. We are working to continue promoting an emphasis on investments and supports for trauma-informed approaches. CTIPP has continued this campaign and is now organizing trauma-informed advocates, activists and partners to urge their US senators and representatives to support two bipartisan, bicameral bills that would significantly help prevent, address and mitigate the negative impacts of trauma through community led initiatives, which are the rise from Trauma Act and the Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act, as well as important work with agency leaders across the federal government. You will hear more about the progress made this year in our 2023 policy report that will come out in quarter one of the of 2024, but for now, I'll turn it over to Whitney to discuss the 2022 policy report and then a number of other reports that she has created throughout 2023.
00:13:40Thanks, Jesse. Hey, y'all, and thanks for the space to share. So yes, the first thing that I am speaking to here that we want to uplift is our trauma-informed Policy Highlights report produced at the beginning of this year over reviewing the trauma-informed policy landscape in the previous year, which was 2022. And so, to give some context, um, I've previously worked with the Institute on Trauma and Trauma-informed Care out of the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Social Work. And during my time there, I supported expanding a policy tracking document spotlighting trauma-informed public policy that was being considered throughout the years. And I've continued to do rolling updates on the tracking document for around four years now. And so the bridge to this being useful for our network of advocates and activists and partners at CTIPP was so clear to me. Right. But it ended up turning into this really huge document. Right. So, um, 200 pages almost, which is thrilling because that means that there are significant policy policy proposals that bring us closer to our collective vision of a preferred future, yet also really daunting, right? For somebody who might be just looking for updates, um, or just trying to see some example language for legislation or even just ideas for beginning to think about policy change to bring to their own community. 200 pages is a lot, and it's significant. So the report serves as an analysis of the state and national trauma-informed policy advancement, in which we highlight trends, the partisanship of proposed hello stations. So you can be oh, hi. Welcome. So you can be strategic, um, about your messaging, depending on who you're in front of and what their values have been shown to be. And, and the pulse that that particular person or party might have on these issues. Um, the rates at which trauma-informed policy actually have been signed into law, which cool enough, is actually above average in terms of just general success rates of policy. Um, that actually becomes law, right? So a very small percentage of bills that are proposed and under consideration actually get signed into law. Um, and also some lessons learned and gaps where there's a scarcity of action to really inform future advocacy. And, you know, even internally, this resource has been really useful to help us support communities and different entities to really conceptualize what the policy change that we want to see be realized might really look like in different communities across the nation and sometimes internationally with some of our partners as well. And there also has been a lot of utility, even in informing our own ways of thinking, as Jesse was mentioning, about the types of action that is really needed to advance the change that we at Ktvb want to see happen. You know what types of policies we really need to boost and uplift? What's missing in the conversation, what kind of framing is effective and what people are paying attention to on the Hill? So and in states. So that was last year's version. And I'm currently churning through information and we will be producing a 2023 report. As Jesse said in the first few months of 2024, with hopes to distribute and share findings by March. For that, CTIPP can call this same time same sort of can time, same sea type can network um in March of 2024. So be on the lookout for that. And meanwhile, we invite you to check out the 2022 report, because certainly much of that is still relevant and applies as much today as it did then, and can really shine a spotlight on some starting points or some continuing points for your advocacy work. And then on the next slide, good timing. Jesse, you just knew, um, in our is our short guide to trauma-informed meetings and discussions, which funny enough, actually started as an internal document. Um, so short backstory here is that we've continually worked to integrate feedback from you all into our approach to CTIPP can calls. And those of you who've been with us since the early years of a conference phone call would likely attest to a lot of significant changes. Um, since the organization and broader movement have continued to learn and grow together, I bet. Um, and so earlier this year, as we're thinking about how to support folks in getting more out of these calls in the ways that they've expressed they'd like to in terms of community and connection, um, there were some more structured conversations that were happening in breakout rooms that CTIPP team that we on the creative team helped facilitate. Um, leading up to that, though, there was some trepidation right within the team because we all know on this call that it's really important to each of us that, you know, we are working as leaders in this space to model the model of what it means to integrate the principles of a trauma-informed approach into our individual ways of knowing and thinking and being and doing and relating. That's a priority on our team. And so that means engaging in ways that actively seek to reduce re traumatization not necessarily easy in open discussions with such a large group of folks with different backgrounds and lived experiences. Right. And we also each come to this work with our own histories, which means that it's really important for us to maintain this ongoing self awareness and to really stay connected to our inner experiences so we can stay present and regulated, to assure that we facilitated these discussions in ways that really were able to promote meaningful conversations within a brave and accountable space. And while I'm a trauma therapist who has had formal education and training on trauma-informed facilitation with groups, I've had the privilege of working as a restorative justice circle keeper and in other roles, others on this team. You wouldn't know it, right? Because they are honestly amazing facilitators of discussions and have such really walk this walk. And yet they haven't had those experiences, right? They haven't had that same type of formal training and understandably wanted to really ensure that our team was working