Improving work environments and systems with trauma-informed policies and practices can enhance safety, health, wellness, trust, and productivity, ultimately unleashing a positive ripple impact on team members’ families and communities. Our April 2024 CTIPP CAN call provided educational concepts and practical strategies to support anyone advocating for and working toward more trauma-informed workplaces.
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00:00:06 Welcome to the CTIPP CAN call for this month. I'm so glad to be with you today. Wherever you are joining from. Um, feel free to say hi and share that in the chat. Certainly, along with anything else about yourself that you feel called to let us know. And today, as you see on the slide, I'm going to dive right in because there's a lot of content. We want to give you a good connection time as well. We're talking about trauma informed workplaces and the importance of workforce well-being, and what you can expect to hear a bit about underneath that general umbrella of trauma informed workplaces. Um, is first, we're going to speak a little bit to the quote unquote, why write about, uh, behind trauma informed approach approaches to workplaces, um, why that's so urgent in the present moment. Um, and then that will be followed by three uplifting the toolkit and other resources that we've created to support you in implementing change across a variety of settings and roles that you may find yourself in. And while we aren't going to delve super deeply into detail with the content of the toolkit, since it is rather then, uh, we will share a bit about what you will find in the toolkit, as well as make comments through some of the broader themes that we'll speak about in the toolkit. So you know, you know what to expect when you engage with the toolkit in greater depth, and you'll have some time to really think about, you know, oh, that's something I'd really like to explore in greater detail, sort of make yourself know dog ear parts of the toolkit, whatever work for you. We'll also share some general strategies again at a high level here today. Since we're a general group trying to make this as relevant and useful for as many folks as possible, rather than having it be sort of siloed in different sectors or systems. So looking at all of this at a high level, a few different considerations, sort of at this organizational and systemic level, and then some at the individual level as well. And we're thinking about these concrete, actionable steps to help make the change that you might be curious to explore in your own workplaces or in places and systems that you are engaging with in other aspects of your life, whether you know you yourself are a part of something that you're not necessarily employed in, that you want to be, this change in someone that you care about is in an environment that could use some of these tips, whatever it may be, our best hope is that you emerge from this time together with some sort of next step for yourself in some sort of system, organization, or with yourself in thinking about integrating trauma informed practices into workplace contact. And at that point, the left hand side is sort of here's where I'm talking at you. The right hand side is where things become totally optional. You have complete choice here in terms of you will have an opportunity to participate with me in a resilience practice, or you'll also have the opportunity to take that as sort of a short brain break, stretch, grab water, whatever it might be. And then we're going to invite you to, if you choose to participate in Breakout rooms to have discussion, we have a guided set of prompts where you're going to have some independent reflection time, and then you're going to go into breakout rooms, if you so choose. And then we sort of funnel you back into this larger group to debrief and chat more about general themes, what you notice anything on your hearts or minds before we say goodbye for today. And so that's what you can expect in terms of our time. And I'd like to begin by talking a bit about the why upfront. So why trauma informed workplaces are so critical, especially in this present moment in our world. And, you know, we are certain that our work environments play a crucial role in shaping our experiences across the many domains of human well-being. And that really makes sense, right? Because most of our population, for better or for worse, spends at least a third of our lives that work, if not more. And this is rarely, you know, quote unquote, just where we earn our living, right? It's where we form connections. It's where we face and collectively overcome challenges in the work. It's where we experience and celebrate successes together. There's so much more than just sort of the daily grind. Right. And what happens in the professional domain of our lives. Then again, especially with the sheer amount of time and exposure we have in our lives dedicated to workplaces. And so, you know, what happens in that professional domain, both impact and is impacted by that which happens in other domains of our lives. So we're thinking about this in a systemic, really holistic lens when we're thinking about workplaces. And in a world where the presence of trauma is more often the norm than the exception, right? Understanding and addressing the impacts of trauma and adversity, we would argue, are not just beneficial, but are imperative. Really, if we want to see a truly healthy and well workforce and a truly healthy and well world, given how much of a touch, how much of our lives touch and our touched by our workplaces and the workplaces that we engage with outside of our own professional engagement. And, you know, we know that. We know what helps and what hurts. I'll say at this point, right? There's a lot of research out there. There are clear connections to implementing trauma informed practices and, um, experiences of positive impacts of the work are also more possible through that as well. Right. So there's this aspect of we know what helps to counter burnout compassion fatigue, moral injury, moral distress, secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, those sorts of constructs. And we also know what helps things like vicarious post-traumatic growth, um, compassion satisfaction, moral resiliency and moral courage. We know what helps those things emerge. And so that's a lot of what the explored in this toolkit. Again, both always that both and approach where here are individual actions that you can take. Because every individual action we take matters. And also the onus cannot be on individuals. But I'll say more about soon too. It needs to be on our systems, institutions, organizations to really create the context and conditions for us as individuals to act in alignment with the trauma informed principles. So there really is a compelling case for all of us, um, no matter what role we play in our workplaces, no matter what sort of quote unquote stratified like title we have and status or power we have, um, any one of us can make an impact, and it's important for each of us to contribute and to spend time and energy working to support individual and collective well-being. And we believe that the that's the what right that we know what the what looked like in terms of what we want to see happen. But the how is a trauma informed practices. We operationalize the values and principles of trauma informed practice to see the types of work environment that we want to be a part of, and that will both help serve and support others