I've been a member here for what seems like a very long time, but this is my first post. I want to start with a quick introduction to myself.
I came to the work of trauma informed care and ACEs almost by accident. I had never even heard of this branch of psychology, although I had been working in it even before I was a licensed practitioner. I have long worked with people on the down side of power, especially children. When I went to my first formal presentation about trauma, I suddenly realized that most of those children I had worked with had survived a variety of different kinds of trauma.
But let me back up a bit. I was working outside of Boston in my internship when a colleague brought up a postdoctoral program at the University of California San Francisco working with kids. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to live in California, and dithered about it a bit. That colleague went another step farther and offered to help me with my cover letter, and I agreed. I decided to go for the interview when it was offered, thinking it would be a nice 3 day vacation to California. But once I arrived in San Francisco and met the good people at Child and Adolescent Services, I knew this was where I wanted to be.
The postdoc process is very competitive, and when I called to check on my ranking with UCSF, I was told that I had been their second choice. As it turns out, the person they initially offered it to had not responded by the time I called, and so they offered it to me. I became a new therapist and consultant with Healthy Environments And Response to Trauma in Schools (HEARTS).
While my arrival was nearly accidental, my continued work in this area is completely intentional. I had the good fortune to have the colleague who helped me out, the wonderful teachers I had that year (Joyce Dorado, Lynn Dolce, Patricia Van Horn, Elida Bautista, Caren Schmidt, and Laura McArthur), and the fabulous opportunity to be embedded in a school (El Dorado Elementary), and I worked hard to stay a part of both teams, despite the fact that the position was only funded for one year. I was able to stay on at El Dorado a second year (one we like to call the Golden Year) and then managed to keep working with and learning from Joyce ever since.
I'm pleased to be here, part of this larger community who are attending to trauma and ACEs. I am glad there are resources available to all of us and hope I can be helpful to someone along the way. Nice to meet you!
Comments (5)