May 15, 2024 • 49 mins
In the first episode of Season 2, we sit down with Tina Zerbian, CEO at Connecting Communities in Action, and Wendy Robords, Director of Culture and Workforce Development at Pro Action of Steuben and Yates. Tina and Wendy discuss the steps they’ve taken to make their Community Action Agencies (CAA) more trauma-informed, and provide helpful tips and resources for CAAs looking to begin this process.
Resources:
- Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope
- The Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care
- New York State Trauma-Informed Network & Resource Center
Click here for the full transcript.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (00:15):
Hello, and welcome to Season Two of
Lights Camera Community Action,a podcast brought to you by The
New York State Community ActionAssociation, or NYSCAA for
short, where we talk withmembers of community action
agencies and other nonprofit andhuman service organizations
about the issues that affect thepeople we support. My name is
Heidi Barcomb, Program andCommunications Director for
(00:36):
NYSCAA. And I'll be your hosttoday. NYSCAA is the hub that
brings together the communityaction agencies in New York to
network share success storiesand challenges and strategize to
meet the needs of vulnerable NewYorkers. When it comes to
supporting people to move frompoverty to self sufficiency,
community action agencies knowwhat works.
In this episode, we'll betalking with two community
(00:59):
action agency leaders who havebeen influential in transforming
their agencies into traumainformed organizations. Please
welcome Tina Zerbian, the CEO ofConnecting Communities in
Action, and Wendy Robords,Director of Culture and
Workforce Development at ProAction of Steuben and Yates.
Welcome Wendy and Tina, pleasetake a minute to introduce yourselves.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (01:20):
Hi, Heidi. Hi, Wendy. I am Tina xRB.
And I'm the CEO with ConnectingCommunities in Action. We serve
Cattaraugus County, but wechanged her name a few years
back, because our services reachoutside of the county as well.
Glad to be here. Welcome.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (01:40):
Hi, Tina. Hi, Heidi. I am Wendy
Robards. And I'm the culturaland Workforce Development
Director here at ProAction,which covers both seven and
eight counties. And I've workedhere for about 24 and a half
years. And this is my firstpodcasts than happy to be here
and passionate about this topic.Well, we're so happy that this
(02:01):
is your first podcast. Thank youfor doing this for us. We want
to take some time today to talkabout what it means to be a
trauma informed agency. Can youexplain to us a little bit about
what that what that exactlymeans?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (02:15):
I think for me, acknowledging and
understanding people's lifeexperiences really helps us
interact with them moreeffectively and deliver better
care. So being trauma informedto me means that we assume that
everyone that we meet, whetherthat's our customers, our
(02:35):
partners, our employees orvolunteers may have experienced
trauma in their lives. And webegin to understand that things
like culture and ethnicity,gender, sexual orientation,
disabilities, may lead to somechronic stressors,
like social stigma anddiscrimination and oppression.
(02:59):
And that can all increase folkspsychological trauma. So trauma
informed care, in my opinion,promotes healing and avoids
retraumatization when weencounter folks.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (03:14):
I think that's our great, you
know, way to start us off, Tina,you know, I think for us with
the four R's, you know, throughSAMSA, that was kind of where we
got grounded in our definition.So the realizing that
individuals are more likely thannot to have a history of trauma
and all those things you'vementioned, you know, recognizing
that knowing the trauma symptomsand signs of that, and
acknowledging that the impactand role that trauma may play in
(03:38):
individuals lives, includingyour own workforce, and we look
at it from that lens. And thenjust responding through that.
And as you said, resisting theretraumatization.
You know, and I think for us,another way that we've explained
it is that we stop asking whatis wrong with this person and
begin asking what has happenedto this person, you know, or
(03:59):
thinking about what is it thatthey've survived or gone
through. And, you know, throughour work with Sue and Sam at the
Institute on trauma and traumainformed care, we understand
that providing services in atrauma informed way means that
we are aware and recognizing howwe show up and how that affects
people who have experiencedtrauma.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (04:21):
I have two questions that came
that came to mind with that. I'mwondering if you could tell me
what four R's are because I'mnot familiar with that phrase.
And I was really struck by yourcomment about stop asking what's
wrong with people? Can you justrepeat those two sentences
again?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (04:43):
Sure, the four R's. realizing their
prevalence that individuals aremore likely than not to have had
had a history of trauma. Andthen the second one is
recognizing the presence oftrauma, and the signs and
symptoms, responding byintegrating our knowledge
into trauma and light, and thatcan be related to policies,
procedures and practices. Andthen lastly, resist re
(05:05):
traumatizing.
As far as the we stop askingwhat is wrong with this person?
And I think I first heard thatstatement, it was a 60 minute
segment with Oprah and Dr. BrucePerry back in 2018, on the
impacts of trauma and childhood.And, you know, that was the
first time I think that I heardthat, and that in that way, and,
(05:29):
you know, really inspired us to,to really jump into this work.
And, you know, even to expand onit with with the work through
the Institute on trauma andtrauma informed care. They
describe it as a universalprecaution.
And so Tina, I see you shakingyour head, so that that
resonates. And, you know, whichagain, is assuming that most
(05:49):
individuals have experiencedthat and US unintentionally or
intentionally responding in waysto reduce that likelihood of
doing more harm or retraumatizing.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (06:01):
Thank you, Tina, recently, I heard you
talk with our Emerging LeadersInstitute, and you've shared
your story of your leadership.And one of the things you talked
about in that was how you cameto be a trauma informed care
agency. And I'm wondering if youcould share that part of your
story. In terms of the moviethat you saw, and what that led
(06:24):
for you.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (06:26):
I'm happy to I actually I give
credit to Nisca, actually,because I attended the annual
conference that was held inAlbany in 2018, and watched the
screening of the filmresilience, the biology of
stress and the science of hopeand in how I was hooked. From
(06:48):
that point forward, I think Iimmediately understood the role
that community action can playin building resilient
communities. And we actuallyended up changing our mission
statement to say that that'swhat we do. We build resilient
communities as a result ofhaving attended that particular
(07:08):
annual conference and watchingthat film.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (07:13):
So you watch that film, and then you
went back to CCA and said,
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (07:21):
so I think we did a lot of things
right away, in its since 2008.Teen, it has been a progression.
So we didn't do everything allat once. But the first things
that we did, we had fouremployees who became involved in
the trauma informed carechampions program that is
(07:44):
offered by the University ofBuffalo's Institute on trauma
and trauma informed care. Theywere part of a cohort that was
established by a local schoolsystem. When I came back from
Albany and started to organizewhat we now know as the TCAT, or
the trauma informed Coalitionfor Cattaraugus. County, that
(08:05):
school cohort joined us. And weended up growing to over 100
individuals and 40organizations. And we started
offering training opportunitiesboth in house for our employees
and within our community. Webuilt trauma informed care into
(08:26):
our orientation and onboardingpractices for our employees. We
started using an assessmentcalled the Arctic scale to gauge
the readiness of our staff andboard members. And also so that
we can evaluate our change overtime. And we established an
internal champions team that wasknown as respond. And we brought
(08:51):
UB Institute on trauma back fora deeper dive into what we call
the 10 implementation domains,with our organization and with
three other county departmentsthat included social services,
mental health and probation. Sothose were some of the things
(09:11):
the highlights that we did rightaway. That's a lot of work to
do. Right away. It was, but ithas made a significant
difference in our agency and Ithink for our customers and
certainly within our community.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (09:27):
Wendy, can you talk with us a little
bit about how ProAction came tobe a trauma informed care agency
and what that process lookedlike for you.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (09:38):
Sure at it, I think
our journey really started in2018 Around that time, when
again, you know kind ofmentioned the shift from what's
wrong with you to what happenedto you. And you know, I think
for us just being excited aboutthis becoming more mainstream,
getting some traction andinspired a lot of light bulbs
(09:59):
and a hot
moments for us. And I think formany of us in this in this work,
and we wanted to be a part ofthis culture shift and change,
so it was really timely, becausethat was really essentially when
we made that commitment as anorganization to start this
journey. And, you know, I think,
for many of our programs, youknow, we have had, we had
(10:20):
learned about the ACEs study andtrauma informed approaches, with
Judy Nordstrom back in 2006,through the top a Institute with
our training, parentingeducation, certification, and
implemented the practices forseveral years, but truly made
that agency wide commitment. Soa lot of the, you know, similar
actions that Tina,
(10:40):
referred to we had theresilience film at our all staff
day, you know, essentiallygained our commitment from our
board of directors implementedthat as part of our vision
statement for this work, alsobecame familiar with Sam says 10
domains, and really focused onfive of those in 2018, and 2019.
(11:01):
And we implemented a lot ofpositive changes out of similar
to what that Tina had sharedabout new employee orientation,
and, you know, the policy andprocedure manual, and kind of
looking at it from that lens,and then the pandemic hit in
2020. And no, I think for a lotof us, obviously, that pandemic
required us to kind of shift ourattention and priorities
(11:23):
in March 2020, it did help usthrough that. And you know,
really, I think fast forwardinga couple of years, we've really
just reset our focus and beganworking directly with the
Institute on trauma and traumainformed care.