more effectively, and also will help support the people who are enrolled directly facing others to thrive and flourish. And the reality is that, you know, by operationalizing those principles of a trauma informed approach, we not only enhance individual well-being, but we also boost organizational health and productivity. Right? The investment is worth it. And that's one of the things that in our advocacy network, you'll continuously hear us really emphasize, right. It's upfront investment. It's not reactive. It's proactive. It's integrative. It's holistic. It is something that really can have an impact. But we need to sort of sell the fact that the investment is worth it a lot of times in our environments. Right. And so there's a lot of information that will help you do that in the toolkit, no matter what setting you're in, whether it's, you know, statistics, data reports, evidence, research, whatever it might be, personal stories, it's in the toolkit to help you sort of strengthen and fortify your own advocacy for this happening in environments and workplaces that you are a part of. Um, and as this slide also highlights, the time is ripe at this moment, right? Let's face it, the last few years have been challenging, and there is a report reference on this slide and you'll have access to these slides to sort of click the links and play around if you want later. Um, the report is a Lyra Health report. Um, it's the 2024 State of Workforce Mental Health report. It's a pretty big data set. And I've included some of the the statistics here that I thought were compelling, um, on this slide. And it actually names much of what we've been seeing as longer term After Effects, um, from the Covid 19 pandemic sort of picking up into a time of uncertainty. This report actually labeled that as trauma responses. Right. Sort of these cascading impacts we're having, which truly jazzed me. I had to be acknowledged in a publication that, you know, is not necessarily just existing in this trauma sphere where a lot of us wake up thinking about this stuff, but it's being recognized that these ripple effects are happening. There is uncertainty, unresolved grief, inequity, those cascading challenges that we're continuing to see and better understand the consequences of at this time, um, are still happening in ways that this particular report named them as trauma responses, which I thought was really, really interesting and something I don't see a lot of. And, uh, you know, I think one of the things we can't be certain where that really came from, but what it tells us is that the collective voice of those of us on this call, this broader movement, it's making a difference. It's really being seen in different ways, considered in different ways. So right now, now is the time. It's always been the time, theoretically, for a lot of us that have been doing this work for a very long time, we're like, well, finally. And yet just noticing, right, that people are paying attention. What opportunities can we seize in this here and now moment to really bring our workplaces in alignment with what we want to see happen? And there's a quote in this report from Doctor Alethea Vara. I have to look at my notes here. Um. And, uh, that says that the the full impact of delayed trauma, um, after a global pandemic doesn't always present, um, immediately in its full intensity. It's only later, often when the immediate threat has subsided, that the cumulative toll of sustained stress and uncertainty begins to manifest in more complex conditions like chronic depression, uh, substance use disorder, and suicidal thoughts. So again, this is being recognized, right? As a trauma response outside of the circles like this. Um, and that that we're already talking about trauma and resiliency in neuroscience. And that's really meaningful. And so the work force numbers from this report reflect that. This is really an important moment as well. Um, really thinking about supporting well-being through trauma informed practices. Now, um, through reducing that re traumatization that we're seeing by operationalizing again those core principles of a trauma informed approach to, at the very least, not make things worse when people come to work and they've been getting worse, right? The number of employees experiencing the severe mental health conditions, um, has more than doubled since 2021, according to the workforce report. That really was something that was deeply striking to me because, as you see on this slide, and it's something that we mentioned in our 2023 presentation on this as well, the the mental health conditions that people are being impacted by at work. We're already steadily increasing up to that point. And since 2019, they have really, um, significantly. And uh, they've more than doubled, right? They've significantly increased. And then even just from the last year, they have doubled. So just really noticing these statistics, um, two years, 2021. So this report was done at the end of 2023. Um, and so we speak to a variety of those types of reasons, right. Like we see in this data that something is needed. Things are not working as we believe they ought to. We know what's possible. And so we speak to a variety of other reasons behind the why in the toolkit as well. Again, because we know that you all are in different environments. You have the opportunity as experts of your own settings to pick and choose the pieces of evidence, statistics, data that feel compelling to you, the solutions and strategies that fit the settings and strengths and gifts and challenges and barriers and resource access of the settings that you work in. Um, and, you know, this was just published last month in March. So again, it's 2024. It looks at the last couple of years. Um, so it's really contemporary data that if you are somebody who is interested in the research and wants to use that to bolster your argument for implementing trauma informed change, I think it's a really great resource to do that. And I'm really, um, trying to emphasize here that that is in the slide because it's something that is not in our toolkit, because our toolkit, um, it didn't come out in the time that our toolkit existed. Um, so let's move into sharing within that toolkit at the high level, beginning with, you know, you can download this on this website, I'm sure Laura, Jesse Anderson, someone putting this in the chat right now. Um, and this is something that we released last year, um, to the point of, you know, this new resource being, oh, this is the new statistic that really strengthens some of the arguments that we've made here. And we hope you find that the concepts and ideas are evergreen. Um, through, um, you know, we continue to get this new data, and that is one of those pieces that you'll want to update and that we will probably eventually continue to sort of iterate and update on in the future. Right now, though, it's still pretty fresh. And so things are still evolving rapidly day by day. Right? So this toolkit that we co-created among our team members, um, has a lot of ideas that, even with the change, are are usually something that, you know, even if the statistics shift, this is something to think about. This is something that's a really challenging, seemingly intractable issue in workplaces. And there is support, there's ideas, um, contributions from the folks you see listed on this slide to whom we want to just take an intentional moment to extend our acknowledgment and deep gratitude for their partnership and support. Um, you're just going to find a variety