Tagged With "Walla Walla"
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Be the Spark: Igniting trauma-informed change within our communities
Authors note: This piece is co-authored by @Lara Kain and @Christine Cissy White. Though we had never worked together or met, we were asked to co-present on creating t rauma-informed changes in communities by the Attachment Trauma Network for the first national (now annual) Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Summit in Washington, DC. This article is an expanded essay version of that presentation). Be the Spark Oprah Winfrey helped mainstream discussion about...
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Beyond Paper Tigers
By now, many of us in the ACEs movement have seen, or at least heard of, the documentary film, Paper Tigers . The film captures the lives of students, teachers, and administrators at Lincoln High School, and ultimately the entire community of Walla Walla, WA. I saw the movie for the second time this week, and was reminded of the spirit of collaboration and unconditional love that is ever present throughout the film. The entire school community -- administrators, teachers, health...
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Beyond Paper Tigers Conference- June 28-29, 2016 in Walla Walla
Join us for our first ever trauma-informed conference in the home of Paper Tigers. We hope to share our community's learning on the foundational framework of the ACE Study, the impact to brain development and immune systems, and most importantly, a focus on resilience in our daily practice. For schedule and information, visit www.beyondpapertigers.com
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Lincoln High School’s Trauma-Informed Strategies: Jim Sporleder Reflects on Lessons Learned
“We had no clue whatsoever what it would turn out to be” Jim Sporleder, former Principal, remarks as he looks back on Lincoln Alternative High School, the growing movement of CRI’s trauma-informed community initiative, and the production of the documentary Paper Tigers. Jim’s story is an iconic one. In fact, many have inevitably heard of Jim’s work if they have seen the documentary Paper Tigers; it chronicles the profound impact on Lincoln Alternative High School as Jim, the staff, and the...
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Beyond Paper Tigers: The Heart of the Matter
Graphic artist Anne Nelson created this visual roadmap during the partner showcase, capturing the "heart of the matter" for each community member Teri Barila, co-founder and CEO of the Children’s Resilience Initiative and the igniting force that brought change to a quiet corner of southeast Washington, kicked off last month’s Beyond Paper Tigers Conference by sharing one of her “aha” moments. In 2007, she attended a conference in Winthrop, WA, where Dr. Robert Anda spoke about the CDC-Kaiser...
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Brain States and Deescalation: A Photo of Officer Smith of the Walla Walla Police Department
For years, CRI, our partners, our allies around the country and world have been raising awareness about the brain and its states in the brainstem, limbic system, and prefrontal cortex. Research in neuroscience has helped create understanding about the way activation in each of these areas produces different behavior. And in turn, we have learned how to recognize when individuals are in one state, and how to move them into another. Though assessing feelings of safety and connection, we're...
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Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI) has decorated the city of Walla Walla for October
CRI is artfully informing the eyes and minds of Walla Walla visitors and residents to see a new light. Flags wave from street lights, a banner fly’s over 2 nd Avenue, and a comment box that engages pedestrians at town square reads “Heart Matters. What is on yours?” Timely and pertinent information about how to join the movement to restore, improve, and reform our society.
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Community Leaders Tell Their ACEs Success Stories at 2016 ACEs Conference in California
(l to r) Teri Barila, director of the Children's Resilience Initiative; Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell, assistant professor in Loma Linda University Preventive Medicine and Pediatric Depts. (Photo: Jennifer Hossler) _________________________________ Sauntering on stage to the beat of Everyday People by Sly and the Family Stone, four “heroes” of the ACEs movement took their seats for a panel on trauma-informed and resilience-building communities on October 21, the last day of the 2016 Adverse...
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Community Partner Showcase Video Series: Part 1
Welcome to the October is Resilience Month video series! We're showcasing our community partners! Stayed tuned for more installments. Click here for part one In this Community Partner Showcase Video, we hear from Walla Walla County Commissioner Jim Duncan, Tim Meliah the director of Catholic Charities in Walla, and Janel Torrescano a Social Service Specialist with the Children's Administration. Learn what partnering with CRI has meant to them. Community is the solution!
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Community Partner Showcase Video Series: Part 2
Welcome to the October is Resilience Month video series! We're showcasing our community partners! Stayed tuned for more installments. Here is part two of the series: https://youtu.be/vJTEcRjEtXY In this Community Partner Showcase Video, we hear from Cresencia Duran – Parent Involvement Coordinator, Head Start, Donna Fenno a Health and Nutrition Coordinator, Head Start, and Annett Bovent – Director & Founder of Hope Heals Walla Walla. Learn what partnering with CRI has meant to them.