With Sue Greene and Samanthaquarry at, you know, the
University of Buffalo. And wehad a smaller, trauma informed
(11:45):
leadership team, we collaboratedvery closely with Sue and Sam,
and really went through the preimplementation process and
planning for all of those 10 keydevelopment areas. And after we
did the pre implementation plan,we really just had to prioritize
and focus on what keydevelopment areas we wanted to
focus on. And since that time,our focus has really been around
(12:08):
the leading and communicatingand training our workforce.
You know, in some of thoseactions and steps we've taken is
our trauma informed leadershiptraining, we had our culture
Committee, which we're kind ofdefining as our trauma informed
champions, and all of oursupervisors completed the trauma
informed leadership training. Wehad 40 supervisors that
(12:30):
participated in the traumainformed supervision training,
we really kind of went throughour employee satisfaction with a
trauma informed lens to ensurethat we were really asking the
right questions and linking tothose five trauma informed
guiding values and principles.And using that data to kind of
help tailor and guide us interms of the training and the
(12:52):
next steps.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (12:54):
Did you find did you both find that
staff and community and boardwere eager and bored? Or did you
find any resistance with this?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (13:10):
In our case, I think that a number
of our employees were reallyhungry for something that would
help them
really relate to customers andsee better success with
customers. I think that we havea number of folks that are
therapists that were alreadythinking about trauma informed
(13:32):
approaches to theirinteractions.
Some other folks were a littlebit more resistant and didn't
understand how maybe their roles
dovetailed with trauma informedcare, philosophies and
practices. But I think thebottom line was that community
(13:55):
action agencies for decades,have been focused on taking a
strengths based approach withour customers, rather than
focusing on what's wrong withcustomers. Family Development
was strengths based. So comingback to our roots, and really
understanding that identifyingpeople's strengths and, you
(14:16):
know, working to understandtheir trauma and not re
traumatize them was a hook formost folks that that were
engaged with us. And I alsothink that you can do some very
visible, obvious changes thateverybody really enjoys and
(14:39):
takes pride in, like taking alook at our signage and taking a
look at the way that our waitingroom looks and our lighting and
sort of that you know, thesafety that people feel or don't
feel when they walk into yourbuildings or waiting rooms and
so making those kinds of changesI think made everybody feel
better, knowing that
(15:00):
At, they were proud of a placethat they could come to work
every day. So some of theresistance and
perhaps in a bit, I can tell youa story about working with our
weatherization, folks, and thesuccess that came out of those
conversations, because I thinkthat that was a disconnect at
(15:20):
first, but we overcame that. Noteverybody in the org in the
community is 100%. On board. Ithink that there's still some
resistance with someorganizations, and we just
continue to work on educationand talking about the answer to
(15:43):
what's in it for me, why would abusiness? Why would a
corporation Why would a schoolwant to implement trauma
informed care? And I think that
answering that question, what'sin it for me, helps them come
along in that process?
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (16:02):
When did you do have a similar
experience?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (16:06):
Yeah, I think so i The Hungry, really
resonated, because I do thinkthat we have a lot of staff, but
being in community actionagencies, you know, we have very
diverse staff at all differentlevels of, of, you know, formal
education around this livedexperience and knowledge. So I
think it's, again, kind ofmeeting people where they're at.
And, you know, Tina, I'm gladyou brought up the family
(16:26):
development, because I think,you know, the shift of No,
instead of what's wrong, youknow, it's what happened, but
also what's strong, you know,and getting, you know, my
foundation here as it was withinfamily development. And, you
know, I think from a timingstandpoint, again, with the
pandemic, you know, kind oftalking about the universal
precaution, there was somethingthat Sue and Sam really, it
(16:48):
resonated is, you know, evenunderstanding that, you know,
while we aren't providing traumaspecific services, you know, or
therapy, we have the opportunityto neutralize our work
environment and our serviceenvironments, and where we show
up. And now having gone throughthe pandemic, and really rolling
this out, you know, in 2020, to
(17:09):
thinking about the universalprecautions of putting the mask
or gloves on, you know, just incase, you know, versus a walking
around and asking people if theyhad COVID. So similarly, with
this, you know, that reallyresonated, because the trauma
informed approach is us allputting on our metaphorical PPE,
you know, our masks and ourgloves, and really being
intentional with the way werespond. And part of kind of how
(17:32):
we bring the workforce along isjust having conversations
around the find five, traumainformed guiding values and
principles, and helping themreally see how they're already
doing a lot of this work, andhow you know, and then really
exploring what else is possible,and what could we do
differently, so that they takethat pride and they take, you
(17:54):
know, that,
that wanting more and to learnmore. And I really feel like so
much of this is understandingourselves. And yes, serving our
customers and families, and alsohow we show up with each other
in our work. And another thing,I think that was timely for us
as an organization as we rolledout our agency values in June of
(18:17):
2021. And really being able to
utilize that same framework andprocess and approach with how we
operationalize our values andcontinue to do so we use a very
similar framework that workedand build on that success as we
were implementing the traumainformed work, and really just
(18:38):
getting
that, that shift in that lens,you know, for them to see that
how they show up can have, youknow, a lot of times being that
only support person for thestaff, and being able to, you
know, show up in that way forthem.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (18:54):
When do you if I may, I'd love to
comment on that. We had a verysimilar experience, we
redesigned our our mission, ourvision and our values to align
with those trauma informed careprinciples. So now our our
values are safety and trust,professionalism, empowerment,
and choice, continuousimprovement partnerships and
(19:14):
collaboration and belonging,which is very reflective of the
trauma informed care principles.And we use those new value
statements to create an employeeproposition statement. So now
our hook for new employees isbeing able to put your values in
action. And I think as a resultof that two years in a row,
(19:37):
we've been voted a bestworkplace by the Buffalo News.
So it has really impacted ourstaff in terms of their feeling
of,
of belonging, their feeling ofpurpose, and creating a
workplace that is really givesroom and space.
(20:00):
For people to do their best.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (20:03):
That is really saying something that you
were given that award two yearsin a row.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (20:10):
We're very proud of it. We it's I
don't know if you know how thatworks, but the Buffalo News does
a, an anonymous survey withemployees, various
organizations, and theydetermine whether or not you,
you meet the criteria to becomea best workplace. So we're,
(20:30):
we're quite proud of that. And Ibelieve that that's a result of
aligning these values withtrauma informed care principles.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (20:40):
I love that. Thank you, Tina, for
sharing that andcongratulations.
And I, you know, I think that'sinspiring. And I think that
we're in that place right now,we actually created a crosswalk
activity, and knowing and livingROI, where we connected our
agency values and behaviors tothe trauma informed guiding
(21:00):
values and principles. And wejust did that activity with our
culture committee, and hope tokind of expand that through the
agency discussions as part ofour next steps. And, you know,
again, looking at the behaviors,how we're showing up and really
being intentional in all aspectsof our work, but that so it's
kind of, you know, there's a lotof interconnectedness with all
(21:23):
of that, as you as you alludedto. Well, and I think that our
organizations have probablyshared a lot of these ideas
along the way and have learnedfrom one another. And it's been
great to have a siblingorganization that is on the same
path. And I think that, youknow, we can we can do that
across the state?
Unknown (21:43):
Absolutely.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (21:45):
Sometimes, when agencies talking about
trauma informed care, you know,it, it touches on all aspects of
the agency, right, physical,emotional, all of those. And
often I hear people referencesignage. And think for those of
us not involved in traumainformed care, we always, I
(22:07):
always have to stop and think,what would that look like? So
can you tell us a little bitabout what that looked like for
you?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (22:16):
Well, I'm almost a little embarrassed
to tell you the story. But whenwe began to really take an
objective view of what would itfeel like to walk into any of
our buildings as a customer? Oras a community member? What
would that feel like? And wewere noticing things like signs
(22:40):
that said, No smoking, right?Stop, put your cigarette out,
and, you know, no gathering onthe patio. So lots of negatives,
lots of nose, stops it that wasnot in any way welcoming to
(23:01):
folks. So we really had to puton a different pair of glasses
to see that these through adifferent lens and completely
eliminated those, those signs.You know, even some of we have
some residential facilitieswhere we have house rules, and
myths, so many of our houserules were written in the
(23:23):
negative,
don't do this, don't do that.And just reworking those
policies, rules, approaches in away that could be more positive
and affirming to folks was ahuge change.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (23:44):
Did you find similar? Wendy?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (23:47):
Yeah, that was funny. Thanks, Tina.
That's the reality of this andjust kind of shifting the lines.
