Blogs

This past Thursday, the NW Children's Foundation sponsored a forum titled, "Community Trauma and Child Well-Being: Trauma-Informed Care and the Future of Healing." The forum featured Dr. Shawn Ginwright, an invaluable voice in the conversation about collective childhood trauma, one CRI is excited to support. Dr. Ginwright is Associate Professor of Education, and African American Studies at San Francisco State University and the author of Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Activists are...

Walla Walla’s Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) has been awarded a Social Impact Grant in 2019 through Premera Blue Cross. Premera’s award will provide funding to translate the CRI materials into Spanish, thus providing access to Spanish-speaking members of our community and elsewhere. Ultimately, the award will help support CRI’s community work in addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)- by expanding understanding of the impact of ACEs on parenting and health, and more...

Community Resilience Initiative is officially launching a new series of blog posts, building to our 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers conference on June 25th - 27th. We’ll cover a range of topics relevant to conference material, events, and inspirations. In addition to the regular conference, CRI is offering two training add-on options on Tuesday June 25, 2019 prior to the conference: Course One and Two https://criresilient.org/beyondpapertigers/pre-conference-event/ “A group of very polished people...

Last month, CRI partnered with Headstart to host our second Sesame Street workshop. Children came to Blue Ridge Preschool to have cookies with Cookie Monster! They practiced breathing exercises and did three different resilience-building activities! View some photos below. Stay tuned for similar workshops and activities!

KPJR Films - the creator of the documentaries "Paper Tigers" and "Resilience"- will be leading a new book club in 2019! Our own Teri Barila of CRI was asked to help create a list of trauma-informed books for the Book Club. Read KPJR Film's announcement below: COMING IN 2019: KPJR FILMS BOOK CLUB KPJR Films is pleased to present the selections for the inaugural 2019 KPJR Book Club . Industry experts, Theresa Barila, co-founder and current CEO of the Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI)...

As part of A Way Home Washington initiative to end homelessness among youth, Walla Walla was selected to be one of only four Anchor Sites! We were recognized in part for our trauma-informed work. In 2005, CRI began researching accompanied teens in Walla Walla as part of the County Homeless task force. CRI, partnered with then-Whitman Student Shae Healey took on the youth component of the force. This research ultimately led to the opening of several initiatives, such as the HUB on Third- a...

Announcing! The 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Trauma-Informed Care Conference on June 26 & 27, 2019 will revolve around the theme, " Building Resilience Across the Life Span ," with Pre-Conference Trainings, Social/Networking event, and film screenings beginning on Tuesday June 25, 2019. Early bird conference ticket pricing is being offered until March 15, 2019! Purchase tickets here: https://beyondpapertigers. eventbrite.com Visit our conference page for more information:...

Thank you to everyone who participated in CRI’s October is Resilience Month! From film screenings to a Dia de los Muertos celebration, from yard signs to new products, we accomplished a lot this past month! CRI kicked off the month with two proclamations - from the City of Walla Walla and the county- to declare our effort to mitigate ACEs via community resilience building. We hosted a resilience treasure hunt with our friend Tod Sullivan , themed according to his home country- England. He...

Play, especially free time for play and playing together, is an essential piece of child development. Art provides an open space for creativity, engaging the right and left hemispheres of the brain. As part of October is Resilience Month, CRI partnered with Brigette Phillips of Mindful Art and hosted a night of de-stressing with art for parents and children. About 20 people attended for pizza, painting, and family time together. Read our previous showcase of Mindful Art here. To Brigette,...

Welcome to the final day of October is Resilience month, and the fourth part of our Community Partner Showcase! https://youtu.be/WQlSdSTqefA In this Community Partner Showcase Video, we hear from Jon Cassetto – Court Services Manager, and J. Andrew Rodriguez of Commitment to Community. Learn what partnering with CRI has meant to them. Community is the solution!

This past Tuesday night, CRI hosted an event, inspired by the Disney Pixar movie "Inside Out." For those unfamiliar with the movie, it brings five feelings- Joy, Sadness, Anger, Jealousy, and Envy- to life in the mind of a young girl named Riley. According to Teri Barila, one of the reasons CRI chose Inside Out is its portrayal of value of all feelings, including sadness. "Joy learned to understand that we can't be happy all of the time. We sometimes find new, true joy by embracing sadness,"...

Welcome to the October is Resilience Month video series! We're showcasing our community partners! Stayed tuned for one more installment. Here is part three of the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RctDtUGOp2w&feature=youtu.be In this Community Partner Showcase Video, we hear from Walla Walla Public Schools Superintendent Wade Smith, and Rick Griffin – Director of Jubilee Leadership Academy . Learn what partnering with CRI has meant to them. Community is the solution!