of things that we are hopeful, you know, that will be useful for just about anybody, no matter what workplace you are in. And I also want to mention that there is a fabulous companion podcast with Sandi Blum on trauma informed workplaces. Um, and we're also planning on hopefully getting together soon to work on recording another episode of our podcast, um, Transform Trauma podcast. But the podcast, um, with all of us. And when I say all of us, I mean the four of us who work with this organization. Um, uh. Just chatting, you know, about what we've noticed about operationalizing some of the concepts in this toolkit within our own organization soon getting really radically honest about some of the pain points, some of the ways that, you know, each iteration of our hiring cycle gets stronger and better and more aligned with the model of a trauma informed approach. So we're hoping to share some insights with you on you on that soon. Be on the lookout for that conversation. Um, and the sandy bloom one is absolutely wonderful. She is such an asset and a resource, and she has some really beautiful ways of thinking about the importance of trauma informed workplaces, as well as some concrete suggestions for what to think about and what kind of skills to hone to be able to implement this in your own, in your own settings. Some of the things that I think are important to acknowledge upfront for you before you explore the toolkit yourself, to consider what spearheading change might look like in your setting. Um, the first thing I would want you to know is that this toolkit is for everyone, everywhere. Again, not just quote unquote traditional sectors that are already perhaps more familiar, we'll say, with the trauma informed framework. It's not just for social services, education, those places where they've been thinking about this for a longer period of time. It's really designed for a universal application encompassing every day industry, from your neighborhood cafe to multinational corporations to governmental entities, all of it. So we know that trauma informed practices involve a paradigm shift, right? So there are some of these places that are maybe more out of alignment than others that have been thinking about it for a long time. And yet every, um, different contexts present different opportunities and thinking about how to invite different ways of knowing and being and thinking and doing and relating that will ultimately shift the way that we engage with our workplaces and that our workplaces create space for us to show up, will inevitably shift all aspects of our lives, regardless of the setting. Um, and we know that when we are supported again, back to this institutional piece, when we are supported in leaning into this, we all benefit across all settings. And so in terms of what our toolkit actually contains that speaks to this, we provide the why, which I spoke to a little bit ago, uh, behind a trauma informed approach, um, being appropriate and needed in greater depth than we'll cover here. We speak to how trauma shows up in the workplace, and we discuss trauma informed policies and practices to support individual, collective and systemic workplace wellbeing. And so while not every single topic or idea or link provided may be relevant to you, we really encourage you to please keep skimming to see something that catches your eye, knowing that we've aimed for everyone and anyone to be able to extract valuable insight from this toolkit to foster change within their organizations, no matter the role. Um, it's also important to remember that this is not about just adding one more thing, right? That's a misconception. Um, it's about ongoing reflection and learning and integration. And what trauma informed practices really require is a continuous commitment from everyone top down, bottom up, side to side. Um, imagine a work environment where everyone feels safe to speak up, where trust is the foundation, and where we can tap into all of our unique strengths and gifts. That is the power of a trauma informed approach in a workplace. And yet it's only able to be realized when everyone is participating and sustaining this stance. So it might start with you, and also know that you don't have to be the one to carry the torch. And in fact, it is most useful, most constructive, most powerful, and most sustainable. When you think about building capacity for this long term culture change, it's also important that in engaging with the material that you that you are seeing workplaces through a lens that conceptualizes workplaces not just as an economic engine, I guess, for lack of a better way to say that, but instead as living and learning systems that really indeed must adapt and evolve over time to preserve its own health, and in reality, they are doing that constantly, right? Our workplaces are adapting based on current needs, current budget, current policies, all of the things current workplace, uh, our current workforce, who's working there, who's in what roles are organizations are always shifting, adapting and responding. And so looking at it through this lens, everything is interconnected, right. And so by prioritizing holistic well-being for the workforce, it also sustains the health of our workplace setting, which then also cascades into people's family lives and community lives and citizenship lives. Um, so it's really important to see that systemic lens throughout all of this and something else that I will speak to, I'm going to try not to get on too much of a soapbox is that, yes, productivity is important. Um, and we also know that stressed out team members, um, you know, are not productive. That makes sense. We know, um, and that enhanced productivity is one of the many tangible financial benefits to engaging in trauma informed transformation work. We get the we get into these a little bit into the toolkit with the realization that we need to meet folks where they're at, not where we wish they would be. And sometimes that means our focus. Something that might feel a little bit icky to us, right? Talking about money stuff. Um, to be able to get, um, engagement from leadership and funders and different things like that. So we talk a little bit about that in the toolkit. And yet as you engage with this resource, we really encourage you to think about team members as contributors to more than just the bottom line, right. Our aim is to foster environment that honor the full humanity of each team member. We know that people who feel seen and heard and valued at work not only report higher satisfaction and well-being, but also bring greater creativity and loyalty and commitment to their roles. And yes, productivity follows. Profit probably follows that as well. But it's because folks are enriched with purpose and rooted in a workplace culture that nurtures their need, that those sorts of things emerge. And so we are really trying to shift the dialog and narrative and, you know, notice those shared priorities and values and also create more possibility beyond the bottom line for folks when we're thinking about this change. And that brings us to the final point here, which is perhaps I would say the most important one of all. And that while our individual potential as agents of change is absolutely immense, everything we do matters. It contributes. And also, um, collective action is powerful. It's primarily the responsibility, um, of or organizations, organizations and systems to actually implement the practices, institutionalize the changes that will allow for us to engage in a