San Diego County Health and Human Services director Nick Macchione sent a letter to his department last week detailing a sweep of training and programmatic tweaks to get his entire staff, and the services they offer, trauma-informed.
Put simply, he wants the people who provide food stamp, unemployment, mental health, Medi-Cal and disability help in the region to be better prepared to work with people experiencing trauma.
...Macchione's letter isn't the first time trauma, which is increasingly at the center of national and statewide discussions on health, has come up in the region. Macchione himself has pushed for trainings. Cherokee Point Elementary School in City Heights has caught national attention for its three-year effort to draft trauma-informed school discipline policies. And residents on 44th Street in City Heights asked San Diego Unified in 2013 to pay attention to trauma after children in the neighborhood witnessed a double homicide days before they were to return to school from summer break.
San Diego Unified is now urging teachers and other school staff to attend voluntary trauma training through the County Office of Education next month. The nonprofit San Diego Youth Services is putting on the sessions. Its director, Steven Jella, said recognizing the effects of trauma can help teacherss deal with difficult behavior.
For more from Megan Burks' article: http://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/apr/08/san-diego-county-responds-growing-links-between-ch/
Here's the letter: HHSLETTER.jpg
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