together to establish a framework to help each of us show up as facilitators in ways that align with our organizational values. And so we co-created some sort of documents out of my own understanding and lessons learned in the conversations that we had. So the internal team version of this doc was born. And then our team member, Laura, who was brilliant, who has this, you know, just a brilliant mind for noticing opportunities to make use of what we co-create together. Because, again, these are folks on our team who haven't had these previous experiences, which is the majority of people in this movement. Right. And so the thought here was that others in the world may find some of the guidelines and considerations posed to be useful. And so she assembled it and made it into the beautiful, really accessible, um, and digestible, I would say, resource that you see today. And so I'll say I consider this a work in progress. I think our team does. Right. It has the room to be expanded. And again, it was not initially intended as this external facing resource. And we have so much in our brains that we want to continue to build on and support skill building concretely in terms of facilitating these discussions. Yet as is, we believe that it has so much value to help anyone, regardless of your professional background, regardless of your experience in roles facilitating in the past, to think about how to hold space for the kinds of important conversations that we really all need to be having in our society. So again, stay tuned for updates to this. Hopefully in 2024. You knew again, Jessie, um, on the next slide here, we've got trauma-informed workplaces. Um, and I don't think this has two compelling of an origin story as some of the others. It's kind of about exactly what it says on the tin. Right. Um, it's an extensive compilation of resources and considerations that are anchored in the six principles of a trauma-informed approach to support trauma-informed workplaces. Um, something that we think is special about this is that there is something for anyone and everyone, right? So it looks at what taking action at the individual level, the organizational level, the community level, and the systemic and structural level looks like and it does provide a Bountiful amount of concrete strategies that each of us can implement today, no matter what formal role or authority we've come together in. Um, and we believe, of course, that it's not, you know, on the onus is not on each individual, but that individually we each can continue to work to collectively advance this forward. And that's really what this is about, institutional and systemic change driven by people really integrating the six values of a trauma-informed approach into their individual and collective ways of being. Um, and that's what we are thinking about, right? In terms of cultivating a more trauma-informed and healthier work culture in the world in terms of the report. But I do also want to uplift our Transformed Trauma podcast episode on trauma-informed workplaces with Sandy bloom, because it was just such a rich conversation that a lot of folks have shared that they found to be inspirational and practical. Anyone who's ever had the delight to hear Sandy Blum present on anything probably knows the way that she just has a special way to convey some of these concepts and really help you connect your head and your heart to what this movement is about. And it was just such a joy to be in community with Sandy and Jesse, to talk about this topic that continues to be so urgent to address, especially in the United States, as we continue to work, um, toward recovery from the pandemic, as well as building resiliency to support health and well-being for all in the face of uncertainty ahead. And I see that someone in the chat mentioned that they've shared that broadly. So I'm just really appreciative for that. That really jazzes me. Thanks for sharing. Um, and on this slide, this is our resource that explores trauma-informed community change. This is a pretty significant resource in terms of its multi-dimensional. It's our belief. And Jesse spoke to some of this earlier, right, that this movement must be community led. It isn't about a checklist of factors that can just be universally implemented exactly the same way, anywhere and everywhere. This is about really tapping into the strength and wisdom and gifts and localized expertise, so that community voices are informing how the principles of a trauma-informed approach are operationalized locally. And so what this resource really offers is an exploration, first of the why of trauma-informed community change. There are certainly a lot of really robust initiatives out there that do align in some ways with a trauma-informed approach, yet end up falling short because they lack the intentional integration of those principles and really end up not promoting that true and deep individual and collective healing that's aligned with the unique context and conditions of each community. And so what we know is that that can contribute to this feeling of institutional betrayal and futility and hopelessness and indeed, re traumatization right in communities, because ultimately and the research cited throughout the report confirms this, sustainability isn't there for trauma impacted communities utilizing those many of those more quote unquote, traditional community change models. And so we dig into a model neutral exploration of different community change frameworks. You know, we're not endorsing any particular approach to this. It's really a wholesale overview, zoomed out and zoomed in of different ways to think about this, that allows for flexibility, for, um, individualized context and implementation. And we did an analysis on something like 15 or 20 different formal models that do demonstrate significant alignment with a trauma-informed approach, just to inform the findings presented, and also the recommendations made to support that community led, healing centered, resilience building and trauma-informed transformation across the globe. So it is a lot of different ways of thinking about this really assembled for you and synthesized for anybody to use. And it digs into, I would say, also a variety of ways to really enliven those core principles of a trauma-informed approach. And it does go principle by principle. Right. So safety, trustworthiness and transparency. So you can start thinking about how can I start taking steps to implement this in my community. Um, and it also examines policy change that we have found is really needed to support healthy, flourishing communities. So we're proud of this one because it's a uniquely, I think, evidence informed and really holistic look at what community members can do together to build capacity to lead those change efforts towards structural and systemic change. And I would say that it's our best hope that this reveals both long and shorter term goals for folks, and that