trauma informed manner in our work. Um, make no mistake, right? Your advocacy, your voice, your wisdom, it's crucial. Our individual and collective voices and action taken together to promote these changes is invaluable. And yet, the actual labor of this transformation ought not fall on any one one person's shoulders alone. Um, trauma informed practices must not become that. Just more. One more thing, um, on your to do list without structural support. If not. Right. Right. And it will, it will it will lead to those, um, factors that I was speaking to a little bit earlier burnout, compassion fatigue, advocate fatigue, things like that. Right. And it's not through team members who are already overtaxed volunteering their time without compensation. That burnout is mitigated. It's just not right. So it's through systemic and sustainable efforts, like organizations creating dedicated roles and teams to support well-being, allocating budget to take care of the workforce, um, providing voice and choice in how people show up in and complete um, the work of their roles. How policies, um, like leave policies, allow for people to attend to what matters in their life without threat of losing their livelihood, and other changes like that that really do support that creativity and that compassion in the workforce. To be able to consider the principles of a trauma informed approach in everyday action. And so, yeah, uh, of course, what you see on this slide is, um, I would say a really robust, maybe the majority of the toolkit, really robust portion of the toolkit, um, you'll find broad principles, you'll find links, ideas, models, other resources across sectors and systems and sites to really help you think about some of the ways that those institutional and systemic supports might be implemented. And just speak to a few you see on this slide. Again, this is all very much a high level. It's supposed to give you sort of an understanding of what's in the toolkit, what you'll hear some foundational concepts for you to dig more deeply into. Um, consider dedicated support, which might mean something like appointing a paid chief wellness offer officer or a director of workforce resiliency, some sort of title like that. Um, a dedicated team of trauma informed implementation specialists whose sole focus is to develop and maintain the organization's strategies to support well-being through a trauma informed lens. Um, leveraging what is working. So anchoring in a solution focused perspective. For instance, um, if a particular department has a successful, let's say, peer support program for workers, um, that team members refer to as being useful for them. They've reported this is something that was really an asset to us. In times of stress, challenge and change, an organization might explore how this type of um program can be expanded across the entire organization. Right? So building upon what's working, leveraging what's working, um, building more trust and transparency is another one of those really broad topics with many possibilities. Yet some starting ideas are things like. Maintaining open channels of communication regarding organizational policies, changes and decision making processes. And also, one of the things that I think is really cool, we've sort of consolidated a bunch of different organizational assessments related to concepts like trauma informed care, resiliency, workforce wellbeing, and also organizational and systemic health. Right? So there are some that you administer to individuals to get their sort of feelings about how they're able to perform and their roles. And then you can use that information to make things more trauma informed and implement changes that will help their experiences of that in the workplace increase, and to show up healthier and more fully. And then there are also a different tool that actually asked people specifically about the presence of the principles of a trauma informed approach. So again, that sort of organizational context, where do you notice safety, transparency and trust, voice choice, empowerment? Where do you notice those showing up. Um, and then also workforce wellness. So those are sort of the two buckets that they'll come in trauma informed practices and wellbeing. Um, and the presence of either those sort of negative symptoms of, of a lack of trauma informed practices or the positive outcomes when trauma informed practices are present. Um, so that's one of the things that I think is really useful because you are able to have this baseline measurement to sort of see where you're at. And that's the last sort of thing that I will uplift organizationally. It's really important to know where you're actually starting from, based on the lived experiences of people who are in a different role throughout the organization, to be able to know what is working and what's not, because it's very easy, especially in the day to day, to get sort of siloed in our own roles and our own teams and our own project with our head down really focused on that. And to believe that everybody's experiences in the organization are the same as ours. When in reality there could be a really significant range. Um, and that also keeps us, um, accountable to not being paternalistic and implementing solutions that, based on maybe our bias and perspective would be the right ones. But in reality, when we see the full scope of people's experiences in the workplace, another direction might be, um, have a have a more positive impact more broadly. So again, you'll have an opportunity to look at what's introduced here. And this is really, again, just reinforcing that the solutions that the systemic level are really needed to support a workforce that is able to flourish and thrive. And still we include individual strategies as well, because the reality is that systemic change takes time, right? There are ways that you may benefit from focusing on finding your own avenues to take care of yourself as the system works, to sort of catch up to what's needed to meet the needs of a healthy workforce. It's also sometimes meaningful for folks to directly participate in pushing the systems and organizations that they're a part of to change, right? So we do provide ideas in the toolkit that are intended to help you reflect on what is possible at an individual level, even while the institution and system is is chugging along. Trying to implement these, or maybe even can still be a little bit ambivalent about implementing and directing funding directly to this. I think it's also worth mentioning that collective action requires that each of us stays, um, as well as we can to continue the change work. Right? That really means thinking about what role fit for you in working toward trauma informed change, and if it's taking care of your own well-being so you can continue to show up in your role despite the high stress in other life domains that you're experiencing rather than, you know, being, I don't know, in charge of sweeping organizational initiatives or something. Please know that is valid, that matters, right? That is a part of modeling the model of being trauma informed. Um, and so thinking about taking care of oneself and what that really looks like through a trauma informed lens means noting that many of us with intersectional, disadvantaged, and marginalized identities might not actually feel safe taking certain steps. Right. So I really speak to this fight intentionally, because speaking up in the workplace or setting firm boundaries, um, when you're on a, when you are, um, in a