Preventing & Addressing Trauma: Creating a Pro-Active organizational Response

A Virtual Symposium for Teachers & Professionals

8th Annual SSU Center for Childhood & Youth Studies Symposium

April 16, 2021      8:30 AM - 5 PM

Online Keynote and Individual Skills Workshops

Creating a Pro-Active Organizational Response: A Workshop for Teachers & Professionals

Children of all ages are regularly exposed to trauma. How can teachers and professionals identify trauma, how should they handle it, and what can schools do to be Trauma Informed Institutions?

Participants will be given state-of-the-art information about what trauma is, how to identify it and how it manifests in both long and short term problems. National and local experts will share research, policy and practice knowledge to help us help children & youth. Join us to learn what we can do about preventing and addressing trauma at both a personal and organizational level.

Cost:  $30(includes .6 CEUs) Preregistration is required. Prior to the program on April 16, 2021, each registered participant will receive instruction on how to log into the program and have access to the links to all the keynote presentations, and individual workshops. The links will be live at 8:30, on April 16, 2021.

 

Conference Schedule:

·        8:30                 Welcome Addresses

·        Yvonne Vissing, Director of SSU CCYS

·        John Keenan, President of SSU

 

9:00 – 10:00    KEYNOTE ADDRESS #1

§   Trauma in Children, Youth, Families and Communities. 

Michele Solloway, PhD, MPA, RPP, SEP. SUNY Downstate.

Dr. Solloway will provide data on trauma, ACES, and a framework that will guide our understanding of trauma on this day.       

10:00 – 11:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS #2

 

Trauma Informed Organizations: What they are & how be one 

Samantha Koury, Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC)

at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work 

 

This keynote address will explore what trauma-informed care is and how it can be used in our different roles as we support children and youth.  She will focus on how important it is for institutions to take a preventative, trauma-informed approach. 

 

11:00 – 12:00  KEYNOTE ADDRESS #3

 

·        Screening Children for Trauma and Adversity: Opportunities and Concerns.  Crimes Against Children and Traumatization. 

 

David Finkelhor, PhD.  University of New Hampshire Center for Crimes Against Children & Family Research Laboratory.

Protocols are being implemented to conduct universal screening for trauma and adversity in medical practices and schools.  Dr. Finkelhor will talk about why caution is warranted, and some of the important considerations to be taken into account.

12:00 – 1:00    Breakout  Sessions #1

 

A.     Attachment and Trauma: A Relational Approach

Katie Thomas and Julianne Croes Child Witness to Violence 

In this seminar, participants will explore how trauma can disrupt the attachment between caregivers and very young children. Participants will learn how to explore the caregiver’s own trauma history to discover their working model of the child. The methods used at the Child Witness to Violence Project (CWVP) to explore attachment will be explained as well as the process of conducting a trauma-sensitive assessment to inform treatment. CWVP has been supporting the most underserved populations of the Suffolk County and the Greater Boston Area for over 30 years as part of the largest safety net hospital in New England. CWVP aims to identify, support, and advocate for very young children and their caregivers experiencing domestic violence and other kinds of trauma exposure.  

 

B.     Listening to the Marginalized Voices of Young People About Care Experiences.  

Zoe Kessler, Assistant Professor of Social Work.  SSU

In a perfect world, when children are put into placements they are to receive care they need to recover.  Instead, sometimes the trauma they bring with them gets exacerbated. How caregivers can help children recover from trauma is the focus in this presentation. 

1:00 – 2:00     Breakout Sessions #2

 

A.     Trauma-informed Policy: Building Infrastructure for Resilience.

Moira O’Neill, Importance of Being a Child Advocate Dr. O’Neill is the Child Advocate for the State of New Hampshire.  She will discuss what it means to be a child advocate and transform trauma science at the individual, organizational and policy levels

 

B.     Emotional Intelligence and Helping Grow Healthy Children and Families.

Alyssa Blask Campbell, Seed and Sew Village of Vermont.

Building Awareness and Regulation to Process Emotions

In this workshop, folks will dive into the Collaborative Emotion Processing (CEP) method and the Phases of Emotion Processing to identify biases and social programming in order to regulate and process response to emotions. We will navigate the learned patterns and brain pathways and how to bring awareness to reactions in order to build tools for responding.

2:00 – 3:00     Breakout Sessions #3

 

A.     The Law and Child Trauma.

Attorney Carmen Durso.  Boston attorney helping trauma-inflicted children.  Attorney Durso will talk about legal interventions for children who have experienced trauma

 

B.     Support for distressed mothers: Impact of building healthy connections.

Heather Howard. Florida Atlantic University School of Social Work. Dr. Howard will discuss her work with substance abusing and incarcerated parents and the relationships they have with their children. Her research focus on gender-specific and trauma-informed care for women, grief, recovery, stigma reduction and health empowerment.

3:00 – 4:00     Breakout Sessions $4

 

A.     Trauma of Child Sexual Abuse. 

Jetta Bernier from MASSKIDS

MASSKIDS is the Commonwealth’s primary sexual abuse prevention organization.  Jetta will be talking about the trauma that child sexual abuse inflicts.  She will also provide identification and risk factors, and strategies about what to do for prevention, intervention and treatment,

 

B.     Trauma and its Long-term Effects on Children.

Jacquelyn Meyers, PhD:  Trauma and Substance Abuse, Henri Begleiter Neurodynamics Lab, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, SUNY Downstate  

Dr. Meyers will show longitudinal data of the impact of how traumas early in life can manifest into physical health problems and chronic illnesses, mental health problems and both alcohol and substance abuse.  Her state-of-the-art research shines a light on the long term consequences of trauma in the early years of life.

4:00 – 4:30   Wrap-up and Next Steps

 

Yvonne Vissing, Director Center for Childhood & Youth Studies Sponsors

 

This symposium is co-sponsored by the Essex County District Attorney Office, Parents Helping Parents, the Foundation for Alcohol Education, MASSKids, Danvers Cares, SSU College/School of Social Work, SSU Alumni Association, SSU Center for Childhood & Youth Studies, SSU Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, SSU Meservey College of Health and Human Services, SSU Department of Healthcare Studies.