anyone could pick this resource up today and notice an action step that fits for them to take on immediately, to move them towards those goals, and so on. The next slide, moving forward from the community guide, is a little bit of a switch into something a little more, um, focused in on a particular topic. And this is our women's health resource. This came out in response to significant movement in federal actions, such as Supreme Court decisions, as well as varying state policy regarding health care in general, where both the announcement and enactment of said policies really ended up doing a lot of harm and did increase vulnerability to individual and collective traumatization. And so we saw that happening on our team, and we felt called to really address it and, and produce something that could help people see Guideposts toward hope and possibility in this time of real challenge. And so thinking about what a trauma-informed principle or the trauma-informed principle of cultural, gender and historical issues, we did feel called to uplift, what more, um, affirming and healing centered, multigenerational, trauma-informed solutions to creating that holistically healthy experience for us all across the lifespan would look like. And so we compiled and analyzed a pretty extensive body of research and engaged lived experience with people from the fields to highlight what works at the micro and macro levels of change. Work here. And to state this up front, just for anyone who's considering exploring this resource, this was about our team really wanting to acknowledge the unique challenges and intersectional experiences related to accessing and engaging with health care faced by those who identify as women, specifically in this time in history. And so when we say women's health, we do think it's important to note here that we at CTA embrace and respect the fluidity and diversity of personal identities in. Including those pertaining to gender. And so when we use the term women, we mean it to encompass and include all people who claim that term. And so there's really just an expanded view that that all is to describe that it's it's including gender affirming care and honestly, just health care wholesale. Right. So many of these concepts ended up being really universally sizable when we thought about this and for all humans. So to these these recommendations go beyond just the boundaries of gender identity and expression. Um, that was mostly the catalyst for what we were trying to create. Right. And so it's another one of those resources that the current context really spurred us to, to create that we believe is valuable and applicable beyond, quote unquote, just what the title conveys. And so we would invite you to explore that and check that out as well. And before moving on there, I do not want to forget that there's a fabulous podcast episode for this one as well. Um, Laura and I were able to have a conversation with folks from the field who just gave beautiful insights. We're so deeply courageous and vulnerable about sharing their own lived and professional experiences, and you can access that by, um, navigating to that landing page for the report itself. And so thank you, Jessie. The next slide holds a place for the last thing I want to speak to you today, which is the resource we've created, providing some information on emerging and evolving findings to inform the work of the trauma-informed movement from the fields of neuroscience, epigenetics, ACEs, and resilience Science or near science. As you may have heard, us or others refer to this wisdom as. And that's what's on the slide there as well. And our best hope here was to really make this seemingly heady and academic stuff. I mean, is literally brain science, right? That's sort of the go to social trope that signals that something is really challenging to grasp. Um, so the hope was to make these findings accessible because it is through the understanding of these fields, um, that we can demonstrate to policymakers and decision makers and other stakeholders both that what we're advocating for is needed in the first place, and also that the solutions that we propose will tangibly help and are worth investing in, because a lot of this is playing the long game and investing and dedicating funding to preventive efforts rather than sort of reactive efforts. And so this has graphics that we really think encapsulate some of these concepts in hopefully, an approachable way that spans a lot of different learning styles. And it does break these concepts down and goes further into the what, why and how of even thinking about presenting on this information, um, to policymakers or others in the community to really support capacity building. So more folks, especially those of us with lived experience, not only can make meaning and not more deeply understand ourselves, but also can formulate powerful and compelling points to really educate, activate and advocate and what else rhymes and ends. And eight all of the things that contribute to broad scale societal transformation and and I think, yes, that's it for me in terms of some of the contexts that are some of the content that I have had the pleasure of supporting the team, um, with and for all of y'all with and I hope that if you choose to explore any of the things that I just spoke to, that you'll find that they encompass what it means to embody the principles of a trauma-informed approach, and that integrating what they present proves useful to you in the impactful contributions I know each of you is making. And so with that, I'm going to pass this on so the rest of our team can share on their meaningful contributions and collaborations. Thanks so much.
00:32:29Thanks for all that you've done. It's really incredible to highlight and look at all of it and just want to highlight, um, that the term near science comes from the board member, one of the board members who we discussed earlier, Laura Porter and her team in Washington State and made it more digestible. So it was definitely a fun report. And last but certainly not least for this portion of the presentation, at least we partnered with a large PR company to promote a discussion series with a resource toolkit that reimagines America's approach to well-being by building community led, trauma-informed, prevention oriented, resilience focused, and healing centered policies and practices. Our goal was really to find audience beyond the traditional echo chamber, with a combination of valuable content and unexpected messengers to get more people interested in the work that this movement is building. Already, we've seen success with some new media hits, and we hope that it continues to bring more people into the conversation. I want to acknowledge and recognize that Laura led this effort on our team. And so, Laura, no pressure at all. But if you have anything else that you want to share about this, please feel free.
00:33:46Nope, not at all. Thanks, Jesse.