meeting, right. Depending on a variety of factors about the role, um, certain things that are okay that feel empowering for another person might not be safe or even feasible for another person. So really thinking about that personal contact, I think it's also really important to name that not everyone is in a position to be a vocal advocate in general, right? Some of us are in precarious situations because of our identities or how we've metabolized our lived experiences, where our livelihoods sort of really require us to stay under the radar. So this might be for you then thinking about how even under circumstances that are not ideal yet necessitate you to sort of not be in the spotlight, how can you preserve access to your own health and well-being and peace and joy in a system that might not necessarily be built for you? Um, it may also mean supporting advocacy efforts quietly and finding allies who can speak up where you cannot. Right? So perhaps having private conversations with trusted colleagues who have the capacity and security and safety and privilege to lead change more outwardly for those in leadership roles, there is a significant opportunity to lead by example here. So showing what it means to operate within a trauma informed framework can set a powerful precedent. And when we, um, refer to modeling the model right of being trauma informed, it really means simple actions like respecting personal boundaries and emphasizing the importance of mental health days, which can cultivate an environment that does honor each person's needs and support the emergence of the principles of a trauma informed approach, and that, in turn, enhances holistic well-being for us all. And of course, the toolkit, you know, it has a variety of different ways to think about and approach this in your work, big and small. Not everything will apply to you. That's okay. Some things that you really, um, are fortified by might not be mentioned. Please let us know. We are going to continue to update these resources as time goes on and situations and data changes. And so in the meantime, we really encourage you to keep in mind that each role, each voice, whether loud or soft, plays a part in shaping our workplace cultures. And to truth be told, if you really took a step back and examined this really intentionally, my guess would be each of you is already, um, influencing the spaces around you in ways that reflect your own understanding of a trauma informed approach, and you're probably already engaging in trauma informed caring toward your team members that you can continue to build on. And then that's another best hope of this toolkit as well, right? Really noticing what's already working and seeing that, oh, I don't actually have to, like, change every single thing that I'm doing or believe in. There are some places that I'm already doing that, and I can sort of integrate and take steps that fit for me and choose the parts that feel most accessible to me right now, and think about my longer term ways of integrating more of those principles into my ways of being. And so that's all I want to speak to upfront, because we do want to give you an opportunity to dip your toe into the toolkit to inform your breakout sessions. And so as you do that, ultimately it's our best hope that you feel that our toolkit is useful and that you learn or consider, you know, at least one new thing, even if it's a small thing, and that it equips you with whatever it is you need to feel like you. You have to have, um, in order to take one small step for a suggestion and initiative, a commitment you make to yourself and your role, um, whatever your next step may be. And so at this point, we're going to be moving into the independent reflection. Activity where we're providing you with an opportunity to take a look at the toolkit. And there are some prompts with Faith for note taking that we've included on our activity worksheets. Um, and I'm wondering, Jesse or Laura, do you have that pulled up at the moment? I know there's a new link and maybe I can share that on my screen. Thank you. That way we can all be looking at it and encourage you if you have the ability to download it. I know sometimes provisioned computers don't allow downloads through zoom. If you have, you know, like a state or federal computer, it might be tough, but there's also a link on Google Drive where if you access it through Google Drive, you won't be able to type on it. You just have to download it. So you go to file and download and then you'll, you'll have your own copy saved onto your computer. Um, and so I'm going to go ahead and share this while we're together. Just to give you a quick it's pretty I think straightforward. But just to give you sort of a quick tour of what you have the opportunity to take a look at right now. And so. On this worksheet. Um, I would recommend having the toolkit, uh, PDF open as well, or at least the blog post. Um, because as you'll see, they are pages though that says navigate to page five of the toolkit. It's easiest if it's accessible and preferable for you to do it in the PDF, although certainly you can find this in the blog post as well. So I would recommend having those sort of in tandem open. These boxes are here for you to type notes. No one is ever going to like with you and say, did you fill out the worksheet? That's for you? If you feel so called to take note to bring into your breakout sessions, if you're choosing to participate, um, and in terms of the prompt, they are choose your own adventure. You do not have to do them in order. Oh, it looks like this got a little weird in the. Sometimes when it gets uploaded to Google Docs, the spacing gets weird. Um, so you get to choose, right what you're called to. If you look at a prompt and you say, oh, that section doesn't apply to me as much, jump around. So feel free to, um, look at whatever calls to you. Take notes on anything. After this, we are going to, um, put you in breakout rooms. And that's where the next part comes in. Right? So down here is breakout room connections. Oh, I got all messed up. I'm so sad about the formatting. I should have used my version. I, um, so this page here and a little bit onto the next page, um, it looks like has 15 different prompts for you to take a look at. You don't have to use these at all. They will be an anchor for you if you choose to participate in the conversation. A lot of folks find that, you know, having sort of discussion prompts can be helpful to guide the conversation, but please know when we debrief in the larger group, it is not going to be, um, report out in what you talked about. It's, you know, what's striking to you. What are you noticing? What is one small step? So you don't need to report out on any of this. And you get to feel free to just talk about whatever you're called to talk about. But these are here as an anchor. If you find that useful. I know sometimes that really helps me. And that's something we've heard from folks on these calls as well. And so that's what the time ahead looks like in terms of, uh, the toolkit. Let's do maybe. Five minutes of independent reflection just to give you the opportunity to, um, take a look, see what calls you, take some notes, pick one section in the independent reflection section to focus on, and then we'll put you in breakout rooms. And if you are able to stay into the debrief in the in the top of the hour. Beautiful. If not that's A-okay to everything from here is totally your choice. And so that's it for me. Jesse, do you have anything that you wanted to add?
