Tagged With "Historical Trauma"
Blog Post
Trauma-informed training for Lancaster County corrections and parole officers seeks less use of force [LancasterOnline.com]
Police in a northwest Pennsylvania town responded about six years ago to a disturbance at a mental health center. The officers confronted an upset client. When he became combative, he was cuffed and spent five years in prison, said Audrey Smith, a psychologist in Meadville, Crawford County. Not long ago, the man returned to the center and became agitated. Back came the police. But this time, officers took a gentler approach. “They let the guy have a smoke,” Smith said, “and got him to an...
Blog Post
Treat Historic Trauma to Rehabilitate Prisoners, Psychologists Say [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
By Tess de la Mare, Belfast Telegraph Digital, January 2, 2020 The traumatic histories of offenders stuck in the prison system should be treated as a public health issue to break cycles of offending, psychologists working with inmates have said. But despite the often complex histories of violent offenders, in the UK’s squeezed prison system there are limited resources available for rehabilitation. Forensic psychologist Dr Naomi Murphy runs a five-year intensive psychotherapy programme for...
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Turning Gold into Lead: Understanding the Role of ACEs to Our Work as Judges
Dr. Vincent Felitti studied the connection between ACEs and health. Unexpectedly, he uncovered for the courts and our community partners a path past our litigants’ “past.” By applying science to what we do every day and responding appropriately to ACEs, we have a chance to change the trajectory of each life we touch. We have an opportunity to change the world if we see it through a trauma lens.
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Two Years After End Of Indefinite Solitary In CA, CDCR Violating Terms Of Settlement, And Inmates Experiencing Lasting Psychological Effects, Says Center For Constitutional Rights (witnessla.com)
In 2015, California settled Ashker v. Governor , a historic class-action lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of a group of Pelican Bay State prison inmates who had each spent at least a decade in isolation. The settlement resulted in an end to the use of indefinite solitary confinement in CA prisons. On Monday, CCR filed a motion accusing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of violating the rights of inmates freed from indefinite...
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We Need to Understand How to Provide Trauma-Informed Care [JJIE.org]
The philosophy of trauma-informed care is becoming more and more embedded in the philosophies and practices of child-serving agencies. When a child experiences a single traumatic event and is fortunate enough to be surrounded by supportive and nurturing adults, that trauma can generally be assessed and usually treated effectively with the help of parental support. When a traumatized child responds with internalized distress such as sadness, depression or anxiety, our systems appear to...
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Webinar: The Human Impact of Climate Change
The Community Resiliency Model Disaster Relief Program Climate change emergencies are real and the human toll during and in the aftermath impact children, teens and adults. This webinar will hear from Kelly Doty, a survivor, who lost her home in Paradise and is working in a community-based program to help the children and their parents in the aftermath. Elaine Miller-Karas, the key developer of the Community Resiliency Model Disaster Relief Program, will explain the program and how it helps...
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Who’s Helping The 1.9 Million Women Released From Prisons And Jails Each Year? [witnessla.com]
By Wendy Sawyer, Witness LA, July 30, 2019 Given the dramatic growth of women’s incarceration in recent years, it’s concerning how little attention and how few resources have been directed to meeting the reentry needs of justice-involved women. After all, we know that women have different pathways to incarceration than men, and distinct needs, including the treatment of past trauma and substance use disorders, and more broadly, escaping poverty and meeting the needs of their children and...
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Why Focus on Resilience? 2019 BPT Conference Big Idea Session with Teri Barila
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in” -Desmond Tutu. This quote captures the essence of why resilience matters. To Community Resilience Initiative, Resilience is not about “lifting yourself up by your bootstraps” or “bouncing back” from serious harm or injury. To us, Resilience is about self-discovery and self-awareness based on what the ACE Study, neurobiology, and epigenetics tell us...
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Yoga Behind Bars has offered yoga classes to prisoners for a while. Now it’s teaching inmates at the women’s prison near Gig Harbor how to lead classes themselves. (seattletimes.com)
“The people who know best what tools are needed to serve incarcerated people are those who are incarcerated themselves,” says Program Director Jess Frank. “Not only will it give them incredible tools while they’re incarcerated, it’s also a way for them to have … a part-time job” upon release. But teaching yoga in prisons requires special skills, and “trauma-informed” teaching is a central philosophy of the program. The curriculum for the day I attended included sessions on the impact of...
Blog Post
Yoga helping inmates transcend jail cells [KEYT - Santa Barbara]
An ancient spiritual practice is helping rehabilitate men and women at the Santa Barbara County Jail. Prison Yoga Santa Barbara (PYSB) invites inmates to practice yoga, meditation and mindfulness during incarceration at no cost to taxpayers. Ginny Kuhn is the force behind the non-profit staffed by volunteers. The program is modeled after The Prison Yoga Project which was started yogi James Fox at California’s San Quentin State Prison 15 years ago. Kuhn's motto for PYSB is 'Working Freedom...
