Vol. 1 Number 2 April 25, 2022
Although ACE's mitigation and Trauma-Informed work on ETSU campus was going on before the SBI officially formed, the coming together of these efforts under the Institute across disciplines has propelled and strengthened them. All of us on the SBI are excited and optimistic about the work, research, and partnerships the SBI is a part of and will continue in 2021.
In the fall of 2021, the Department of Counseling and Human Service began offering a minor in trauma and resilience at East Tennessee State University. The minor gives students a theoretical and practical understanding of trauma and its treatment. Students study the impact of trauma on an individual, their family system, as well as the societal impact of adversity.
During January-April of 2022, a series of workshops were hosted by the Campaign for Trauma-informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives (NPSC), & PACEs Connection. These workshops are intended to raise awareness that every sector in every community has the power to implement trauma-informed, resilience-focused, and healing-centered initiatives.
The Strong BRAIN Institute (SBI) is delighted to share about one of the programs overseen by our Associate Director of Training Implementation and Dissemination, Dr. Diana Morelen. The program, Mom Power, helps promote resilience for families in the Appalachian Highlands though taking a community-based, 2gen approach to parenting. Mom Power is a parenting intervention grounded in attachment theory and trauma informed care and was originally developed by researchers and clinicians at the University of Michigan.
Writing Trauma-Informed Emails in the Age of Covid, by Dr. Joe Bidwell.
The Strong BRAIN (Building Resilience through ACEs-Informed Networking) Institute will facilitate the development and dissemination of evidence-based practices that prevent, reduce or mitigate the negative effects of ACEs on health and health disparities. The institute will also work to inform the citizenry and workforce in the Appalachian Highlands on the importance of being trauma informed.
Creating a trauma-informed culture in Zoomlandia, by Dr. Wallace Dixon Jr.
This past fall of 2020, four second-year medical students from the Quillen College of Medicine’s Rural Primary Care TrackProgram sought to make a difference in the rural community where they engage in clinical learning. The students, Alex Crockett, Nicole Gardner, Isabel Guhde, and Araminta Ray, used the community-centered research project integral to the Primary Care Program’s Community Health course community based participatory research approach taught during the two-semester ETSU course series, Rural Health Research and Practice and Rural Community Based Health Projects, to developing an intervention that would sustainably benefit their rural site with an intervention to foster coping skills within the Johnson County, TN school system.
One in 33 babies born in the United States is born with a birth defect. This is a meaningful statistic to Dr. Richard Sander, director for the Center for Global Sport Leadership and former athletic director at ETSU. Dr. Sander’s grandson was born with a birth defect and his family has the unique experiences of managing life with a child with a birth defect. Dr. Sander has established a non-profit organization, For Our Kids, with the goal of building sustainable resources to help families facing the challenges associated with having a child with a birth defect.
Dr. Donna Cherry works with community partners to provide affordable, transitional housing and support services to at-risk young adults.
Health Education Learning Program for Sexual Assault in Rural Appalachia (HELP SARA) Update
You may still be reeling in disbelief at the attack of a sovereign Ukraine by its neighbor. You may be just as surprised by the resolve shown by the Ukrainian people, standing up to overwhelming military odds and inconceivable destructive force. Where do the Ukrainians get their resilience? At the Strong BRAIN Institute (SBI) we are interested in exactly this kind of question and strive to promote resilience in all people.
Learn more about the Strong BRAIN Institute’s first Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma online training that can be taken for continuing education credit. By Becky Haas and Dr. Andrea Clements.