00:38:53Just if there are any questions. If you're struggling with formatting, feel free to reach out to myself, Whitney in the chat and we'll be here to support you all. Um, if you need anything on the virtual end of things. But other than that, Whitney, I turn it back over to you. I assume that there's music timer that you'll share, so there sure is.
00:39:12I will play music. Feel free to turn your cameras off. The music is just so we're not all weirdly fitting in silence together, and that there's something in the background. If you don't like it, mute it. That's okay too. We'll see you in. Let's do so. I'm in Eastern time zone, 2:45 p.m.. Uh, we'll build some breakout after that and we'll check in after that. Thank you so much.
00:39:35And we just want to open the floor for a few moments. Again, whenever you need to hop off the call, please. You take this opportunity to do whatever you need to do. But if you're able to hang out and you're interested and willing to share, I'm just going to mute myself and sort of open up the floor. And the general questions are, what are you noticing? What are you thinking about? Do you have any next steps? Did anyone sort of spark new thinking in your mind? Anything you want to share?
00:40:11It's really quiet, so I'm going to jump in. Uh, yeah. I was sharing with our group. Um, we're a camp for children with serious illnesses, so we've got healthcare volunteers and workers who were traumatized over the last four years by everything they were going through back at their home hospitals. We've got children who are experiencing trauma and chronic stress from their illnesses, and then a ton of vicarious trauma. And then our our summer staff, especially, tend to be college students and our people who miss major life milestones over the last four years. And then we're just told it's over now go back to life, and no one's giving you those milestones back. And so we've incorporated a lot of trauma informed policies. We've done we've made changes to our bereavement leave to basically, if you're grieving over someone, it counts. It doesn't matter who it is to you or you know, that's and you don't need to bring us proof that someone died. Um, you know, and it takes what it takes for you to grieve. We've done changes to holiday time so that there is no month without a long weekend, because we know everyone's more tired than they were before. Um, you know, PTO changes so that everyone's equal. Because when I started here a couple of years ago, the the executives had more PTO time. So I got more PTO time than the custodial staff. Now everybody gets the same amount of PTO time. Um, and then we, we were talking about how do we be, how do we move to being healing centered as well. And so as we talked about things like what our team has been through, especially our summer team, um, we're actually going to do a prom this summer in between camp sessions for our campers and try to give our summer staff, who are, again, mostly college students, their senior prom back. And so we're going to turn golf carts into limousines. And I get, I guess I get to be the principal, um, and, you know, walk around and check the punch. But we're going to have, you know, we're trying to figure out ways that we can give people things back, that we can restore milestones, that we can be healing and not just, you know, try and get them through the summer. So, um, looking at things like that for our year round staff as well, most of what I saw on the list is really is really fantastic. And to me seems like really good leadership, not just trauma informed leadership, but it's what really good leaders should be doing, period. Um, with and without whatever we're bringing from our, our own lives and our own intersectionality. Thank you.
00:42:25Thank you. What a beautiful share. Anyone have anything else they want to share before we close for today?
00:42:55Whitney. If I can read quickly a question that was put into the chat. Sure. Thank you for everyone. If other folks want to respond in the chat as well. But. But what experience do you think having? Do you have thinking about how the organizational strategies apply for 1000 or 100 or 10 person workplaces? What recommendations do you have to scale these organizational strategies for different sized workplaces? How about different cultures?
00:43:22Oh great questions. Yeah. So I mean, when I wear a different hat, um, in addition to just consolidating research for different structures of different sizes, I work in systems of care that are ranging that are significantly larger than a thousand. And also, you know, very small workplaces. Again, we I, we do this in our workplace before. And what I can tell you is that because this is a paradigm shift, it is going to look different depending on culture. It is going to look different contextually depending on the amount of people. But I've seen it happen in different systems and different sizes. And what I'll tell you also is that we've been in systems of care. The longest one that I personally have been working with is for five years. Right. And it's several thousand people in a health care system in New York, community based health care system. Um, so like one stop shop for behavioral health for people who, um, usually are significantly disadvantaged and marginalized in our society. And it takes longer in larger systems, certainly. Right. With something like federally qualified health centers, there's special considerations of red tape and administrative burden and getting over some of the policies that are in place through sort of creative workarounds. So I'll say like larger can be more challenging. And but I would say that the beyond the size, it's really the structure that makes it more challenging, because if it's a thousand person organization or a ten person organization and they have more open policies, they have different streams of funding, they have different philosophies and mission vision values that already are aligned, even if it's a large organization, that change is going to look a lot different than a 10 or 10 person organization at a place where they do have federal regulations that they have to follow, and there's the very specific protocol that they have to work on to be able to get funding from the state. Right. So I would say beyond the size, it's actually the structure and context that really is the, um, thing that determines the way that you would implement different things, although we could talk about that for probably another hour. I think the most important thing to remember is that this is a long game, right? This is the game where to shift. An entire culture takes commitment and work, and it's really one of those things where you don't want to come back in a month and say, oh, it's not working, because all of these things didn't shift again, that I said five years in a really large system. And we're just starting to see leadership embody these principles. We're just starting to see the spoils of our labor. That has been really a lot for the last five years. So I'm sorry. It's kind of probably not the the most straightforward answer, but I would say think beyond numbers and look at structure and context. Well put. Keith journeyed on a destination marathon, not a sprint.