00:33:47Thank you. Laura. Um, and so as we move forward, uh, we will take Michael will take questions. Feel free to put them in the chat. We'll we're happy to discuss questions at the end of the call, if that's all right. I just wanted to acknowledge that I saw your hand. Um, and so as we look ahead and build upon the foundation that we've developed, um, from the resources that were shared, more work that was done in 2023 and all of the work that was done prior to this year in the organization, we importantly want to celebrate this growth that we have experienced, and we are so excited to look ahead toward at least some of the work that is on the horizon for the coming year, and what we hope that that work builds toward in the long term. I want to acknowledge that this has been a process of development with multiple streams of influence and input, and I hope that it is clear and not overly jargony. Because I don't normally talk about it too much, and so I hope that it is all right. Um, it's important to start by stating that how we operationalize the activities that I'm about to describe and discuss will be a huge part of the work that we engage in throughout 2024, and also that these are not the only activities that we will engage in. However, we are working hard to be more directed in our work, going deeper within a few strategic areas with our small team than than just highlighting and skimming surface in a lot of spaces. For all the work that we have done, CTIPP has led particularly around trauma-informed advocacy and supporting cross-sector coalition development. We have a grant that supports our ability to build an infrastructure around supporting youth advocacy, including those with learning differences, and we have another grant to work to support community coalitions that are organizing to address the trauma of extreme weather events and other climate related emergencies for the work around youth advocacy. We know that this has been a problem in the field that needs to be addressed first and foremost. So much of our work revolves around the wellbeing of young people and in the spirit of nothing about us, without us, we need to include young people in discussions to understand the issues that they are facing. Additionally, young people's advocacy can oftentimes be tokenized a single young person coming into a room of adults representing the perspective of many young people. And also, there are times that young people's stories of tragedy and triumph can almost be exploited for purposes of an organization, rather than being about genuine inclusion, which itself can be traumatizing and retraumatizing. We need young people to be active in shaping the future. Our future relies on them, but we need to be thoughtful about creating conditions of empowerment and safety for them to participate meaningfully and fully. We will begin this process in a few specific areas, with strong existing partners and opportunities for young people's participation to develop materials and support. But our goal is to make these resources broadly available when they have been better formulated and informed by young people's experiences in 2025 and beyond. Additionally, the work around the climate community of practice is free and open to the public in promoting cross-sector community coalitions. Often we are met with a lack of urgency around its importance. The work that is taking place in so many communities that are organized and organizing to address trauma through collaboration across multiple sectors is incredibly promising, and addressing the climate crisis is not the only way to develop cross-sector coalitions. But what it does do is help to drive development in communities where this work is not yet taking place, and can also create opportunities for ongoing development in communities that have existing coalitions. In addition to ten sessions with Bob help from the International Transformational Resilience Coalition and the American Public Health Association, who are providing key credits for participants, there will be opportunities to network with and learn from other communities who are engaged in promoting similar work. As we know, peer support is so important as we continue this work. Both of these activities allow for us to build a stronger foundation that get us moving intentionally toward the greater priorities of the two pillars that see ttiP was founded to address on the foundation of advocacy and coalition development. We are able to stand up our value that true democracy is an antidote to trauma. Individuals who are impacted by systems having input to how systems can better be shaped in the future does a few key things one. It helps living systems grow and emerge to cause less harm and be more productive. Moving forward to this level of empowerment is antithetical to how trauma can often impact people. It can be healing when done well, to have people make meaning of harmful experiences, and be able to ensure that others don't have to go through the same thing that they did. Or conversely, when things do go well, can ensure that more people are impacted positively as. Additionally, in order for a true democratic process to take place, we need to develop skills that allow folks to remain regulated, particularly in order to remain mindful and present in conversations with people who come from different perspectives, and whom we may not agree with everything that they're saying. But being able to meaningfully engage diverse lived experience and decision making processes is critical in generating healthier systems in the long term. If we can support for young, if we can create support rather for young people, including young people with learning differences, to get involved in trauma-informed advocacy and building community, we believe that we will develop a meaningful infrastructure that can reach and support development of advocates across all ages and communities. Successful social movements have developed an infrastructure of trained advocates. We want to promote trauma-informed approaches to advocacy while not dictating the only things that people can advocate for. As we know that there is so much work across various sectors and at various levels throughout this movement, we hope that someday we will be able to have a focus on every dimension. Dimension of the vision that Whitney will share during next month's CTP can call, but in the meantime, we need to ensure that we support people in pursuing their areas of interest through a trauma-informed lens. To support this and all of the work we are doing at C tip, the board is focusing on supporting concrete value statements and strategic planning in addition to the work that we are doing on the staff side. On the policy side of things, we will continue to support the rise from Trauma Act and the Community Mental Wellness and Resilience Act mentioned earlier on today's call, as well as support the Inter-Agency Task Force on Trauma-informed Care when that is reauthorized into its second phase of work. There is current movement through a reauthorization of the Support Act, which has passed the House in bipartisan fashion, and we are just waiting for it to pass the Senate for the Inter-Agency Task Force to be reauthorized. Across all of these policies and agency work, we are promoting support for cross-sector, trauma-informed coalitions. We hope to unlock new funding opportunities and additional supports to increase the number of coalitions and connection amongst them. Learning from the work communities are doing will help support these actions and more in the future. And being connected to communities will help us enhance the number of advocates and coalitions mobilizing around this work. In addition to this work at the federal level, we are also engaging in more support for states and communities. One concrete example of this, and we are happy to share more as we continue to move forward, is