And again, I think in alignmentwith our,
our agency values and behaviors,and the creating that sense of
belonging, you know, as part ofour values and representation,
you know, seeing and valuing thewhole person and providing
(24:10):
the resources. So when they'recoming in for even, maybe not
signage, but coming in to do ourpaperwork form and knowing that
we have multiple programs thatthey could potentially be
accessing, that they're notbeing asked to fill out multiple
intake forms, and repeatedlygetting asked the same
questions, because that's also away that we can be rearming and
having them retell their story.So I think similarly, yeah, the
(24:32):
absolutes, you know, I thinkjust kind of scanning through
our, you know, employee manualwith the trauma informed lens
and looking at those shoulds andwoods, you know, that the nevers
and always and the language, youknow, and, and kind of really
just being intentional aboutthat. So similar in terms of
that, that lens and approachand, you know, not just in our
(24:52):
main offices, but I think justexpanding that to all of our,
you know, our school and familyresource centers and our
different sites and reallyhaven't ever
Buddy kind of be a part of that.And through our pre
implementation, we went throughan emotional and physical safety
checklist with the traumainformed leadership team. And,
you know, as part of our nextkey development areas as we work
(25:13):
into them, that will besomething that will certainly
bring in, you know, customersand families and additional
staff, so I have theirperspective and their lens as
well. But yeah, we made a lot ofbuilding improvements, you know,
and take rooms, some outside,you know, exterior improvements,
some of those things, we had tokind of scale back during the
pandemic, you know, to, to makesure that we are ensuring
(25:34):
safety, so we're kind of slowlybringing them forward. And, you
know, and that, in itself hashas brought some a different
perspective, you know, lookingat it now, in hindsight,
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (25:45):
what have you learned so far?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (25:48):
So much?
Question. Yeah, I mean, it's agame changer, you know, I think
it's important to our culture,and developing a trauma informed
culture, it's an ongoingprocess. It's a journey. And the
biggest thing I, you know, Ithink learning is there's no
completion date, in our evolvingand
(26:10):
we've, we have a very dedicatedstaff, you know, I think, in
this work that helps, you know,for me to be able to help lead
the work having our traumainformed champion team, I think
that's something learning thatwe, this is a team effort, and,
and really, it takes all of us.And
one of the things that I recall,too, and Samantha sharing during
(26:31):
the training that really stoodout to me, related to our
workforce is it's hard to givewhat we don't receive. And so
the learning for us was reallyupfront, it's essential for our
supervisors, our managers, andour leadership, to really
understand and model this, youknow, so that our staff can show
up for the families andcustomers and each other, as we,
you know, move through the worldin this work in a trauma
(26:54):
informed way. And, you know,that's essentially why we really
learned very early on that wewanted to prioritize the
training our workforce.
And, you know, as Tina saidearly on, that the workforce is
hungry, I think they want tolearn more.
And that was, that was reallyinspiring. They're open to
understanding trauma, and theimpacts and all aspects of the
(27:16):
work. And, you know, for ustaking that value in their time,
and making sure that weunderstand that we really need
to be intentional and thoughtfulwith our approach, that we have
a demonstrated ongoingcommitment from, you know, the
board and administration.
And probably the biggestlearning and advice, even for
(27:38):
others is, you know, the wisdomfrom Sue and Samantha was that
we really took the heart.Because this is a lot, there's a
lot of information, there's alot of moving parts and
shifting, and we're gettingadditional information every
day, even, you know, within yourscience. And so really just
planning the work, work, and nothaving false starts. And one of
(27:59):
the things she said, because ifyou know, Maura, you know, she's
a driver, right, and, you know,and kind of like keeping things
and so just really us all kindof creating that space for each
other. And knowing that a slowpace is better than not doing
anything, you know, so we aretaking a slow, there are times
that I wish that we reallycould, you know, be further
along. And at the same time, we,you know, we have the competing
(28:21):
priorities of the day to day forstaff. And we really want to
have this be perceived as youknow, not another demand or
another to do list. But reallyrather a way that we show up,
just like our agency values andour behaviors and continue to
learn and evolve as we implementthe key development areas over
(28:43):
time.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (28:45):
When do you you really have expressed
a lot of our same learningtakeaways as being a part of a
trauma informed organization? Ithink we've we've learned that
trauma can be an individualexperience, or it can be a
cultural experience too. And,you know, we're working with
people who have experiencedpoverty and,
(29:10):
you know, indigenousdisplacement in our community
and so on. We've learned thatreally, anybody can benefit from
being aware of trauma or beingtrauma informed or trauma
sensitive. And that could be youknow, the mom and pop grocery
store or the you know, the knifecompany that that has 400
(29:33):
employees down the road. Becausebeing trauma informed also helps
to reduce absenteeism andincrease people's profits.
Believe it or not.
We've learned that traumainformed care is a process. It
is not a one time informationdump. It's not just bringing
(29:56):
folks in for training once ayear. It's not a certificate
program.
gram, right? It is a process.And I think that we've also
learned that we need lots moreresources, and funders to
understand and address trauma,to create resiliency for our
community. And whether that'slegislators, you know, New York
(30:19):
State funders, local funders, Ithink they're beginning to pay
attention. But that's definitelysomething that we've learned is
critical if we want to continuethis work.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (30:31):
And if both mentioned near science,
that is not something thateveryone is familiar with, can
you talk a little bit about thatand how it plays into being a
trauma informed careorganization.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (30:46):
Thank you to Niska, again, for having
the foresight, again, during thepandemic, to create a cohort of
trainers who worked with Dr. RobAnda, and Laura Porter, I
believe we now have 20 ishtrainers across New York State
(31:08):
that are associated withCommunity Action organizations.
And they present training intheir organizations and in their
communities
around near science, near standsfor neurobiology, epigenetics,
adverse childhood experiences,and resilience. So it's a
(31:30):
specific curriculum that thanksto the Department of State and
Niska, we have the capacity todeliver across the state now.
Thank you for explaining that
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (31:42):
out as an agency start this process.
Unknown (31:47):
Yeah.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (31:50):
You know, I, first off, I think
people shouldn't be intimidatedby the terminology.
Or, you know, the need toaddress these kind of elusive
implementation domains all atonce. I think we should be proud
that as I mentioned before, thatcommunity action has for decades
really embraced FamilyDevelopment and as use that
(32:12):
strengths based model of care.So the foundation is really
already there. I think you don'thave to serve victims or
survivors, you don't have tohave therapists to be serving a
traumatized population. And Ibelieve that poverty and
systemic racism in themselvesare trauma inducing. So I think
(32:33):
start by giving thought tothings like your space and your,
your processes that mighttrigger trauma in your
customers, or anyone, youremployees or others who enter
the building, create a workspacewhere trust and safety really
allow both employees andcustomers to feel seen and feel
(32:55):
heard. So I don't think it'srocket science, you can weave
this work
into what you're already doingas a community action agency.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (33:06):
While sad, and I think, you know, for
community action agencies beingyou know, very mission driven,
and a lot of our our missionstatements involving supporting
individuals and families as theybuild resilience, overcoming
adversity and prosper, you know,just understanding that
a lot of the families andindividuals that we work with,
(33:27):
are living in the crisis ofpoverty, which we know creates
the adverse experiences thatlead to trauma. So really, you
know, this isn't necessary, Ithink, in, as Tina said,
integrating as part of a cultureand weaving it in getting that
established a commitment earlyon from your board of directors,
you know, your admin andleadership and your management
(33:47):
team.
You know, and of course, theallocating time and resources
and funding. And, you know, forus, it was really beneficial,
working with the experts tolearn and complete the pre
implementation model. Because Ithink otherwise it can be, you
know, there's a lot of differentsources of information. And it
really just kind of helped usget grounded and anchored in the
(34:08):
work, understanding from the,you know, the foundational five
trauma
informed guiding values andprinciples. And really, just
like Tina said, like learningfrom each other, clearly,
there's been a partnership andlearning from each other, you
know, so just continuing tocreate that space and curiosity,
you know, asking questions,learning from others listening
(34:30):
to feedback, including from ourstaff, and really, you know,
bringing them along.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (34:36):
We've talked about some of the
benefits, but are there arethere other benefits that we
haven't talked about yet?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (34:44):
I think in our case,
because we've woven traumainformed care principles into
our values and into our employeevalue proposition and into the
way that we just the way that wetreat people on a daily basis.
It has definitely impacted ourability to recruit and retain
(35:06):
employees. I think that if youask folks who work here, most of
them will tell you that yourorganization has changed for the
better as a result of our focuson trauma and for unformed care
practices, and that we havebecome just more
(35:27):
employee focused, person focusedorganization
that tends to listen a littlebit more and
support people where they are. Ithink that
people really feel as thoughtheir opinions matter. They do
feel seen and heard. And so itjust makes for a much better
(35:52):
workplace. People enjoy comingto work here every day. And I
think that our customers wouldtell you the same thing. We
recently had a visit with anelected official. And he asked
that we bring in customers whohave experienced successes.
(36:12):
So we brought in folks from ourdomestic violence shelter, we
brought in dads from ourFatherhood Program, folks who
had been previously homeless.And, you know, they didn't talk
about a specific program thathelped them, they did not talk
about a specific process thatthey worked through what they
(36:33):
talked about, was feeling seenand feeling heard, that made a
huge difference for them. That'snice to hear.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (36:43):
You mentioned that oh, sorry. No, go
ahead. I think that very muchresonates, you know, kind of
just again, aligning with ouragency values, and, you know,
incorporating our employee valueproposition statement, to
reflect our values, and thefeedback from staff. So
absolutely, it's how we show up,you know, about the behaviors,
(37:03):
how we demonstrate it on a dailybasis, and creating that
culture, you know, andcertainly, you know, moving the
needle on that, and creatingthat safe space for our
employees, if they're feeling,you know, like Tina said, heard
and valued and seen and seeingthem being connected to this
work and understanding it more,is only going to make us
(37:24):
stronger as an organization.
