Hearts of gratitude! Cooperative of Communities members shared hearts on the July member call to show gratitude to guest speaker Elaine Miller-Karas, whose non-profit, the Trauma Resource Institute, is a member of the Coop, and a young man identified as "Z", who uses the co-regulation model Miller-Karas co-created to help people in traumatic situations -- and with every-day stresses -- be able to work with the central nervous system and body to re-regulate. Tools taught in Community Resiliency Model, or CRM trainings, help people come out of flight-fight-freeze "Zone" and become able to access the "thinking and learning brain" Using skills CRM skills, people in traumatic situations such as war and natural disasters are less likely to let one disaster lead to emotional, reactive decisions as opposed to choices made from a regulated, state in which the prefrontal cortex, or thinking brain, can be accessed.
Though their names may not be well known outside of our resiliency-focused communities, or outside of their following at high school, Elaine Miller-Karas, co-creator of the Community Resiliency Model, (CRM), and “Z”’ a sophomore at a North Carolina high school, have followers in their own right.
Miller-Karas, who created the six wellness tools used in her training on the biology and neurophysiology of trauma, stress, and resilience, has a world-wide following. She even sat alongside the Dalai Lama when, four years ago, he brought to India members of the Emory University group that created a Social, Emotional, Ethical (SEE) Learning program that includes CRM in the curriculum.
“We were thrilled to have Elaine join us,” said Carey Sipp, PACEs Connection director of strategic partnerships.
“The model is used worldwide to help people in trauma reset and stabilize the nervous system. For years, Elaine would just pack up and go to sites of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, refugee camps and wars to teach the model to hurting people. Now there are thousands of people trained in CRM worldwide, and she will start, with her vast network, trainings on Zoom with community leaders, and be joined by local people who know the skills and translate the call into the nation’s language,” said Sipp.
“This has been the case in Ukraine, where a local group that had been working with the Elaine's nonprofit, the Trauma Resource Institute, prior to the war. Elaine, some of her trainers in the U.S., and people in Ukraine started online trainings within days of the war starting in February, 2022,” Sipp added.
CRM has been used to help the seven North Carolina members of the Cooperative of Communities grow and support their members. Community leaders talking about how it has contributed to a program, funded by Healthy Blue of North Carolina, to help foster care workers, families, and children, made for an emotional and lively meeting in July.
Members, including several from among the nine California communities who recently joined the Coop, were interested to hear from their cross-country counterparts about the model.
They seemed particularly keen to hear from high school sophomore “Z”, a former foster care child who has benefitted from learning CRM skills from his former foster, now adoptive, mom.
“I’ve used CRM at home so much that “Z” is the go-to friend at school when friends need some compassion or co-regulation. He uses CRM tools with his friends. He and Elaine Miller Karas plan to meet soon to talk about his becoming a Trauma Resource Institute and Community Resiliency ModelI youth ambassador,” said Kristy Blackwell, “Z’s” mom and one of scores of CRM-certified teachers in North Carolina.
As for Z, he said he "Loved learning the skills from his mom," and likes that they practice the skills together. When the family's home was destroyed in a fire a couple of years ago, having the ability to be "grounded" in the moment, remember "what else is true" about the situation, and "resource" by thinking of the people, places, and things that bring him joy, was helpful.
About 25 community leaders attended the July call and learned how they can access videos PACEs Connection helped create, with Miller-Karas, Sipp, and a two members of the New Hanover County Resiliency Task Force, Kelly Purcell and Allison Wine. The four produced, for PACEs Connection, webinars to make the model available as a means of community support during the Pandemic. (This link leads to an introduction of the model; other live links above lead to the first and second webinars in the two-part overview series.)
“Those webinars are among the most-watched videos PACEs Connection has posted to our PACEs Connection YouTube Channel,” said Sipp, who has worked with Miller-Karas many times over the last five years.
“There are more than 5,000 people who’ve had CRM training in the Cape Fear Area of North Carolina, but the model is in use statewide, and again, worldwide. In North Carolina though, there was a focus to provide this training following a couple of particularly bad hurricane seasons five and six years ago.
“If people learn the skills before there is a disaster, and become accustomed to using them to help with day-to-day stresses, it is easier for them to just be part of how disaster relief is rolled out when people are so in need of support. It is wonderful to see people rely on and teach the skills, and grow in their own efficacy and confidence during those times,” said Sipp.
On the call, Miller-Karas took community leaders through a high-level explanation of the model and invited group members to visit the Trauma Resource Institute website to learn more. They can also take a free, 1.25 hour overview of the course offered in cooperation with MedScape. Continuing Education Credits are available for medical professionals who take the course.
The August Cooperative of Communities call is Tuesday, August 8, at 10 a.m. PDT, 11 a.m. CT and 1 p.m. ET. The speaker and discussion topic is “Moving at the Speed of Trust.” Coop members are encouraged to register for the meetings in advance; the link is provided here.
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