00:46:20Can you repeat what you just said? Think beyond numbers.
00:46:24Yeah. And look more at structure and context.
00:46:27Okay. Thank you.
00:46:34My pleasure. Anyone else have anything that they've really resonated with in your breakout rooms? Daniel Share was so lovely. It's really beautiful to see that you know what works in terms of the neuroscience, right? You're paying attention to the things that we know, and you're still implementing it in really creative ways. You're doing it in ways that it sounds like really integrate that sort of place of I'm modeling the model. I'm participating in all of this. It's not to your point with leadership, right? It's not hands off. It's not. You all handle this. It's like I'm going to be the principal and I have helped create this, co-create this, and I've allowed everybody to have a role in that. And that's the other thing, right? Empowerment, voice and choice. What I heard and what you shared, Dan, is that everybody had a say in a role in being able to equalize some of these experiences. Sarah, I'm so glad you. You're willing to share? Please feel free.
00:47:43So I work in child welfare and, um. And Monterey County and California. And we are the place where trauma informed care, um, our trauma, you know, creating a trauma informed system, um, in our has, at least for us, has intersected with our diversity equity efforts. Um, recognizing that many. Um, you know, experience living in a culture that is a white supremacist culture is a comma in and of itself, and just finding a way for people of color and for white traumatic for white folks is not good for us either. Um, and so really recognizing that taking a trauma informed approach to, um, systemic racism and the, and how people experience, um, our system and the lack of equity that often is a big piece of child welfare in terms of overrepresentation of certain ethnic groups. So for us, really having that overlap has helped me better understand my role as a white person and how I can support, um, people of color and other white folks. Um, and understanding why this matters. And the trauma informed lens seems to be more acceptable to folks, especially white folks, um, who are sometimes resistant to the idea that they benefit from a white supremacist. Yeah.
00:49:10Thank you so much for sharing that. Absolutely write this that you are able to see those intersections and to even understand, right, that this could be a trauma response on the part of people who have that privilege and, and have not had to walk in a body that is marginalized and oppressed. They might say it's often, you know, an instinctual trauma response of, oh, no, this is challenging. What I'm comfortable with and what the normalized probably, well, I lose something. And I love that you're really highlighting those intersections, because through a trauma informed lens, we can emphasize this is an abundance mindset. This is a liberatory mindset for us all. This is not a scarcity mindset. This is not competition. That is our current paradigm. And actually moving away from that. And Jesse, I think I'm going to take this moment if you have handy our blog post on Abdi. That is our framework of accessibility, belonging, equity, inclusion and justice, where we talk about the intersections of those concepts and trauma informed approaches because they are indeed inter interconnected in the ways that Sara. Beautifully stated. Um, might be a great time to post that in the chat. Thank you so much, Sarah. A really important conversation, and I think also important to recognize that not because again, on this fall, all of us might wake up thinking about this to sort of tech ourselves and our our sort of what we're thinking about and noticing. Huh? That person seems threatened. What happened to them, what is going on inside of them that they are ambivalent about this approach? How can we help them see things more clearly, that this is something that will benefit us all, and that they aren't threatened? How do we shut down that nervous system reaction? Um, right. Those sorts of things are really important. Oh, Denise, do you have something to share?
00:51:00I'm sorry, I thought I was.
00:51:02I'm so happy you're here.
00:51:04I bless you as well.
00:51:05Um, if that was a sneeze. The one other thing, Whitney, if I can mention very quickly on the do the child and family strengthening systems front is just to let folks know. Quick shameless plug that, um, our KTP can call next month is going to be about structural racism within the within child and families, uh, strengthening systems as well as the, uh, I'll call it economic inefficiencies of the system as a framework for advocates who are working. We know that there is so much, so many transformation efforts going on, but hopefully that provides a really good advocacy framework. And so you can sign up for that, as well as other, uh, future KTP can cause. And our wonderful colleague Antron, um, will be, uh, leading that call with, um, someone from the American Bar Association. So we're looking forward to next month's call as well. But back to the back to the April KTP can call. Didn't mean to take that away. Just saw an opportunity for a shameless plug.
00:52:06I would say that that was additive and not taking away. And Sarah, I see in the comments you mentioned conflict resolution. Absolutely. I think like de-escalation, conflict resolution and drawing from restorative practices can be really powerful as well. Um, things like co-creating community agreement when you're going to have really challenging discussions about really important topics so people feel safe and as if they can show up and participate, helping people understand ways to self-regulate. So then they can co regulate when conflict comes up and be more constructive. Those sorts of skills are deeply important in this work. Harry, I see that you're unmuted. Do you have something you'd like to share?
00:52:50Oh, it was an accident.