You know, and also expandingthis to the other providers and
agencies, you know, so I thinkunderstanding sometimes, you
know, that we're doing that,until we have everybody kind of
connected with this word, theycould be coming from an
organization, you know, thatthey just experienced that, and
then, you know, so it's reallya,
(37:47):
it's definitely going to takesome collaboration with that in
it, and it doesn't, it doesn'thave to be like Tina said rocket
science, I think, just reallybeing able to work with Sue and
Samantha to help us connect toour and build on our existing
frameworks, that's really helpedus see the value in that and
using that to implement thiswork. And really promoting it,
(38:10):
as
you know, promoting it versusannouncing it was one of the
things that they said, so trulyseeing the value of the work,
how we show up the lenses weuse, you know, the behaviors we
demonstrate, and, you know,really looking at it as a way
that we can positively impactyou know, both our workforce and
our families and customers thatwe serve. And that really always
(38:32):
been front and center for us.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (38:34):
I know that Wendy has a couple of
times mentioned Samantha and Suefrom the University of Buffalo,
the Institute on trauma andtrauma informed care. If you go
to their website, there actuallyis an organizational change
manual that is available free ofcharge, you can request that it
will be sent to you there's nocost. So you can begin to work
(38:56):
through that on your ownactually, I mean, we have used
obviously, like ProAction, wehave used suon, Sam to come in
and actually do one on one orlarge group, we've had them do
the the trauma informedsupervision work with us as
well. But you don't have tostart there. You can start with
just looking at theorganizational change manual.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (39:20):
That's a great resource. Thank you.
Tina, you mentioned earlier asuccess story. And I'm wondering
if you can share that with us.And I would love to so this is a
story
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (39:34):
about really helping all of our
departments in a very diverseorganization. I'm sure like, all
the community action agencies,you know, have lots of different
kinds of services, lots ofdifferent expertise among your
employee population. So
but helping them reallyunderstand that they all play a
(39:56):
role in trauma informed caresour energy and
Housing Department was really, Ithink, struggling to understand
how they fit this traumainformed care model because they
saw themselves initially as notas caseworkers, or therapists,
counselors, but as serving unitsinstead of people. So we spent
(40:22):
some time taking a look at theircustomer satisfaction surveys.
And the vast majority of thosesurveys, our customers reported
that their residents in thoseunits being served, they really
loved the fact that they werebeing treated by our crews with
(40:43):
such respect and dignity. Andthat came through over and over
and over again, in thosesatisfaction surveys. It was
very clear that our crews madethem feel safe with, you know,
strangers in their home. Andthey came to trust our
employees. They felt like welistened to their concerns when
(41:06):
we walked in the door. Soorganically, trauma informed
practices were already happeningevery time our weatherization
crew walked in somebody's home.And so we spent some time just
talking with the departmentstaff about how they treat
people so kindly. And they hadthis, you know, this aha moment
(41:31):
about their role in a traumainformed organization. And I
believe that if you ask themnow, they would tell you that
they really fully embrace theconcept.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (41:43):
Thank you for sharing that. That is
great. Wendy, do you have asuccess story that you would
like to share? That wasbeautiful. Thank you, Tina, for
sharing that. You know, I thinkwe've had some similar in more
recently, as part of our nextsteps with the trauma informed
guiding values and principles,we actually had all of our
(42:05):
departments across theorganization, engage in
conversations at the team leveleach month at team meetings, to
really truly kind of connectagain, their role, what are they
already doing to reallyrecognize those, those things
that they're already embodyingand demonstrating. And then
also, just to kind of plant thatseed to think about, you know,
more intentional ways we canshow up better or do something
differently. And I was actuallypart of the senior nutrition and
(42:30):
our energy weatherization crewand these conversations, and I
think just again, giving themthat space, to have them have
the same opportunity, and forthem to really connect that with
their role. So I think that thatis definitely reinforces the
work and the investment in this,and it does take all of us, you
(42:50):
know, but I think from anoverarching the success for us
is just really not overthinkingit and using what's already
worked for us being able toconnect it to the work using
similar, you know, the valuesdiscussions we did as an
organization, we went throughthat we've done over 160 values,
discussions, where all of ourteam departments engaged in
conversations specific to ouragency values. So we use that
(43:14):
similar framework and did thesame thing at the team and
department level with the traumainformed guiding values and
principles and bringing newhires along, so that even though
they're starting now, andthey've maybe didn't take part
in those conversations, thatthey'll have that same
opportunity moving forward. Itmay look different, but they'll
have that same opportunity. Sojust really building on the
(43:36):
successes, and it's just, youknow, it's very energizing, and
but the investment in theappreciation and the gratitude
that I have that, you know, Iwork in an organization. You
know, I think, and I think thata lot of our employee and
workforce, you know, relate tothat as well.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (43:53):
Thanks, Wendy.
You mentioned resources, thefilm Tina, that kind of got this
started for you. And Wendy, youmentioned that and you've
mentioned
UB. So we're going to put linksto both of those in the
description of the podcast. Arethere? Is there a place that you
(44:14):
recommend people go to get someresources and start to learn
more?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (44:19):
Certainly the UB trauma informed care
website. There is a New YorkState does have a trauma
informed care network now. And Ican also provide that link for
you, Heidi. Thank you. SAMSA
has a lot of really greatresources on trauma informed
(44:40):
care, and implementation.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (44:43):
Wendy, I'm sure you have more. I've
already learned so much from youtoday, Wendy of things that I
want to do now. Yeah, definitelythe ones that you mentioned. You
know, I think one of the thingsthat we've also done in really
where we started with our agencyvalues
as they work around there tolead book clubs, but Brene
Brown, and that's somethingLaura and I have actually
(45:04):
facilitated, I think sevengroups now. So we have 80 or 85
staff that have gone throughthat all different levels. But
there are a lot of books andpodcasts and resources around
trauma or like I said, I thinkthere's just so much more
evolving, and people are really,you know, and I think whenever
Oprah does something, there'skind of that global movement
behind her and a lot of passionand understanding. So there
(45:28):
definitely are a lot ofresources. I know care compass
is another one that hasn't, youknow, invested some work around
this.
You know, we have our annualresilience symposiums, we
actually learned about Dr. TonyRomo from Tina. And he came last
year, and we're actuallybringing him back later this
month at our at our resiliencesymposium that we're holding, at
the end of May. So I thinkthere's definitely not a
(45:51):
shortage of resources, for sureon this topic.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (45:57):
We're gonna get ready to wrap up in a
couple minutes. But before wedo, do either of you have any
parting thoughts that you wouldlike to share with us?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (46:06):
Sure, I think that as much work as we
do within our own organizations,it's also really critical that
we bring in collaborativepartners into this process in
our communities. You know,really, it's about creating a
resilient community. Becauseeven though we might allow for
(46:30):
people being seen and beingheard that you know that that
doesn't happen everywhere. So Ithink that it's really important
that we spread this word toothers, I think we've been
successful in bringing in, forexample, folks who are nursing
students, or people who arelearning how to be physician's
assistants, we're working withSt. Bonaventure University,
(46:50):
Niagara University, and otherswho are in the health care
business. And I think thatthat's really critically
important. It's whether it'sschools, whether it's social
services, your locallegislators, I think that your
community is far better off, ifyou can have these conversations
with all of your partners andcommunity members, not just
(47:12):
within your own own ownorganizations.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (47:18):
I would agree with that I, you
know, I think the the communitylens, really kind of
building on what we're doing,and using those opportunities, I
think, I'm glad you mentionedschools, because we have some
schools that are coming in toour resilience symposium, but
we've also kind of expanded someof our staff development
opportunities and training, youknow, for our workforce to
(47:40):
include our community partners,you know, from poverty, one on
one, we, you know, we talkedabout in your science, we do
adult and youth mental health,first aid, Enough Abuse, we
continue to offer the resiliencefilm screenings and discussions
at least two times a year. We doour poverty simulations once a
year, and like I talked aboutour annual resilience symposium.
(48:01):
So I think just really buildingon a lot of that, and again,
kind of implementing it andintegrating it in what we're
doing. And I think that createsthat curiosity. You know, I had
calls yesterday from a smallerdepartment of social services
that heard they want to be moretrauma informed, and they heard
about Dr. Toma and they're goingto come to the resilience
symposium. So I think if we justcontinue to show up, and you
(48:24):
know, I think, again, even ifit's a slow process, as long as
we're doing something, don't getstuck, you know, jump in with
two feet. And, you know, thereare a lot of wonderful resources
and people that are doing thiswork, that we can learn from
each other.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (48:42):
You know, and Wendy, thank you so much for
joining us on Lights, CameraCommunity Action and sharing
your information and yourknowledge about trauma informed
care, and how to become a traumainformed care agency. We really
appreciate your time with us.And thank you again.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (49:00):
Thank you for having us. Thank you.