working to expand the Healing Cities Act to other cities. I've been leading plans on an expansion effort to Philadelphia, for example, in partnership with Healing Cities, Baltimore at the center for Community Resilience and the National League of Cities. We are also going to be doing a number of, uh, state involved work in the year ahead. As we build out these supports, CTIPP continues to integrate its three primary initiatives. Our community advocacy network C tip can, which I assume all of you know about because you are here with us today. We also have Press On and Ideas Lab. As this work grows, our advocacy through C tip can and synthesizing emerging findings through the networks we develop across the country. And hopefully someday around the world through press on will advance evidence supported policies and practices that we can synthesize through Ideas Lab, which will then further promote what we are able to advocate for and how we can support coalition development, which will then further promote innovation for ideas lab to synthesize, and so on in modeling the type of work we hope to accomplish across. All levels. We are layering and looping learning processes to perpetuate virtuous cycles throughout our society. What we are building through this process of layered and looped learning that connects networks at all levels of this work, is a truly trauma-informed approach to building the movement. We are working to prioritize relationships and a decentralized leadership structure to drive the movement forward. This networking across all levels promotes a bidirectional flow of information to drive the movement, which our programs work to promote, as described on the last slide. This serves as the foundation for a powerful intermediary that supports the entire movement at large, which was founded to do eight years ago. And we just need to continue to grow to more effectively support the advocates, coalitions and organizations that are engaged in this work at all levels. In addition to propelling policies and practices, we have a vision for sustaining this work through a new economic vehicle to reinvest cost avoidance generated by the work back into communities, to sustain and scale coalitions to continue the work further. Last week, many of you may have seen new research emerge from a Jama network article estimating that ACS cost the United States $14 trillion every year. As we have seen from various initiatives, the best documented being the work of the Family Policy Council in Washington state, which saw 35 x return on investment in its 17 years of work, now known as self-healing communities. There is an exponential cost avoidance over the course of generations, as Ace prevalence and intergenerational transmission of trauma reduce and flourishing and thriving and healthier outcomes occur. We should not have to beg for funding a year at a time for projects that require long term thinking and opportunities for collaboration. More to come on all of this in the future, but in the long run, we want to support better funding for this work through the network that further fuels this ongoing process of learning and growth for communities in the movement as a whole. We know how difficult it is for many in this work to sustain funding, and we want to help solve for that. As always, C tip is committed to accessibility. So as we continue to develop resources, they will be offered at no cost to those who use the tools. It is important to us that we are not in a pay for play position, as we work to promote justice for all throughout the country. The resources developed this last year highlighted earlier in this call. The resources and supports we will develop in the future are high quality and free, so that they can be used by all communities, all advocates and all practitioners who wish to use them. We are working to develop sustainable fundraising approaches to support this, which so far have relied on foundations. We do not often ask for funding from individuals because we value your advocacy and work and know that not everybody has the resources to donate, and we value the many ways in which people contribute. But I will just say very quickly that if anyone finds our resources and support too valuable and has the ability to financially support our organization, you can do so on our website. All donations are tax deductible. We will continue to develop sustainable and scalable strategies to continue this work. And as we just discussed, we hope that someday C tips fundraising efforts don't just build seed tip, but also help to scale support for funding for coalitions and advocacy efforts at all levels across the country as well. With all of that said, please know that the strength of C tip relies on all of you and the millions of people doing meaningful work, joining together in promoting transformative change throughout our society. We would not have been able to accomplish all that we have to this point without all of you, and we won't be able to achieve the vision described without your ongoing involvement, participation and support. Before working at the national level, I worked at the. I worked in the grassroots of communities in Philadelphia and in Oberlin, Ohio. We know that healing takes place in the context of healthy relationships over time. And this is not just going to occur at the national level. Others at c tip on the staff and board have similar experiences that drive our passion and understanding that our work is only as strong as the networks that connect national work to states, to create conditions in communities, so that everyone has the opportunity and support necessary to thrive. We need all of you in the various context that you promote this work. To achieve this vision. We are grateful for your work and for spending this time with us. Right? Before the holiday break and for all that is to come in the new year. With respect to your ta ta your perspectives informing our work, we want to take some time right now to get your insights into the work that we are doing and where we will be moving in the future. We don't have the capacity to be as nimble as we would like to, and may not be able to incorporate every suggestion, though we promise to read and consider the various perspectives that come to us and incorporate as much as possible into our work and plans. With that, you'll find reflection exercises that you can find using the QR code and link on your screen. I can't see them in the chat, but I assume that Laura is has already posted them, or is about to also post them. In the chat on the left QR code, you'll see a simple word document, and on the right you'll see an anonymous Google form. We encourage you to use whichever you prefer, or you can use both. You could jot down some initial thoughts and then submit the Google form to us at any time. We will take about 5 to 10 minutes here for reflection, and I'll put on a couple songs from our wonderful Spotify playlist. And then we're going to break out and connect and breakout rooms for those who want to stick around from 3 to 330, to connect and discuss thoughts further as a group, and then report out to the full group. I'll go ahead and start the music now, and we look forward to your reflections and thoughts. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us in the chat. And I'm going to stop talking and start playing some music now. I forgot that I had like scaled down that music earlier. And so I'm going to go ahead and turn the volume on gradually so that it's not too striking. You. It's up to the reader here. I know the riddles go unanswered from the moment of its birth. Searching for the answers so many would pursue in favor of their honor. She provided just one clue. Rise up from the ashes. You decide which way. The way the. You need to know. I'm afraid. In that. Were we supposed to cancel? For centuries. You will hear all the riddles. And so. Searching for the.
