Saturday, PFE’s Program manager, Jasmine Cain was invited to speak at Cleveland County’s 12th Annual Minority Health Conference which was hosted by the county’s Public Health Department and put on by the local Minority Health Council. Each year the conference focuses on educating minority leaders and members in the community about issues facing African American and other minority groups locally. The conference also serves as a platform to address and discuss disparities faced by minorities locally such as access to health care and other services and resources, economic prosperity, achievement gaps for minority youth, and a variety of other issues. In previous years, topics have been focused on the increased risks minority populations face for physical health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. This year, the conference focus was on trauma and resiliency.
The presentation, titled The Impact of Trauma: Understanding the Basics, presented by Jasmine touched on various components on the concepts of trauma. The goal being to give the audience a foundational understanding of trauma and its impacts on both children and adults. This, in hopes to help participants begin to develop their own trauma lenses in which to view some of the various issues known to have disproportionate impacts on minority populations. The presentation began by discussing and defining trauma and its origins. In addition to acknowledging the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study and what we know about the impacts these experiences have on the brain, development, and attachments. The presentation reviewed concrete suggestions on how we all, as responsible members of the child serving system and broader community can help to build resiliency among those who have been impacted by trauma. In closing, the presentation charged participants to follow-through with what they learned through asking themselves this:
"How we can build and foster a community that supports and encourages trauma and resiliency informed efforts at our homes, in our work, at our school, on our playgrounds, and in our day-to-day interactions?"
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