Hello, and welcome to Season Two of
Lights Camera Community Action,a podcast brought to you by The
New York State Community ActionAssociation, or NYSCAA for
short, where we talk withmembers of community action
agencies and other nonprofit andhuman service organizations
about the issues that affect thepeople we support. My name is
Heidi Barcomb, Program andCommunications Director for
(00:36):
NYSCAA. And I'll be your hosttoday. NYSCAA is the hub that
brings together the communityaction agencies in New York to
network share success storiesand challenges and strategize to
meet the needs of vulnerable NewYorkers. When it comes to
supporting people to move frompoverty to self sufficiency,
community action agencies knowwhat works.
In this episode, we'll betalking with two community
(00:59):
action agency leaders who havebeen influential in transforming
their agencies into traumainformed organizations. Please
welcome Tina Zerbian, the CEO ofConnecting Communities in
Action, and Wendy Robords,Director of Culture and
Workforce Development at ProAction of Steuben and Yates.
Welcome Wendy and Tina, pleasetake a minute to introduce yourselves.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (01:20):
Hi, Heidi. Hi, Wendy. I am Tina xRB.
And I'm the CEO with ConnectingCommunities in Action. We serve
Cattaraugus County, but wechanged her name a few years
back, because our services reachoutside of the county as well.
Glad to be here. Welcome.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (01:40):
Hi, Tina. Hi, Heidi. I am Wendy
Robards. And I'm the culturaland Workforce Development
Director here at ProAction,which covers both seven and
eight counties. And I've workedhere for about 24 and a half
years. And this is my firstpodcasts than happy to be here
and passionate about this topic.Well, we're so happy that this
(02:01):
is your first podcast. Thank youfor doing this for us. We want
to take some time today to talkabout what it means to be a
trauma informed agency. Can youexplain to us a little bit about
what that what that exactlymeans?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (02:15):
I think for me, acknowledging and
understanding people's lifeexperiences really helps us
interact with them moreeffectively and deliver better
care. So being trauma informedto me means that we assume that
everyone that we meet, whetherthat's our customers, our
(02:35):
partners, our employees orvolunteers may have experienced
trauma in their lives. And webegin to understand that things
like culture and ethnicity,gender, sexual orientation,
disabilities, may lead to somechronic stressors,
like social stigma anddiscrimination and oppression.
(02:59):
And that can all increase folkspsychological trauma. So trauma
informed care, in my opinion,promotes healing and avoids
retraumatization when weencounter folks.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (03:14):
I think that's our great, you
know, way to start us off, Tina,you know, I think for us with
the four R's, you know, throughSAMSA, that was kind of where we
got grounded in our definition.So the realizing that
individuals are more likely thannot to have a history of trauma
and all those things you'vementioned, you know, recognizing
that knowing the trauma symptomsand signs of that, and
acknowledging that the impactand role that trauma may play in
(03:38):
individuals lives, includingyour own workforce, and we look
at it from that lens. And thenjust responding through that.
And as you said, resisting theretraumatization.
You know, and I think for us,another way that we've explained
it is that we stop asking whatis wrong with this person and
begin asking what has happenedto this person, you know, or
(03:59):
thinking about what is it thatthey've survived or gone
through. And, you know, throughour work with Sue and Sam at the
Institute on trauma and traumainformed care, we understand
that providing services in atrauma informed way means that
we are aware and recognizing howwe show up and how that affects
people who have experiencedtrauma.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (04:21):
I have two questions that came
that came to mind with that. I'mwondering if you could tell me
what four R's are because I'mnot familiar with that phrase.
And I was really struck by yourcomment about stop asking what's
wrong with people? Can you justrepeat those two sentences
again?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (04:43):
Sure, the four R's. realizing their
prevalence that individuals aremore likely than not to have had
had a history of trauma. Andthen the second one is
recognizing the presence oftrauma, and the signs and
symptoms, responding byintegrating our knowledge
into trauma and light, and thatcan be related to policies,
procedures and practices. Andthen lastly, resist re
(05:05):
traumatizing.
As far as the we stop askingwhat is wrong with this person?
And I think I first heard thatstatement, it was a 60 minute
segment with Oprah and Dr. BrucePerry back in 2018, on the
impacts of trauma and childhood.And, you know, that was the
first time I think that I heardthat, and that in that way, and,
(05:29):
you know, really inspired us to,to really jump into this work.
And, you know, even to expand onit with with the work through
the Institute on trauma andtrauma informed care. They
describe it as a universalprecaution.
And so Tina, I see you shakingyour head, so that that
resonates. And, you know, whichagain, is assuming that most
(05:49):
individuals have experiencedthat and US unintentionally or
intentionally responding in waysto reduce that likelihood of
doing more harm or retraumatizing.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (06:01):
Thank you, Tina, recently, I heard you
talk with our Emerging LeadersInstitute, and you've shared
your story of your leadership.And one of the things you talked
about in that was how you cameto be a trauma informed care
agency. And I'm wondering if youcould share that part of your
story. In terms of the moviethat you saw, and what that led
(06:24):
for you.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (06:26):
I'm happy to I actually I give
credit to Nisca, actually,because I attended the annual
conference that was held inAlbany in 2018, and watched the
screening of the filmresilience, the biology of
stress and the science of hopeand in how I was hooked. From
(06:48):
that point forward, I think Iimmediately understood the role
that community action can playin building resilient
communities. And we actuallyended up changing our mission
statement to say that that'swhat we do. We build resilient
communities as a result ofhaving attended that particular
(07:08):
annual conference and watchingthat film.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (07:13):
So you watch that film, and then you
went back to CCA and said,
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (07:21):
so I think we did a lot of things
right away, in its since 2008.Teen, it has been a progression.
So we didn't do everything allat once. But the first things
that we did, we had fouremployees who became involved in
the trauma informed carechampions program that is
(07:44):
offered by the University ofBuffalo's Institute on trauma
and trauma informed care. Theywere part of a cohort that was
established by a local schoolsystem. When I came back from
Albany and started to organizewhat we now know as the TCAT, or
the trauma informed Coalitionfor Cattaraugus. County, that
(08:05):
school cohort joined us. And weended up growing to over 100
individuals and 40organizations. And we started
offering training opportunitiesboth in house for our employees
and within our community. Webuilt trauma informed care into
(08:26):
our orientation and onboardingpractices for our employees. We
started using an assessmentcalled the Arctic scale to gauge
the readiness of our staff andboard members. And also so that
we can evaluate our change overtime. And we established an
internal champions team that wasknown as respond. And we brought
(08:51):
UB Institute on trauma back fora deeper dive into what we call
the 10 implementation domains,with our organization and with
three other county departmentsthat included social services,
mental health and probation. Sothose were some of the things
(09:11):
the highlights that we did rightaway. That's a lot of work to
do. Right away. It was, but ithas made a significant
difference in our agency and Ithink for our customers and
certainly within our community.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (09:27):
Wendy, can you talk with us a little
bit about how ProAction came tobe a trauma informed care agency
and what that process lookedlike for you.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (09:38):
Sure at it, I think
our journey really started in2018 Around that time, when
again, you know kind ofmentioned the shift from what's
wrong with you to what happenedto you. And you know, I think
for us just being excited aboutthis becoming more mainstream,
getting some traction andinspired a lot of light bulbs
(09:59):
and a hot
moments for us. And I think formany of us in this in this work,
and we wanted to be a part ofthis culture shift and change,
so it was really timely, becausethat was really essentially when
we made that commitment as anorganization to start this
journey. And, you know, I think,
for many of our programs, youknow, we have had, we had
(10:20):
learned about the ACEs study andtrauma informed approaches, with
Judy Nordstrom back in 2006,through the top a Institute with
our training, parentingeducation, certification, and
implemented the practices forseveral years, but truly made
that agency wide commitment. Soa lot of the, you know, similar
actions that Tina,
(10:40):
referred to we had theresilience film at our all staff
day, you know, essentiallygained our commitment from our
board of directors implementedthat as part of our vision
statement for this work, alsobecame familiar with Sam says 10
domains, and really focused onfive of those in 2018, and 2019.
(11:01):
And we implemented a lot ofpositive changes out of similar
to what that Tina had sharedabout new employee orientation,
and, you know, the policy andprocedure manual, and kind of
looking at it from that lens,and then the pandemic hit in
2020. And no, I think for a lotof us, obviously, that pandemic
required us to kind of shift ourattention and priorities
(11:23):
in March 2020, it did help usthrough that. And you know,
really, I think fast forwardinga couple of years, we've really
just reset our focus and beganworking directly with the
Institute on trauma and traumainformed care.
With Sue Greene and Samanthaquarry at, you know, the
University of Buffalo. And wehad a smaller, trauma informed
(11:45):
leadership team, we collaboratedvery closely with Sue and Sam,
and really went through the preimplementation process and
planning for all of those 10 keydevelopment areas. And after we
did the pre implementation plan,we really just had to prioritize
and focus on what keydevelopment areas we wanted to
focus on. And since that time,our focus has really been around
(12:08):
the leading and communicatingand training our workforce.
