My various career roles as a mental health clinician, social worker in the county jail, behavioral health planner, public administrator, family advocate, and senior business consultant were shaped by my childhood traumatic experiences.

1. WHY FAMILY SUPPORT MATTERS?
(Its Importance for Strengthening Resilience from Adverse
Childhood Experiences-ACEs)
JULY 8, 2019
Graduation day - a picture of my mother and I after I received my Bachelor of Arts
degree in Criminal Justice (Corrections) studies from Kent State University in June
1977.

2. This was seven years after that fateful summer of 1970 when my mother and I realized
that our family needed some help. When I look back at that time, I marvel at the love of
GOD and the love from both parents as they began to realize that the harmful
consequences of their domestic violence squabbles and of my father’s drug addictive
behavior was adversely impacting the psychological functioning of their oldest child.
My various career roles as a mental health clinician, social worker in the county jail,
behavioral health planner, public administrator, family advocate and senior business
consultant were shaped by my childhood traumatic experiences.
As a result, I’m very passionate about strong clinical standards of practice and of good
record-keeping, during the 1990’s, I worked with my colleagues to develop a taxonomy
for alcohol and drug prevention services, presented a white paper to the Board of
Trustees and developed RFP specifications and made funding recommendations for the
ADASBCC Preschool Drug Prevention Project, I secured funding from local foundations
to host two annual Preschool Drug Prevention conferences with about 200 individuals
each year in attendance and a host of many other public policy, federal, state and
county service demonstration initiatives that help to strengthen families.
As you can see, I have held a strong working philosophy that embraces various family
engagement strategies, family support, trauma specific services and trauma informed
care services that inform, empower, educate and heal family dysfunction and provide
some vital lifelines to children and their parents.
American Institutes for Research (AIR):
In October 2014, a white paper entitled “Trauma-Informed Care and Trauma-Specific
Services: A Comprehensive Approach to Trauma Intervention” by the American
Institutes for Research (AIR) provides data demonstrating the prevalence and impact of
Trauma across most health and human service systems. The AIR brief states that
“providing trauma-informed care requires an organizational commitment to building
employee awareness, knowledge and skills to support recovery.”
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA):
SAMHSA Definitions
Trauma= Refers to experiences that cause intense physical and psychological stress
reactions. It can refer to a single event, multiple events, or a set of circumstances that is
experienced by an individual as physically and emotionally harmful or threatening and
that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s physical, social, emotional, or
spiritual well-being

3. Trauma-informed Care= TIC is a strengths-based service delivery approach that is
grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma, that
emphasizes physical, psychological, and emotional safety for both providers and
survivors, and that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and
empowerment.
Trauma-specific treatment services= These services are evidenced-based and promising
practices that facilitate recovery from trauma. The term “trauma-specific services: refers
to prevention, intervention or treatment services that address traumatic stress as well as
any co-occurring disorders (including substance use and mental disorders) that
developed during or after trauma.
In closing, looking back at that summer of 1970, I can clearly see the resilience and
strength characteristics that were already present within my family and that we needed
family support and trauma specific services not condemnation or my removal from the
home.
Our family group therapy session enlightened both my mother and I and it was a
turning point in my life because afterwards, my mother’s unflinching love, support and
encouragement empowered me to go on to thrive in high school and become the 1st high
school and college graduate in my family.
In 2017, child welfare administrators & staff utilize many approaches including the
Differential Response (DR) framework which includes an array of family engagement,
trauma-specific services and trauma-informed care providers in additional to traditional
child protection investigatory and surveillance work activities. Again, the bottom line
and main goal is to do “no harm”, protect & nurture the child, strengthen the child-
parent bond and strengthen our communities because “Family Support Matters”.
SOURCE:
American Institutes for Research (AIR) (October 2014) “Trauma-Informed Care and Trauma-Specific Services: A Comprehensive
Approach to Trauma Intervention. Washington, DC. www.air.orh
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) (2014) “Trauma Informed Care in Behavioral Health
Services: A Treatment Protocol (TIP) SERIES 57. HHS Publication No (SMA) 14-4816 Rockville, MD. www.samhsa.gov