00:52:51But I will say that I love the sound of all of this and the the, um, the that we're going to go deeper into anti-racism and racism and systemic trauma and historical oppression and all of that. If that's all part of this, uh, thrills me to no great end. And, uh, so that was a mistake, that it was a happy mistake to. Because because I really wanted to connect with you anyway. And it's so good to see you all. Jesse and Dan and and and and Whitney and, um, I guess Laura still on here, too. I'm scrolling through, but, um. Yeah. Thank you so much. I'll go off.
00:53:32Meet us would be happy, happy accidents. But with that. Go ahead. Renee.
00:53:40Oh, I didn't mean to. I just when you were talking about that, um, I had been talking to one of our chaplains from the art organization, and she offered a great question. Um, when conflict arises, um, to ask, um, what have I done to make you feel unsafe? Because she basically shared with me that everybody's trauma is right below the surface, and you never know when you've touched it. And so offering the question what has happened instead of what is wrong? And to open up that dialog and help that person see how they may have responded. And it was more heightened than they intended, and to sort of grapple with that. So that's all I was I was going to just put it in the chat.
00:54:40And now we've heard you put it so beautifully out there with your voice. Thank you so much for saying that. What a beautiful suggestion for us all to store in our brains for the future. Yeah. Go ahead. Gary.
00:54:57You know, that reminds me so much of the wonderful two things. First, just the importance of psychological safety. You know, I'm so blessed to have been here in Wilmington, North Carolina, where the incredible New Hanover Resiliency Task Force has taught me so much. And I moved here to embed with them and have been here for five years. And now Mebane Boyd, who started as the first Ed there, runs the statewide, um, resiliency, resilient communities. But she always stressed the importance of psychological safety. And then, uh, her next, um, not the very next person, but the next person to take her place, um, was Javon Skiba, who, you know, quotes Stephen Covey about moving at the speed of trust. But it also reminds me of Brené Brown saying how important it is with people, um, to be able to say the story my mind is telling me about this is this, you know, and to check in and then also the wonderful blessings of Nonviolent Communications to observe and then say what we're feeling and then, um, what, what we need. And then to use that wonderful question, would you be willing, you know, that language of compassion, nonviolent communication. So those like, four things are overlay into all of this for me as we do this work. So thank you for letting me share that.
00:56:42Thank you for sharing that. I think what you did is you have really uplifted the importance of skills, right, to be able to enliven these values. What sort of skills fit for me to be able to show up in a way that allows me to embody safety, trustworthiness and transparency, empowerment, voice choice. And I think that's left out of the conversation a lot of the time. And you've got my brain noodling about potential projects in the future about different sort of intersecting skills that that folk might be able to take a look at who really think about this, because it is something that takes practice and work. It's integrative, it takes ongoing awareness and growth. And I think that intent versus impact is a really important thing to look at. Right. And when we're thinking about our language and our skills to recognize that, yeah, we might not have intended these things and also that still impacted somebody in an adverse way. It really invites us to think about, okay, so what skills do I need to hone to be able to show up differently next time? And I think NVC, Nonviolent Communication, the language of compassion, all of those things are really vital. So I'm just really grateful for you putting that out there. Anything else on anyone's heart or mind that they want to share before we part ways today. Been a great conversation. Are fabulous for pivot. Yeah. Thank you for that, Andrea in the chat. It's a great resource.
00:58:22I just wanted to say that I'm evangelical on the subject of conflict resolution skills and a lawyer by training. But I've spent the last 15 years, um, mediating and teaching mediation, um, facilitated mediation, which fundamentally believes that people have their own best solutions to their problems. And the thing that I notice in my workplace that causes the most conflict is people acting on an assumption as if they expect. And so the more people don't do that. Um, I think that's a key element of trauma informed workplace, right? Because we're actually trying to explore what is happening as opposed to what we think is happening and then acting on it. That's what we have. So, um, so I, you know, so I just now starting to get up in my county and let me teach conflict resolution. Um, and we're going to set up a mediation academy. So, um, I'm really hoping I can incorporate trauma informed. Um. And, you know, communication styles and ideas.
00:59:21Oh, that's so awesome. Thank you for sharing that work and for lifting up how you're thinking about applying some of this. That's awesome to hear. I'm going to click on this link that you shared carried with that is. Language of compassion. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing that resource. Feel free to distribute widely, y'all, if there's anything here. Oh, yeah. Go ahead, Perry, you want to speak to it?
00:59:46Oh, no. I was just going to say it's a very simple cheat sheet on NVC. But there is the the book Nonviolent Communications as well, and I'll find that and put that in the chat.
00:59:58And if anyone's ever curious, I also work as a trauma therapist, and I use this even with my clients when they're like trying to sort of form their own social emotional skill to navigate in a different way in the world. And so I have like a lot of worksheets and stuff. If this is something that interests you and you want to practice, um, that's really interesting. The ways that they break things down in some of these worksheets, and it can be just really useful to hone these skills. And I know that I needed them when I was learning this. It really helped me put this into practice. So glad you're here. Repeat. Welcome. I hope that you will be a regular with us. Whenever you can make it. So glad you're here. Thanks for the acknowledgment. But I suppose with that, then, y'all, it's time for us to say goodbye. Unless there's anything anyone wants to hang back and share. Please have beautiful weeks ahead. I hope that everything that you have heard today has left you feeling like you have one small step forward. And please do be in touch. We're going to be together again in a month for Cape Cod, but you don't have to wait that long. If you have something that you want to say or chat about. Be well. Take care. Thank you so much for your presence. Yes, James. Let's chat.
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