You know, in some of thoseactions and steps we've taken is
our trauma informed leadershiptraining, we had our culture
Committee, which we're kind ofdefining as our trauma informed
champions, and all of oursupervisors completed the trauma
informed leadership training. Wehad 40 supervisors that
(12:30):
participated in the traumainformed supervision training,
we really kind of went throughour employee satisfaction with a
trauma informed lens to ensurethat we were really asking the
right questions and linking tothose five trauma informed
guiding values and principles.And using that data to kind of
help tailor and guide us interms of the training and the
(12:52):
next steps.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (12:54):
Did you find did you both find that
staff and community and boardwere eager and bored? Or did you
find any resistance with this?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (13:10):
In our case, I think that a number
of our employees were reallyhungry for something that would
help them
really relate to customers andsee better success with
customers. I think that we havea number of folks that are
therapists that were alreadythinking about trauma informed
(13:32):
approaches to theirinteractions.
Some other folks were a littlebit more resistant and didn't
understand how maybe their roles
dovetailed with trauma informedcare, philosophies and
practices. But I think thebottom line was that community
(13:55):
action agencies for decades,have been focused on taking a
strengths based approach withour customers, rather than
focusing on what's wrong withcustomers. Family Development
was strengths based. So comingback to our roots, and really
understanding that identifyingpeople's strengths and, you
(14:16):
know, working to understandtheir trauma and not re
traumatize them was a hook formost folks that that were
engaged with us. And I alsothink that you can do some very
visible, obvious changes thateverybody really enjoys and
(14:39):
takes pride in, like taking alook at our signage and taking a
look at the way that our waitingroom looks and our lighting and
sort of that you know, thesafety that people feel or don't
feel when they walk into yourbuildings or waiting rooms and
so making those kinds of changesI think made everybody feel
better, knowing that
(15:00):
At, they were proud of a placethat they could come to work
every day. So some of theresistance and
perhaps in a bit, I can tell youa story about working with our
weatherization, folks, and thesuccess that came out of those
conversations, because I thinkthat that was a disconnect at
(15:20):
first, but we overcame that. Noteverybody in the org in the
community is 100%. On board. Ithink that there's still some
resistance with someorganizations, and we just
continue to work on educationand talking about the answer to
(15:43):
what's in it for me, why would abusiness? Why would a
corporation Why would a schoolwant to implement trauma
informed care? And I think that
answering that question, what'sin it for me, helps them come
along in that process?
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (16:02):
When did you do have a similar
experience?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (16:06):
Yeah, I think so i The Hungry, really
resonated, because I do thinkthat we have a lot of staff, but
being in community actionagencies, you know, we have very
diverse staff at all differentlevels of, of, you know, formal
education around this livedexperience and knowledge. So I
think it's, again, kind ofmeeting people where they're at.
And, you know, Tina, I'm gladyou brought up the family
(16:26):
development, because I think,you know, the shift of No,
instead of what's wrong, youknow, it's what happened, but
also what's strong, you know,and getting, you know, my
foundation here as it was withinfamily development. And, you
know, I think from a timingstandpoint, again, with the
pandemic, you know, kind oftalking about the universal
precaution, there was somethingthat Sue and Sam really, it
(16:48):
resonated is, you know, evenunderstanding that, you know,
while we aren't providing traumaspecific services, you know, or
therapy, we have the opportunityto neutralize our work
environment and our serviceenvironments, and where we show
up. And now having gone throughthe pandemic, and really rolling
this out, you know, in 2020, to
(17:09):
thinking about the universalprecautions of putting the mask
or gloves on, you know, just incase, you know, versus a walking
around and asking people if theyhad COVID. So similarly, with
this, you know, that reallyresonated, because the trauma
informed approach is us allputting on our metaphorical PPE,
you know, our masks and ourgloves, and really being
intentional with the way werespond. And part of kind of how
(17:32):
we bring the workforce along isjust having conversations
around the find five, traumainformed guiding values and
principles, and helping themreally see how they're already
doing a lot of this work, andhow you know, and then really
exploring what else is possible,and what could we do
differently, so that they takethat pride and they take, you
(17:54):
know, that,
that wanting more and to learnmore. And I really feel like so
much of this is understandingourselves. And yes, serving our
customers and families, and alsohow we show up with each other
in our work. And another thing,I think that was timely for us
as an organization as we rolledout our agency values in June of
(18:17):
2021. And really being able to
utilize that same framework andprocess and approach with how we
operationalize our values andcontinue to do so we use a very
similar framework that workedand build on that success as we
were implementing the traumainformed work, and really just
(18:38):
getting
that, that shift in that lens,you know, for them to see that
how they show up can have, youknow, a lot of times being that
only support person for thestaff, and being able to, you
know, show up in that way forthem.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (18:54):
When do you if I may, I'd love to
comment on that. We had a verysimilar experience, we
redesigned our our mission, ourvision and our values to align
with those trauma informed careprinciples. So now our our
values are safety and trust,professionalism, empowerment,
and choice, continuousimprovement partnerships and
(19:14):
collaboration and belonging,which is very reflective of the
trauma informed care principles.And we use those new value
statements to create an employeeproposition statement. So now
our hook for new employees isbeing able to put your values in
action. And I think as a resultof that two years in a row,
(19:37):
we've been voted a bestworkplace by the Buffalo News.
So it has really impacted ourstaff in terms of their feeling
of,
of belonging, their feeling ofpurpose, and creating a
workplace that is really givesroom and space.
(20:00):
For people to do their best.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (20:03):
That is really saying something that you
were given that award two yearsin a row.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (20:10):
We're very proud of it. We it's I
don't know if you know how thatworks, but the Buffalo News does
a, an anonymous survey withemployees, various
organizations, and theydetermine whether or not you,
you meet the criteria to becomea best workplace. So we're,
(20:30):
we're quite proud of that. And Ibelieve that that's a result of
aligning these values withtrauma informed care principles.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (20:40):
I love that. Thank you, Tina, for
sharing that andcongratulations.
And I, you know, I think that'sinspiring. And I think that
we're in that place right now,we actually created a crosswalk
activity, and knowing and livingROI, where we connected our
agency values and behaviors tothe trauma informed guiding
(21:00):
values and principles. And wejust did that activity with our
culture committee, and hope tokind of expand that through the
agency discussions as part ofour next steps. And, you know,
again, looking at the behaviors,how we're showing up and really
being intentional in all aspectsof our work, but that so it's
kind of, you know, there's a lotof interconnectedness with all
(21:23):
of that, as you as you alludedto. Well, and I think that our
organizations have probablyshared a lot of these ideas
along the way and have learnedfrom one another. And it's been
great to have a siblingorganization that is on the same
path. And I think that, youknow, we can we can do that
across the state?
Unknown (21:43):
Absolutely.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (21:45):
Sometimes, when agencies talking about
trauma informed care, you know,it, it touches on all aspects of
the agency, right, physical,emotional, all of those. And
often I hear people referencesignage. And think for those of
us not involved in traumainformed care, we always, I
(22:07):
always have to stop and think,what would that look like? So
can you tell us a little bitabout what that looked like for
you?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (22:16):
Well, I'm almost a little embarrassed
to tell you the story. But whenwe began to really take an
objective view of what would itfeel like to walk into any of
our buildings as a customer? Oras a community member? What
would that feel like? And wewere noticing things like signs
(22:40):
that said, No smoking, right?Stop, put your cigarette out,
and, you know, no gathering onthe patio. So lots of negatives,
lots of nose, stops it that wasnot in any way welcoming to
(23:01):
folks. So we really had to puton a different pair of glasses
to see that these through adifferent lens and completely
eliminated those, those signs.You know, even some of we have
some residential facilitieswhere we have house rules, and
myths, so many of our houserules were written in the
(23:23):
negative,
don't do this, don't do that.And just reworking those
policies, rules, approaches in away that could be more positive
and affirming to folks was ahuge change.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (23:44):
Did you find similar? Wendy?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (23:47):
Yeah, that was funny. Thanks, Tina.
That's the reality of this andjust kind of shifting the lines.