00:51:58Answers so many would presume in favor. Of their honor. She provided just what could rise up from the ashes to decide which way. We look down sideways and you need to know you are. I. Like. Oh. No. Not. Are you? Searching for the answer to the riddle here on riddles. Go on. Answered from the moment of its.
00:54:04Wonderful. I really do love the music that. Yeah, that playlist solid. Another request. If you got other songs that you want to suggest, send them along to Laura. We really do love it. I put it on on the golf course sometimes in just I'm like in a trauma-informed zone when I'm in my happy space. Um, so many more songs on there. Um, before we go into breakout groups for those who are going to stay, um, and, you know, welcome. Other thoughts. I know that there were some problems getting into Doc's, which we apologize for and hope that we were able to help navigate. We ask the folks, remain mindful to these community agreements as we look to create conditions of empowerment and safety for all participants in our breakout groups. As Whitney said earlier, this is directly from the Trauma-informed Meetings and Conversations guide. So you know, using as we are. Thank you again, Whitney, for that. Just to quickly go over, everyone has a right to participate as well as pass on any topic. We want to demonstrate mutual respect by actively listening to those who speak. Respect various perspectives, even if they differ from our own. Share the floor so everyone has a chance to participate. We want to engage with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment and shame. This process is about connecting with one another, not convincing others toward our own way of thinking. Necessarily. In these spaces, we want to try to be as inclusive as possible in our language and how we take and make space for each other and ourselves. We want to speak from our own experiences, engage in ongoing self-reflection and self-care, and, as we have discussed, do our best to model the model with one another in these rooms. So I'm going to go ahead and open the zoom room. We're going to have about 15 minutes for these discussions, and then we look forward to being back together at the end of the call. For those who are able to to share, if someone in particular wants to report out, we welcome that. Or we can just have a group conversation at the end of this call. If you have any questions or concerns during the breakout session, message us or feel free to come back to the main room. We're going to be here to support you as best as we can. All right, without further ado, and no more talking from me, I'm going to go ahead and open the breakout rooms. We look forward to being back together very soon. Whitney, do you mind just pressing pause on the. And then we are open to report outs. We hope that, you know, the reflection exercise was valuable and that the conversations and connections amongst one another was also valuable for everybody. But again, the ways in which you will inform, um, us on your needs, your desires, your work really helps us to understand what's going on in the field, which helps us to be as nimble, responsive and supportive as possible. And again, there are limitations to that with our current capacity, but we want to participate in this ongoing reflective exercise. And so with that, um, Whitney, I don't know if you have any other context to open up report outs, but just want to open it up to anybody to report out what you discussed, what your thoughts are. Um, and obviously if there are any questions in that as well, please feel free.
00:57:53With me. That was you.
00:57:56Well, it was me.
00:57:58Yeah, it was you.
00:57:59I am, I'm here. Hi. What'd you talk about? Were you in a breakout room, James?
00:58:04Huh?
00:58:04Fabulous.
00:58:05Were you in a breakout room?
00:58:06Yes, I was.
00:58:08What were you talking about? Please share with the with the group.
00:58:10I was talking with Michael, and he was, uh, informing me about his process. Where he's into the words thing. And I was telling him about my process, where I take things a little bit further and deal with the thinking of things, not just the words people use. Because suppose you're in a group, especially being in a hood, and you're with people that aren't using those words, then what do you do? You know what I'm saying? So my thing is, you get people to free their minds and you take them all the way, and not just halfway.
00:58:59First. The James language is so complicated and different people. It's all right the various ways in which to do in our work. Michael, I see you.
00:59:09Well, we had a great conversation. Um, um, uh, Mr. Litt gets on the Upper West Side. I'm in the East Village. Um, he thinks it's like a long way to go, but, you know, I ride city bike. Um, but, uh.