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Community Partner Showcase Video Series: Part 3
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!
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Compassion - Play it Forward
Partner Showcase #3 - Michelle Higgins If compassionate police officers deserve purple hearts – what do trauma informed teachers deserve? A few weeks ago I posted an article titled Purple Hearts, Compassion and De-traumatizing. That article acknowledged Sergeant Braman for his heroic courage to exercise compassion in an often brutal world of law enforcement. There is no substitute for educating professionals who yield the power to transform our world into a safe place through compassion.
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CRI Course 1: Trauma-Informed Training Webcast!
CRI Course 1: Trauma-Informed Training Webcast! Date: February 26, 2019 Time: 8am - 3pm Pacific Time A dynamic six-hour WEBCAST course, Course 1 introduces CRI’s capacity-building framework for building resilience, KISS. Knowledge, Insight, Strategies and Structure describes our community’s learning and movement from theory to practice and how to implement evidence-based strategies into action. The training includes three groups of topics: the NEAR sciences , a cluster of emerging scientific...
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CRI honored three National Resilience Champions at the 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Conference!
CRI is grateful to have honored three National Resilience Champions- Karen Pritzker, Jane Stevens, and Laura Porter- at the 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Conference. Each has inspired the development of critical mass, and have been energetic catalysts of new ideas. The three women have represented tipping points in the national movement. They have worked tirelessly to shift culture and mindsets around how human restoration occurs and have provided brilliant insights to reframe beliefs about the...
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CRI is hiring an Associate Director!
Community Resilience Initiative is seeking an innovative and passionate individual to join our organization as an Associate Director (AD). Based in Walla Walla, WA , the AD reports to the Executive Director and to the Board of Directors. Job Overview The role of the Associate Director is to sustain the resilience-based, trauma-responsive capacity building work at the local, regional, state and national stage for which CRI is recognized. Success in this position will be evidenced by...
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CRI of Walla Walla accepts $15,000 Premera Grant to create Spanish materials
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...
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CRI's Newest Course 3- a Trauma-Informed Approach to Challenging Behavior
September 23rd- 26th, Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) will be holding a trauma-informed boot camp , in which participants can spend an exciting week learning our Course 1, Course 2, and/or Course 3 information. Many of you have already attended Course 1 and 2, and are eager to learn more strategies. Course 3 describes training on topics that teach the knowledge and skills required by individuals who have more regular and intense contact with individuals who may be adversely affected by...
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Discover Why Walla Walla is a #1 Trauma Informed Community
BEYOND PAPER TIGERS CRI is moving Beyond Paper Tigers into a whole new expe-resilience. Our team of presenters are providing cutting edge information and tools for transformation. Join us in June for the conference you've been waiting for. Beyond Paper Tigers Want to know more? See what our other partners have to say: https://www.youtube.com/user/ResilienceTrumpsAces Sign up now to reserve your seat at Beyond Paper Tigers conference BEYOND PAPER TIGERS CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
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Education of Early Child Development
Partner Showcase No. 5 - Melissa Clearfield. -- Just as healthy crops require healthy seeds to be selected from healthy plants, and planted in healthy soil to be nurtured with water and sunlight, healthy people require healthy parents who can supply them with the essential requirements to thrive. A man who attempts farming and grows crops in poor soil, without water or sunlight will be a man who fails at farming. A parent who attempts to raise a child without first understanding the...
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Enhancing Resilience Through Human Design
{Photo above is the visual depiction of my human design} Have you ever wondered how the day and time of your birth, coupled with the precise location in which you were born could help you enhance your own resilience? If you’re like me, that thought may have never crossed your mind. And until very recently, I had never heard of “this thing” called Human Design , a visual representation of how individuals function that names our feelings and provides insights into how we work as human beings.
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Experts reveal stress, trauma impacts kids’ development; urge adults to foster resilience [KEPRtv.com]
by Elise Haas WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Now more than ever, both parents and professionals struggle to understand the complex and continued impacts of chronic stress and trauma on a child's brain development. The documentary, Paper Tigers , based in Walla Walla, sparked renewed interest in the effects of chronic, overwhelming stress and trauma on children’s development. That's why hundreds of parents, educators, mental health workers, and others gathered at Whitman College in Walla Walla for the...