And again, I think in alignmentwith our,
our agency values and behaviors,and the creating that sense of
belonging, you know, as part ofour values and representation,
you know, seeing and valuing thewhole person and providing
(24:10):
the resources. So when they'recoming in for even, maybe not
signage, but coming in to do ourpaperwork form and knowing that
we have multiple programs thatthey could potentially be
accessing, that they're notbeing asked to fill out multiple
intake forms, and repeatedlygetting asked the same
questions, because that's also away that we can be rearming and
having them retell their story.So I think similarly, yeah, the
(24:32):
absolutes, you know, I thinkjust kind of scanning through
our, you know, employee manualwith the trauma informed lens
and looking at those shoulds andwoods, you know, that the nevers
and always and the language, youknow, and, and kind of really
just being intentional aboutthat. So similar in terms of
that, that lens and approachand, you know, not just in our
(24:52):
main offices, but I think justexpanding that to all of our,
you know, our school and familyresource centers and our
different sites and reallyhaven't ever
Buddy kind of be a part of that.And through our pre
implementation, we went throughan emotional and physical safety
checklist with the traumainformed leadership team. And,
you know, as part of our nextkey development areas as we work
(25:13):
into them, that will besomething that will certainly
bring in, you know, customersand families and additional
staff, so I have theirperspective and their lens as
well. But yeah, we made a lot ofbuilding improvements, you know,
and take rooms, some outside,you know, exterior improvements,
some of those things, we had tokind of scale back during the
pandemic, you know, to, to makesure that we are ensuring
(25:34):
safety, so we're kind of slowlybringing them forward. And, you
know, and that, in itself hashas brought some a different
perspective, you know, lookingat it now, in hindsight,
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (25:45):
what have you learned so far?
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (25:48):
So much?
Question. Yeah, I mean, it's agame changer, you know, I think
it's important to our culture,and developing a trauma informed
culture, it's an ongoingprocess. It's a journey. And the
biggest thing I, you know, Ithink learning is there's no
completion date, in our evolvingand
(26:10):
we've, we have a very dedicatedstaff, you know, I think, in
this work that helps, you know,for me to be able to help lead
the work having our traumainformed champion team, I think
that's something learning thatwe, this is a team effort, and,
and really, it takes all of us.And
one of the things that I recall,too, and Samantha sharing during
(26:31):
the training that really stoodout to me, related to our
workforce is it's hard to givewhat we don't receive. And so
the learning for us was reallyupfront, it's essential for our
supervisors, our managers, andour leadership, to really
understand and model this, youknow, so that our staff can show
up for the families andcustomers and each other, as we,
you know, move through the worldin this work in a trauma
(26:54):
informed way. And, you know,that's essentially why we really
learned very early on that wewanted to prioritize the
training our workforce.
And, you know, as Tina saidearly on, that the workforce is
hungry, I think they want tolearn more.
And that was, that was reallyinspiring. They're open to
understanding trauma, and theimpacts and all aspects of the
(27:16):
work. And, you know, for ustaking that value in their time,
and making sure that weunderstand that we really need
to be intentional and thoughtfulwith our approach, that we have
a demonstrated ongoingcommitment from, you know, the
board and administration.
And probably the biggestlearning and advice, even for
(27:38):
others is, you know, the wisdomfrom Sue and Samantha was that
we really took the heart.Because this is a lot, there's a
lot of information, there's alot of moving parts and
shifting, and we're gettingadditional information every
day, even, you know, within yourscience. And so really just
planning the work, work, and nothaving false starts. And one of
(27:59):
the things she said, because ifyou know, Maura, you know, she's
a driver, right, and, you know,and kind of like keeping things
and so just really us all kindof creating that space for each
other. And knowing that a slowpace is better than not doing
anything, you know, so we aretaking a slow, there are times
that I wish that we reallycould, you know, be further
along. And at the same time, we,you know, we have the competing
(28:21):
priorities of the day to day forstaff. And we really want to
have this be perceived as youknow, not another demand or
another to do list. But reallyrather a way that we show up,
just like our agency values andour behaviors and continue to
learn and evolve as we implementthe key development areas over
(28:43):
time.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (28:45):
When do you you really have expressed
a lot of our same learningtakeaways as being a part of a
trauma informed organization? Ithink we've we've learned that
trauma can be an individualexperience, or it can be a
cultural experience too. And,you know, we're working with
people who have experiencedpoverty and,
(29:10):
you know, indigenousdisplacement in our community
and so on. We've learned thatreally, anybody can benefit from
being aware of trauma or beingtrauma informed or trauma
sensitive. And that could be youknow, the mom and pop grocery
store or the you know, the knifecompany that that has 400
(29:33):
employees down the road. Becausebeing trauma informed also helps
to reduce absenteeism andincrease people's profits.
Believe it or not.
We've learned that traumainformed care is a process. It
is not a one time informationdump. It's not just bringing
(29:56):
folks in for training once ayear. It's not a certificate
program.
gram, right? It is a process.And I think that we've also
learned that we need lots moreresources, and funders to
understand and address trauma,to create resiliency for our
community. And whether that'slegislators, you know, New York
(30:19):
State funders, local funders, Ithink they're beginning to pay
attention. But that's definitelysomething that we've learned is
critical if we want to continuethis work.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (30:31):
And if both mentioned near science,
that is not something thateveryone is familiar with, can
you talk a little bit about thatand how it plays into being a
trauma informed careorganization.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (30:46):
Thank you to Niska, again, for having
the foresight, again, during thepandemic, to create a cohort of
trainers who worked with Dr. RobAnda, and Laura Porter, I
believe we now have 20 ishtrainers across New York State
(31:08):
that are associated withCommunity Action organizations.
And they present training intheir organizations and in their
communities
around near science, near standsfor neurobiology, epigenetics,
adverse childhood experiences,and resilience. So it's a
(31:30):
specific curriculum that thanksto the Department of State and
Niska, we have the capacity todeliver across the state now.
Thank you for explaining that
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (31:42):
out as an agency start this process.
Unknown (31:47):
Yeah.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (31:50):
You know, I, first off, I think
people shouldn't be intimidatedby the terminology.
Or, you know, the need toaddress these kind of elusive
implementation domains all atonce. I think we should be proud
that as I mentioned before, thatcommunity action has for decades
really embraced FamilyDevelopment and as use that
(32:12):
strengths based model of care.So the foundation is really
already there. I think you don'thave to serve victims or
survivors, you don't have tohave therapists to be serving a
traumatized population. And Ibelieve that poverty and
systemic racism in themselvesare trauma inducing. So I think
(32:33):
start by giving thought tothings like your space and your,
your processes that mighttrigger trauma in your
customers, or anyone, youremployees or others who enter
the building, create a workspacewhere trust and safety really
allow both employees andcustomers to feel seen and feel
(32:55):
heard. So I don't think it'srocket science, you can weave
this work
into what you're already doingas a community action agency.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (33:06):
While sad, and I think, you know, for
community action agencies beingyou know, very mission driven,
and a lot of our our missionstatements involving supporting
individuals and families as theybuild resilience, overcoming
adversity and prosper, you know,just understanding that
a lot of the families andindividuals that we work with,
(33:27):
are living in the crisis ofpoverty, which we know creates
the adverse experiences thatlead to trauma. So really, you
know, this isn't necessary, Ithink, in, as Tina said,
integrating as part of a cultureand weaving it in getting that
established a commitment earlyon from your board of directors,
you know, your admin andleadership and your management
(33:47):
team.
You know, and of course, theallocating time and resources
and funding. And, you know, forus, it was really beneficial,
working with the experts tolearn and complete the pre
implementation model. Because Ithink otherwise it can be, you
know, there's a lot of differentsources of information. And it
really just kind of helped usget grounded and anchored in the
(34:08):
work, understanding from the,you know, the foundational five
trauma
informed guiding values andprinciples. And really, just
like Tina said, like learningfrom each other, clearly,
there's been a partnership andlearning from each other, you
know, so just continuing tocreate that space and curiosity,
you know, asking questions,learning from others listening
(34:30):
to feedback, including from ourstaff, and really, you know,
bringing them along.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (34:36):
We've talked about some of the
benefits, but are there arethere other benefits that we
haven't talked about yet?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (34:44):
I think in our case,
because we've woven traumainformed care principles into
our values and into our employeevalue proposition and into the
way that we just the way that wetreat people on a daily basis.
It has definitely impacted ourability to recruit and retain
(35:06):
employees. I think that if youask folks who work here, most of
them will tell you that yourorganization has changed for the
better as a result of our focuson trauma and for unformed care
practices, and that we havebecome just more
(35:27):
employee focused, person focusedorganization
that tends to listen a littlebit more and
support people where they are. Ithink that
people really feel as thoughtheir opinions matter. They do
feel seen and heard. And so itjust makes for a much better
(35:52):
workplace. People enjoy comingto work here every day. And I
think that our customers wouldtell you the same thing. We
recently had a visit with anelected official. And he asked
that we bring in customers whohave experienced successes.
(36:12):
So we brought in folks from ourdomestic violence shelter, we
brought in dads from ourFatherhood Program, folks who
had been previously homeless.And, you know, they didn't talk
about a specific program thathelped them, they did not talk
about a specific process thatthey worked through what they
(36:33):
talked about, was feeling seenand feeling heard, that made a
huge difference for them. That'snice to hear.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (36:43):
You mentioned that oh, sorry. No, go
ahead. I think that very muchresonates, you know, kind of
just again, aligning with ouragency values, and, you know,
incorporating our employee valueproposition statement, to
reflect our values, and thefeedback from staff. So
absolutely, it's how we show up,you know, about the behaviors,
(37:03):
how we demonstrate it on a dailybasis, and creating that
culture, you know, andcertainly, you know, moving the
needle on that, and creatingthat safe space for our
employees, if they're feeling,you know, like Tina said, heard
and valued and seen and seeingthem being connected to this
work and understanding it more,is only going to make us
(37:24):
stronger as an organization.