00:59:25My, uh, comfort zone.
00:59:28He informed me about, uh, New York, um, uh, trauma coalition, which I'm going to be looking up and a safe space coalition. So it was a very valuable conference. And the fact that we're local made it, you know, even more connected. So we really appreciated that opportunity.
00:59:46Yeah. I told him I.
00:59:47Came from New York trauma to him. And then I how I learned about aces and that what benefits that have for me. I told him my whole story.
01:00:00Thank you both for sharing. It's so wonderful to see when connection like that occurs and when folks on zoom screen, we don't know how far apart we are, and I don't. New York seems massive to me, but I relatively close together and able to connect on local, um, issues as well. What did folks discuss? Um, in other breakout rooms as well as reflections and thoughts? And connections that you want to share. That's always so happy.
01:00:38Well, I just want to say one more thing. Uh, Mr. Lydgate told me about AVP, uh, which is, uh, which was new for me, and, um, uh, it's a, it's a, an organization that works with, um, um, uh, uh, it's in prisons. Yes. Of course. Uh, it's called, uh, let me pull it up here. Um, well, it's a AVP USA board. So we're going to be researching that and seeing what's going on in their prison workshops. So again, uh, our, uh, our, our breakout room was, was really, uh, really a benefit.
01:01:20Intellectual.
01:01:27Jesse, your mic's on.
01:01:28Off I what I meant to say was. Thank you both, um, for sharing and for sharing that resource that came up in conversation. Um, and it did stick. Uh, your your hand raised.
01:01:40Um, you know, I think we just kind of community register and model. And she was talking about, uh, Katie was talking about how did she. Because she worked with with, uh, like we were discussing what, how did trauma, uh, affected, like other people? Yeah. Me her. And one more was.
01:02:11Oh.
01:02:13There's a way to raise your hand. Well, I'm doing it this way.
01:02:17We we see.
01:02:17You, Dennis.
01:02:18Yeah.
01:02:19Okay. Uh, look, I, I think, uh, John would be better to report on my group than I would, so I'll ask him if he can do that.
01:02:31John, the good old Volun told sort of situation. And Aditya just want to say thank you for sharing and it's really important to discuss trauma, and it's complex to discuss how trauma impacts communities. So that's wonderful. Um, but John, if if it's all right, um, thrown it to you.
01:02:50Well, sure. So, you know, just like most a lot of good things in life, it's a little unplanned. I thought I had dropped out, uh, and, and was onto the Jama article because for decades I've been saying the enormity and impact of this problem is much beyond what we tangibly measure, which I'd seen estimates from 30 billion up to 180 billion. I saw something a couple of years ago that was even 600 billion. And I thought, well, we might be getting close, but it could even be a multiple of that. So to see this Jama article talking about 13 trillion and I understand it's in the lost you know, healthy lives piece. But I think that's the whole context. So, uh, we had a very constructive, uh, conversation with, uh, Terry Lawler and, and Dennis and I just on the pervasiveness of trauma. Right. Uh, that that it is an equal opportunity destroyer. It knows no socioeconomic or demographic boundaries, but it's. Malignant manifestations, uh, occur more with resources are less right. And that, um, we we to create more of a social awareness political will. It's a bit daunting when we know that during Covid, we had a child tax credit that lifted 30 something percent of people out of poverty immediately, and yet we couldn't sustain that. And so therefore, we couldn't see the long term benefits of reducing stressors by having economic, uh, security or at least some assistance. And then so then therefore, if we can't do it that way, what what can we do and where can we go? And then we talked about school environments is a place where you can go earlier and try to take a more prophylactic approach, uh, to addressing trauma, widespread and, and getting away from words like somebody's talking about words, getting away from a word like prevention and just talk about, uh, um, something that's more just. I guess, good old common sense that we need to address everybody and we can do that through schools. And it's not just aimed at students, but it's aimed at the teachers and the teachers wellbeing and the teachers sense of support and belonging as well. And peer to peer, um, um, supports that can outlast whatever training or intervention or trauma-informed practice that you might be imparting. And then Terry mentioned, uh, a study that was done some time ago and I hadn't heard this, but I'm not surprised at all of the findings that students that were in classrooms where the teacher had a higher state of agitation, what from whatever reason. But I think we all know most of it will be trauma related, that the students themselves had higher levels of cortisol in their bloodstream, because it is we are we're social beings. And when that when that leader that trusted resources is agitated, whether that's a teacher, a caregiver, a parent, whatever, then that that is imparted to, to everybody else. And so we talked about this and, and I just say to the to see tip this, the hive nature of what you're creating here is so powerful to me and that we can share this. And, and I put it in my little reflective. So I think the reflection was worthwhile, by the way, Jesse. But from two years ago or something, when I first joined two, two and a half years ago, my first column, there was 30 something people on to the the one on near, uh, just a couple months ago where we had 200 is tremendous. Uh, and it is showing that we collectively will eventually make a difference in many different ways. So, uh, but kind of coming back is. There was also trauma-informed school. Uh, can call a few months ago. And then we at camp also have our own trauma responsive implementation practice in schools that were rolling out in, in rural and semi-rural county, uh, environments in northern Colorado. Uh, will be in six schools reaching about 4000 students and 500 teachers. And we ran a pilot four years ago that then got interrupted down in southern Colorado, um, because of Covid. But the principal there, we don't have the implementation evaluation piece that I'd like to have. But anecdotally, she says four years hence, and we haven't had any real contact with the group that imparted the trip in schools program. But we have the lowest, one of the lowest turnovers of staff in our county, and the school received an academic performance rating, maybe for the first time ever. So the academics have listed.