Blog Post
Young Adult Court: Ending Mass Incarceration with Trauma Informed Criminal Justice
The last two decades have given rise to a body of research establishing that young adults are fundamentally different from both juveniles and older adults in how they process information and make decisions. The prefrontal cortex of the brain — responsible for our cognitive processing and impulse control — does not fully develop until the early to mid-20s. At the same time that young adults are going through this critical developmental phase, many find themselves facing adulthood without...
Blog Post
YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
I had the chance to attend a training for law enforcement and others, described below, in Yarmouth, MA, a few weeks ago. The presentation, "Trauma Informed Response Training for Law Enforcement & Multi Disciplinary Team Members," was given by retired detective Justin Boardman . Boardman was joined in the morning by the chief domestic violence prosecutor of the Cape & Islands, Michael Patterson. Here is a news story excerpt about the training from the Cape Cod newsletter (yes, the...
Ask the Community
2 generation approaches for re-entry
Hi everyone, I've been doing some research looking for trauma informed two generation approaches to helping formerly incarcerated parents re-enter, develop and share strategies for coping with trauma, and develop skills and strategies to reconnect...
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Confused
I suffered constant physical and mental abuse and a child and witnessed my brother being abused (often the abuse occurred with us both at the same time). It got to the point of having enough around the age of thirteen. I rebelled in a constant state of rage, venturing into alcohol and drugs, crime, violence. At the age of seventeen I was arrested and sentenced to serve the rest of my life in prison. Resilience: Early in my prison term I had a spiritual awakening. Turned my life around.
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Help our public radio station with a story: How did separation from your parents as a child impact you?
KQED is the National Public Radio affiliate in San Francisco, CA. We’d like to hear from adults (18+) who were separated from their parents when they were children. Perhaps the separation was due to economic reasons, war and conflict, incarceration, foster care, or something else. How did that period of separation impact you in the long-run? How has it impacted your connection to others and how you build relationships? If you're a parent, how does it influence how you parent? We’re...
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In-Custody Trauma Screenings/Assessments
Is anyone using or aware of any trauma screenings or assessments that are appropriate to use with adults incarcerated in county jail?
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Jurors and Vicarious Trauma
Is anyone aware of vicarious trauma resources, policy, conversations, awareness etc for jurors?
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policy
Does anyone have, or know where I can find, sample trauma-informed policies?
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Trauma-informed organizational assessment for criminal justice?
Hi all - are any of you aware of any "trauma-informed organizational assessment" tools specifically designed for criminal justice organizations such as prisons / jails, probation/parole departments, courts, etc to look at their internal policies, procedures, physical environment, etc (SAMHSA's 10 domains for trauma-informed care) and determine where they're at at the moment and where they may need to make changes to become more trauma-informed? Would appreciate links/examples of any...
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Trauma Informed Policing in Manchester, N.H.
The WMUR tv coverage of this item, I believe Samantha posted in the last few days, would be helpful for this ACEs in the Criminal Justice System group.
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Trauma-Informed Services for Formerly Incarcerated Populations
Hi everyone, I am in the process of synthesizing resources and best practices for trauma-informed services for formerly incarcerated populations. I am specifically interested in community-based mental health and substance abuse treatment services, housing related assistance, job-training assistance, and case management and civil legal services. Do any of you have good examples or models of trauma-informed care for these types of services, specifically for formerly...
Calendar Event
2018 National Conference on Juvenile Justice (San Diego)
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International Prisoner's Family Conference (Dallas, TX)
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What Is Service Yoga 2.0 Workshop (San Diego, CA)
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Re: In-Custody Trauma Screenings
One of our team is finishing up a story about how ACEs/trauma-informed practices are being implemented in county jails, so keep an eye out for that. Also, I'm getting ready to do a story about parenting classes for mothers and fathers in county jail; they do their own ACE scores as part of the class.
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Re: Why Are We Using Prisons to Treat the Mentally Ill? • OverCriminalized #1 • BRAVE NEW FILMS (8 min)
Thank you so much for these clips. Each brought me to tears over the contrast between the wisdom and compassion shown here (and the results) vs. the punitive responses to trauma I've witnessed in years working withing child welfare, criminal justice and domestic-violence intervention systems. What a hopeful, inspiring, restorative vision!
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Re: Children of Incarcerated Parents
Hi Patrick, Thank you for your insightful, robust post of such exemplary resources for our children, youth and families impacted by the trauma of their parents incarceration. As a Commissioner on the Commission on Gang Prevention & Intervention with the City of San Diego, please know I'm profoundly grateful to learn from you and share with my colleagues. In gratitude, Dana Brow
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Re: Trauma-Informed Services for Formerly Incarcerated Populations
Hi Stephanie - in Lancaster County, PA, we have been working over the past several years to "build the foundation for a trauma-informed criminal justice system". We started by providing the following trainings for criminal justice professionals, using nationally developed curricula: 1) trained entire staff of our county prison and entire staff of our county adult probation & parole department using SAMHSA's "How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses" (400 CO's...