You know, and also expandingthis to the other providers and
agencies, you know, so I thinkunderstanding sometimes, you
know, that we're doing that,until we have everybody kind of
connected with this word, theycould be coming from an
organization, you know, thatthey just experienced that, and
then, you know, so it's reallya,
(37:47):
it's definitely going to takesome collaboration with that in
it, and it doesn't, it doesn'thave to be like Tina said rocket
science, I think, just reallybeing able to work with Sue and
Samantha to help us connect toour and build on our existing
frameworks, that's really helpedus see the value in that and
using that to implement thiswork. And really promoting it,
(38:10):
as
you know, promoting it versusannouncing it was one of the
things that they said, so trulyseeing the value of the work,
how we show up the lenses weuse, you know, the behaviors we
demonstrate, and, you know,really looking at it as a way
that we can positively impactyou know, both our workforce and
our families and customers thatwe serve. And that really always
(38:32):
been front and center for us.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (38:34):
I know that Wendy has a couple of
times mentioned Samantha and Suefrom the University of Buffalo,
the Institute on trauma andtrauma informed care. If you go
to their website, there actuallyis an organizational change
manual that is available free ofcharge, you can request that it
will be sent to you there's nocost. So you can begin to work
(38:56):
through that on your ownactually, I mean, we have used
obviously, like ProAction, wehave used suon, Sam to come in
and actually do one on one orlarge group, we've had them do
the the trauma informedsupervision work with us as
well. But you don't have tostart there. You can start with
just looking at theorganizational change manual.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (39:20):
That's a great resource. Thank you.
Tina, you mentioned earlier asuccess story. And I'm wondering
if you can share that with us.And I would love to so this is a
story
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (39:34):
about really helping all of our
departments in a very diverseorganization. I'm sure like, all
the community action agencies,you know, have lots of different
kinds of services, lots ofdifferent expertise among your
employee population. So
but helping them reallyunderstand that they all play a
(39:56):
role in trauma informed caresour energy and
Housing Department was really, Ithink, struggling to understand
how they fit this traumainformed care model because they
saw themselves initially as notas caseworkers, or therapists,
counselors, but as serving unitsinstead of people. So we spent
(40:22):
some time taking a look at theircustomer satisfaction surveys.
And the vast majority of thosesurveys, our customers reported
that their residents in thoseunits being served, they really
loved the fact that they werebeing treated by our crews with
(40:43):
such respect and dignity. Andthat came through over and over
and over again, in thosesatisfaction surveys. It was
very clear that our crews madethem feel safe with, you know,
strangers in their home. Andthey came to trust our
employees. They felt like welistened to their concerns when
(41:06):
we walked in the door. Soorganically, trauma informed
practices were already happeningevery time our weatherization
crew walked in somebody's home.And so we spent some time just
talking with the departmentstaff about how they treat
people so kindly. And they hadthis, you know, this aha moment
(41:31):
about their role in a traumainformed organization. And I
believe that if you ask themnow, they would tell you that
they really fully embrace theconcept.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (41:43):
Thank you for sharing that. That is
great. Wendy, do you have asuccess story that you would
like to share? That wasbeautiful. Thank you, Tina, for
sharing that. You know, I thinkwe've had some similar in more
recently, as part of our nextsteps with the trauma informed
guiding values and principles,we actually had all of our
(42:05):
departments across theorganization, engage in
conversations at the team leveleach month at team meetings, to
really truly kind of connectagain, their role, what are they
already doing to reallyrecognize those, those things
that they're already embodyingand demonstrating. And then
also, just to kind of plant thatseed to think about, you know,
more intentional ways we canshow up better or do something
differently. And I was actuallypart of the senior nutrition and
(42:30):
our energy weatherization crewand these conversations, and I
think just again, giving themthat space, to have them have
the same opportunity, and forthem to really connect that with
their role. So I think that thatis definitely reinforces the
work and the investment in this,and it does take all of us, you
(42:50):
know, but I think from anoverarching the success for us
is just really not overthinkingit and using what's already
worked for us being able toconnect it to the work using
similar, you know, the valuesdiscussions we did as an
organization, we went throughthat we've done over 160 values,
discussions, where all of ourteam departments engaged in
conversations specific to ouragency values. So we use that
(43:14):
similar framework and did thesame thing at the team and
department level with the traumainformed guiding values and
principles and bringing newhires along, so that even though
they're starting now, andthey've maybe didn't take part
in those conversations, thatthey'll have that same
opportunity moving forward. Itmay look different, but they'll
have that same opportunity. Sojust really building on the
(43:36):
successes, and it's just, youknow, it's very energizing, and
but the investment in theappreciation and the gratitude
that I have that, you know, Iwork in an organization. You
know, I think, and I think thata lot of our employee and
workforce, you know, relate tothat as well.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (43:53):
Thanks, Wendy.
You mentioned resources, thefilm Tina, that kind of got this
started for you. And Wendy, youmentioned that and you've
mentioned
UB. So we're going to put linksto both of those in the
description of the podcast. Arethere? Is there a place that you
(44:14):
recommend people go to get someresources and start to learn
more?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (44:19):
Certainly the UB trauma informed care
website. There is a New YorkState does have a trauma
informed care network now. And Ican also provide that link for
you, Heidi. Thank you. SAMSA
has a lot of really greatresources on trauma informed
(44:40):
care, and implementation.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (44:43):
Wendy, I'm sure you have more. I've
already learned so much from youtoday, Wendy of things that I
want to do now. Yeah, definitelythe ones that you mentioned. You
know, I think one of the thingsthat we've also done in really
where we started with our agencyvalues
as they work around there tolead book clubs, but Brene
Brown, and that's somethingLaura and I have actually
(45:04):
facilitated, I think sevengroups now. So we have 80 or 85
staff that have gone throughthat all different levels. But
there are a lot of books andpodcasts and resources around
trauma or like I said, I thinkthere's just so much more
evolving, and people are really,you know, and I think whenever
Oprah does something, there'skind of that global movement
behind her and a lot of passionand understanding. So there
(45:28):
definitely are a lot ofresources. I know care compass
is another one that hasn't, youknow, invested some work around
this.
You know, we have our annualresilience symposiums, we
actually learned about Dr. TonyRomo from Tina. And he came last
year, and we're actuallybringing him back later this
month at our at our resiliencesymposium that we're holding, at
the end of May. So I thinkthere's definitely not a
(45:51):
shortage of resources, for sureon this topic.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (45:57):
We're gonna get ready to wrap up in a
couple minutes. But before wedo, do either of you have any
parting thoughts that you wouldlike to share with us?
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (46:06):
Sure, I think that as much work as we
do within our own organizations,it's also really critical that
we bring in collaborativepartners into this process in
our communities. You know,really, it's about creating a
resilient community. Becauseeven though we might allow for
(46:30):
people being seen and beingheard that you know that that
doesn't happen everywhere. So Ithink that it's really important
that we spread this word toothers, I think we've been
successful in bringing in, forexample, folks who are nursing
students, or people who arelearning how to be physician's
assistants, we're working withSt. Bonaventure University,
(46:50):
Niagara University, and otherswho are in the health care
business. And I think thatthat's really critically
important. It's whether it'sschools, whether it's social
services, your locallegislators, I think that your
community is far better off, ifyou can have these conversations
with all of your partners andcommunity members, not just
(47:12):
within your own own ownorganizations.
Wendy Robards, Pro Action of Steuben and Yates (47:18):
I would agree with that I, you
know, I think the the communitylens, really kind of
building on what we're doing,and using those opportunities, I
think, I'm glad you mentionedschools, because we have some
schools that are coming in toour resilience symposium, but
we've also kind of expanded someof our staff development
opportunities and training, youknow, for our workforce to
(47:40):
include our community partners,you know, from poverty, one on
one, we, you know, we talkedabout in your science, we do
adult and youth mental health,first aid, Enough Abuse, we
continue to offer the resiliencefilm screenings and discussions
at least two times a year. We doour poverty simulations once a
year, and like I talked aboutour annual resilience symposium.
(48:01):
So I think just really buildingon a lot of that, and again,
kind of implementing it andintegrating it in what we're
doing. And I think that createsthat curiosity. You know, I had
calls yesterday from a smallerdepartment of social services
that heard they want to be moretrauma informed, and they heard
about Dr. Toma and they're goingto come to the resilience
symposium. So I think if we justcontinue to show up, and you
(48:24):
know, I think, again, even ifit's a slow process, as long as
we're doing something, don't getstuck, you know, jump in with
two feet. And, you know, thereare a lot of wonderful resources
and people that are doing thiswork, that we can learn from
each other.
Heidi Barcomb, NYSCAA (48:42):
You know, and Wendy, thank you so much for
joining us on Lights, CameraCommunity Action and sharing
your information and yourknowledge about trauma informed
care, and how to become a traumainformed care agency. We really
appreciate your time with us.And thank you again.
Tina Zerbian, Connecting Communities in Action (49:00):
Thank you for having us. Thank you.
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