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Friends organization pairs mentors with area kids [Union-Bulletin.com]
Friends of Children of Walla Walla focuses on the well-being of children in the area, by providing school- and community-based programs that help youths socially and academically through one-on-one relationships. “We are purveyors of hope and resilience for kids,” said Jim Byrnes, executive director. Many children have adverse childhood experiences, called ACES, including verbal and physical violence, poverty, neglect, bullying and more. And many parents have their own set of emotional ACES...
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~ Great Visuals ~ Inform everyone you know about “the Heart of the Matter”
Walla Walla ignited “the Heart of the Matter” at the Trauma-Informed Care Conference, Beyond Paper Tigers , June 28-29. The conference was filled with so many good insights and ideas on how to work with ACEs in our young, vulnerable population. The final session included some best practices that were captured in a lively graphic by Anne Nelson of Drawn2Solutions (see attached). I’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words and Anne effectively captured the highlights so we would have a...
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Honoring a humble champion, in front of a packed ballroom!
The Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted their 137th Annual Community Awards last week, and one of Community Resilience Initiative's trainers-- Tony McGuire-- was recognized for his service to our community. As an instructor of basic carpentry at the local Washington State Penitentiary, Tony is so much more than that- he is a mentor, champion, communicator and lifelong learner of what makes us human together. His gift to the world is his ability to share the insights of the...
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Hope Heals: Lighting Hope for Walla Walla's Homeless
“Four and a half years ago when I started Hope Heals, I helped two people. By the second year, I had helped 28. Then 321 in the third year. In 2016, I helped 2031 people, and in 2017, I helped 2131 people.” Hope Heals, now a bright light in the Walla Walla community and preparing for its first large fundraiser on Friday, has been growing exponentially since its conception. Yet it began as a faint lightbulb. On March 26th 2008, Dr. Robert Anda visited Walla Walla on behalf of CRI to present...
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How Community Networks Stem Childhood Traumas [NYTimes.com]
[Ed. note: This is the second of a three-part series that David Bornstein is doing on how communities are integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on ACEs science.] Liberals and conservatives often disagree about the causes of poverty and other social ills. Broadly speaking, liberals point the finger at structural factors and advocate for policy changes, while conservatives look to individuals and families and favor behavior changes. Clearly, both points of view...
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Jubilee Leadership Academy: Using ACEs Science to Transform School Culture
Students at JLA are reminded that change starts with themselves In 2004, after nearly a decade as program director at Jubilee Leadership Academy (JLA), a Christian alternative boarding school for troubled boys ages 13-18 in Prescott, WA, Rick Griffin decided to take a job in Phoenix, AZ, to work with adults with developmental disabilities. There, he began to see similarities between the issues they were having and what he saw in the kids at JLA. “There was a cognitive reason these adults I...
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Leaders explore community wide resiliency [union-bulletin.com]
By Emily Thornton | March 10, 2019 Everyone has experienced some kind of trauma, experts say, and people need to know how to work through it to help others also facing traumatic events. That was the message presented to 35 representatives from various local organizations who attended a Community Resilience Initiative training on Friday in the Walla Walla Airport conference room sponsored by United Way of Walla Walla and organized by Walla Walla’s Community Council Speakers discussed...
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Lincoln High School Mentorship Program [WhitmanWire.com]
I n January 2018, Whitman sophomore Sophia Webb spearheaded a mentorship program between Whitman students and seniors at Lincoln High School–Walla Walla’s only alternative high school–to build relationships between the two groups in context of preparing Lincoln seniors for post-grad life. Rewind back a few years. In 2006, only four people graduated from Lincoln High School. The school was plagued by drugs, violence, suspensions and drop-outs. “It was a disaster, basically,” Webb said. The...
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Live From Walla Walla, WA
I just finished my third screening of Jamie Redford's documentary film, Paper Tigers . This third time around was special, as I was watching from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, home of Lincoln High School, which is featured in the film. After spending the day on a tour of the community, learning about the various trauma-informed services expanding throughout Walla Walla and surrounding communities in SE Washington, watching the film in it's home town was the perfect end to an inspiring...
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Re: Why Attend the 2017 Trauma-Informed Care Conference?
So excited to see this is happening, Ty! Last year's conference was fantastic...I am sure you all will keep the momentum going. Another all star line up of presenters! Great job, Walla Walla!