01:08:13Your, uh, your website in the chat so we can read more about it.
01:08:18Yeah. So that's what our discussion was. Schools, the prevalent nature of trauma, return on investment for programs at work and pretty far flung. So I'm sorry, but Dennis, you set me up for that. I'll put that.
01:08:33Well, you did much better than I would. So my compliments to you.
01:08:40So all of that is to say, like it's becoming addictive. Any comments?
01:08:50Definitely. I'm definitely addicted to canned calls. You're right.
01:08:54All right, all right. Good stuff, good stuff.
01:08:58And what.
01:08:59I wanted to.
01:09:00Add. We'll see. Our stress is relieved from having participated in something that confronts the problem in a meaningful way.
01:09:12I wanted to add, uh, that, uh, I'm from, uh, Michael J. From the Relationship Foundation, and we've been doing free webinars for the last 36 months. And if you go to the Relationship Foundation YouTube page, we have, um, a workshop, uh, presentation on trauma that we call it the neuroscience of trauma and resilience. Uh, we've had people come from all over the world, um, but a lot from the States. We, we've worked with, uh, counselors who came to those webinars in the Department of Ed who work with, um, specifically with children from shelters and, um, uh, foster homes, his living in, in parked cars and warehouses and we've done workshops with so the Relationship Foundation YouTube page, trauma, neuroscience and resilience. And this other one is Nonviolent Communication, which we believe this life skill could, could turn around the society and turn around, uh, issues that, you know, so kids, kids and teachers, they you'll see there's what they're saying about, um, how effective it is in the classroom. You see teachers and comments on our website. And I see, Carrie, you're here. I spoke to, um, uh, one of your colleagues from Tennessee. I forget his name. And I guess everybody knows about aces.
01:10:38Matthew Patel, probably.
01:10:40Yeah, yeah. Um, does everybody know about places?
01:10:44Oh, yeah.
01:10:45He knows. We all know.
01:10:48Okay. We look at it every day and learn from it. So really grateful for that work.
01:10:55That's where I know you from, Michael. The neuroscience of trauma. I thought I recognized you.
01:11:05Yeah, NVC Nonviolent Communications is one of the most amazing tools ever to help people learn how to ask for what they need and want, and how to state what they're feeling and state what they're thinking, and be able to do that all important thing of separating their thoughts from their feelings, from their needs, from their story. Would you say? That pretty much sums it up, Whitney.
01:11:38Very much so. And and there's another thing that we show them called empathic listening. And that's on our, uh, presentation on our YouTube channel. And by the way, we never called empathetic because there's the word pathetic in empathetic. So we always say empathic listening. Um, little something we noticed the other day. Empathic listening. But, uh, uh, so great to be with everybody. And and we, uh, we we're following the dream.
01:12:14All right, all right, all right.
01:12:21Like to share. One of the things we talked about in our group. Hey, Jesse. Richard.
01:12:26I was like, looking around the zoom screen.
01:12:28And, uh, you know, how can we tie the trauma-informed movement as a solution to the all time record suicides, all time record overdoses, all time record youth mental health and anxiety and depression. Because when you drill down to the root causes of those problems, it's people that are trying to find alternatives to covering the pain of trauma. And so how can we? Another thing our group talked about as well, uh, was that the trauma word itself can be negative. Why don't we focus on the word protective factors instead of what is your ACS score? What is your protective factor score? And started sort of turning the emphasis on the positive instead of the negative. So just a few things we talked about in our group that I wanted to share.
01:13:18Well, that's what paces also emphasizes positive.
01:13:22That's why they changed the whole thing of paces to put the word prevention in front of the whole thing. So that is the the. Uh, the focus of of faces these days.
01:13:44Just recognizing that some folks have to hop off right at 330. Appreciate you all being here and wish you a wonderful New Year and being together in 2024. That doesn't stop the conversation for everyone who is here. I was just recognizing if you got a run, appreciate you very much. Um, as it is 330 and so Whitney's got to go as well. Um, and so I'm happy to stick around for a little bit, but just want to say big kudos to everybody and looking forward to the year ahead, truly. Thank you.
01:14:17Thank you. Jesse. Thank you so much.
01:14:20You too. Aditya. Thank you.
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