Trauma-Informed and Resilience-Oriented Training - Needed Now and Always
In January, California’s Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services launched ACEs Aware, an initiative aimed at giving Medi-Cal providers training, clinical protocols, and payment for screening children and adults for Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs. ACEs are stressful or traumatic events experienced in youth, identified to be strongly associated with increased health and social risks. Early detection and early intervention can help prevent or reduce the health risks associated with ACEs. California has identified tools to screen pediatric and adult patients for the ten categories of ACEs and they are reimbursing health centers for screenings. As health centers prepare to incorporate this sensitive screening tool into clinical practice, they are learning new paradigms that promote a culture of safety, empowerment, and healing.
Implementing trauma-informed approaches within diverse multi-disciplinary health center ecosystems requires significant investment in re-shaping organizational structures, practices, and cultures so that staff are naturally prepared to respond to disclosures among their patients and the secondary effects for colleagues. CPCA is deeply committed to ensuring that health centers are resourced and equipped to begin this culture shift in advance of implementing a comprehensive patient-facing screening initiative.
“Very good facilitator – probably one of the best facilitators and trainings I’ve experience.
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Since January 2020, CPCA has offered several training and technical assistance opportunities for community health centers to develop their trauma-informed and resilience oriented (TIRO) approaches. CPCA partnered with the Center for Applied Research Solutions (CARS) and TCC Family Health, a multi-site health center organization in Long Beach, California to offer a three-part leadership workshop series on imbedding trauma-informed care into organizational systems. The workshops were a phenomenal success. Ninety-four attendees participated in the workshop series across three California regions (rural north, central, and southern). One hundred percent of evaluation respondents noted that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of the event; and that they agree or strongly agree that they will use the information gained from the event to change their current practice.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, CPCA partnered with CARS to offer a two-part webinar series about self and collective care & wellbeing through crisis. In August 2020, we will launch a three-part seminar series titled, Trauma-Informed and Resilient Oriented Approaches for Health Centers. These didactic webinars will be complimented by regular office hours and a Connected Communities resource page where CHCs can share reflections, ask questions, and network with colleagues about their successes and challenges.
Furthermore, CPCA received state funding that will support integration of the tools into common EHR platforms and further expand our ability to support health centers integrate TIRO principles to health center’s unique practice settings to better serve their patients and communities.