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Re: Our effort to explain the many voices of Walla Walla, for the Beyond Paper Tigers conference
Teri, et al - THIS is so great! All the champions of Walla Walla in one place. And seeing Kelsey all grown up like that brought a little tear to my eye! She's so mature and I love what she said about anyone being able to benefit from TI care. This is a wonderful video!!! Teri - the only thing left for you to do is run for mayor! You could run the town.
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Re: A new response to child abuse [Union-Bulletin]
The new Child Advocacy Center, housed at the Walla Walla Police Department, represents how forty-four partners from thirteen local agencies representing six disciplines – including WWPD, CPS, prosecution, law enforcement, medical and behavioral healthcare and advocacy/case management (social work)- came together to find a better way to serve children following trauma. We celebrate another community example of building a resilient Walla Walla County! Deborah Peters, Children's Advocacy Team...
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Re: Walla Walla City Council Proclamation Celebration Photo
Proclamations are a great way to build awareness, especially among key leaders in a community! Excellent work Walla Walla City Council! If others would like to find examples they may use in their own communities click on: ACES Connection Proclamation Samples Another idea to build this momentum is to bring this proclamation to other small towns and cities and ask local city leaders to sign a similar document! Or even have it signed at a county level! Lots of good work!! Great witness the...
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Re: Walla Walla City and County Proclamation
Thank you for being leaders in the ACEs movement! Leveraging local political and key leader support is a powerful way to build momentum and deepen understanding about ACEs science! Karen " A Proclamation gives formal recognition to a cause, and we are excited to receive the support of both the county and city of Walla Walla. "
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Ann Penn-Charles casts a wide net to reduce generational trauma in Washington State coastal tribes
You could say that Ann Penn-Charles, a native of La Push, Washington, was a natural resilience builder even before there was an ACE Study. La Push is a Native American reservation on the western edge of Olympic National Park, where the Quileute Nation ancestors of “Miss Ann”, as she is known, have lived for generations. Although she faced hardships growing up on the reservation, including having her first child when she was a junior in high school, she was able to graduate with the support...
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October is for Resilience-Building
Until I read “The Deepest Well” by Dr. Nadien Burke Harris, I had never heard of Adverse Childhood Experience, toxic stress, or epigenetics. Yes, I was aware that trauma can be transferred genetically, but my knowledge stopped and ended at trauma’s impact on the body due to major world and life events. In essence, I knew of trauma’s impact of the body only in terms of contexts like slavery, 9/11, and the holocaust. I did not know that the shortening of telomeres, stunted amygdala growth, and...
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In memoriam: Jamie Redford
The news of Jamie Redford’s untimely death at age 58 is a reminder of how impermanent we each are in the universe, yet an equal reminder of the value and gifts we each bring to the world. Jamie brought many gifts to us and to the world through his documentary films, his love of nature, and his ties to family and friends. I had the privilege to meet Jamie Redford. He visited Walla Walla in 2012 on the recommendation of Jane Stevens, ACEs Connection Founder. As Jane explained, Jamie had asked...
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Gratitude for our collective work locally and nationally
Hello! As we lean into Thanksgiving celebrations tomorrow, in whatever fashion we use to stay connected with family and friends even if only virtually, I want to extend my gratitude for what is happening as a result of so many communities involved in helping to make a difference via awareness, education and support for building resilience. Here is a recent example of coming together, in our community, to attempt to address issues that can divide us, or that we rise above and use to unite us.
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8th Annual October Resilience Month Reflection
Written by: India Flinchum, Whitman College Community Fellow Program The Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) of Walla Walla, hosted its 8th annual “October is Resilience Month” (ORM) event in October, 2020. The aim of the yearly ORM series is to build resilience, encourage community-engagement, and inspire self-reflection among members of the Walla Walla community. Through community events and CRI-hosted learning modules, CRI welcomed the general public once again, opening its arms to...
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Moving beyond “Paper Tigers” to a science of hope: Q & A with CRI's Rick Griffin
Rick Griffin knows a lot about hope – how to understand it, instill it, develop it. Griffin is the director of training and curriculum development for the non-profit Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) in Walla Walla, Washington. Walla Walla’s Lincoln High was the subject of a 2015 film, “Paper Tigers,” by the late Jamie Redford, about how the school principal, Jim Sporleder, adopted an ACEs-informed approach that positively transformed the school as well as the surrounding community.
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Yolanda Esquivel
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India Flinchum
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Brooke Bouchey
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Colby Kuschatka
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