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Re: Trauma-Informed Services for Formerly Incarcerated Populations
Take a look at Concordance Academy's website, www.concordanceacademy.org . We are a reentry non-profit in St Louis working with justice-involved adults. While we're still working on being trauma informed, we are trauma aware and TIC is a never ending work in progress!
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Here is the powerpoint I delivered. The presentation when well. Lots of interest. I am working with a professional development organization called PESI. They are a non-profit corporation that delivers a lot of professional development. I have my original course on supporting and educating traumatized students submitted to them and it should be available in less than two weeks
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Re: Trauma Informed Education in Juvenile Justice
Jennifer Thank you for your interest in our work Hi Robert, I'd like to hear more about this effort -- specifically, when you say 'educators' do you mean staff who teach within the detention facility? Most of the individuals who took the training are direct teaching staff. Many counselors and administrators took the training as well. And, were any of the detention staff trained in TI as well? What do you mean by TI? No no detention staff were trained. The focus was on improving teacher...
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Re: Policy
Hi Margaret, I'm assuming you're looking for Trauma-Informed policies as it relates to Criminal Justice. There have been some Crim. Jus. posts in the ACEsConnection.com/Blog, that I've seen,which may have links in the Blog to the story post, such as the Trauma-Informed programming in the Hawaii Women's Prison. The California [Men's] Honor Prison in Los Angeles utilized Trauma-Informed programming, while it was operational. I don't know if it still is. Prisoners there, voluntarily renounce...
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Re: Trauma-informed organizational assessment for criminal justice?
I'm not sure of any that are specific to criminal justice, however Florida came out with an assessment for their juvenile detention facilities. Perhaps you can adapt it to what you need? It's call the Trauma Responsive and Care Environment (TRACE).
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Re: 7.25+
Thank you Zachary, Yes, I too saw this video posted on facebook last week. As a substitute teacher (nowhere near retired), I see my ability to use trauma informed practices is directly enhanced by my learning to address White Supremacy Culture. I'm happy my state education association recently publicly named that. I'm learning that all the many people who've been directly impacted by incarceration have so many practical solutions! Those of us nearer the decision-making (traditionally-- with...
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Re: The prison that gives inmates the KEYS to their cells: 'Knock-first' policy is aimed at creating a 'respectful' environment for offenders [Daily Mail]
60 Minutes just did a great piece on how they are using programming for 18-25 year olds, recognizing how their brains are still developing, and that they have likely had more than their fair share of trauma. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/g...-inmates-60-minutes/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a...&linkId=65519468
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Re: How to Build a Better Jail (nationswell.com)
I had the pleasure some years ago, of working with an architect who had previously been on the staff of the National Clearinghouse on Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture, at the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, which was contracted by the Justice Department to develop National Standards for new prison/jail construction and programming. With the subsequent advent of 'trauma-informed care' and our better understanding of the role of ACEs, I wondered what changes might be...
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Re: Use of ACE test in County Jails
Doug - I like your extension of the inquiry. We have conducted two projects in our county jail to improve health, wellness, and self-care management. Our first project focused on improving health literacy and the second on health insurance literacy. Both have been published in Corrections Today as follows: Young, D. & C. Weinert. 2013. Improving Health Literacy with Inmates . Corrections Today , 75(5):70-74. Alexandria, Virginia: American Correctional Association. Young, D. &...
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Re: From Behind the Wall and Beyond: Working with Men in the Criminal Justice System
I am so so sorry to hear about your husband Angelika. i hope you are able to find peace - it is so important to raise awareness about ACEs and to create trauma-informed systems of care in this world.
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Re: YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
How did I miss this? It certainly can be, there are a few different ideas around the interview process in the Justice System. I'd be happy to explain. Just too much to write. One of the problems is getting in front of people is smaller areas. The Justice System and especially Law Enforcement don't have funding to do the right thing. Crazy as that sounds, in fact, it is mostly the Community Non-Profits that hire me to speak to their Law Enforcement. Let me know if you would like to chat...
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Re: For Male Victims Of Child Sexual Abuse, Untreated Trauma Can Lead To Run-Ins With The Law (wpin.org)
Overseeing development of the first Day Reporting Center in the state of TN which went on to be acquired and replicated by the TN Dept of Corrections was a tremendous honor to me. During that time I learned many involved in the justice system have histories of childhood trauma. Thank you for sharing this story and the wonderful work this gentleman is now doing to mentor other youth! Trauma is not an excuse for drugs or crime but it offers an explanation for it.
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Re: YPD hosts specialized training for over 170 officers and advocates
Thank you, Cissy, for posting! Uplifting and hopeful, this two-day training should expand nationally. Seeing the cross-disciplines at the training, what an exemplary model to replicate. Reading through Justin's embedded link, I'm wondering if the Trauma-Informed Victim Interview protocol could be shared with other law enforcement agencies, district attorney's offices, and public defenders. Justin co-authored (along with Donna Kelly, Utah Prosecution Council) a Trauma-Informed Victim...
