This past Thursday and Friday, September 5th and 6th we held the Berks County Trauma Summit at the Berks County Intermediate Unit. The staff and volunteers at the IU were wonderful to work with and the summit was well received. I felt a great deal of commitment and enthusiasm from the participants who attended.
This Trauma Summit was sponsored by the 2017 PA Hurricane Supplemental Emergency Response Grant (SERG) in collaboration with the PA Attorney General’s Office, Lakeside Global Institute, Berks County Mental Health / Developmental Disabilities Program, and the Berks County Intermediate Unit.
The workshops presented were as follows:
- Trauma 101 – An Overview of Trauma-Informed Care
- Trauma 102 – Basic Skills of Trauma-Informed Care
- Neurologic for Schools
- Systems Simulation and Discussion
- Recognizing Secondary and Vicarious Trauma
- Introduction of Trauma for Parents/Caregivers
- The PRESENCE Trauma Organizational Certification Model
- Trauma-Informed Cultural Sensitivity
- Law Enforcement Wellness
At the end of each day we spent time in discussion as a Call to Action inter-professionally. It was during these conversations that we had a mutual dialogue about the needs for the Berks County community and what specifically these committed professionals felt would improve their systems of care for trauma-impacted individuals.
Trauma summits like this one are so valuable because professionals are given the chance to come together, share common training, evaluate their own approaches to trauma and at a grassroots level take time to think about how they can improve their systems of care.
We at Lakeside consider it a privilege to be the training partner in this compelling event. We deeply appreciate all those who worked so diligently to make this summit possible. We look forward to how this will impact the Berks County community. We also look forward to future summits and opportunities to offer training, support and hope to those professionals who work so diligently to help those in their care.
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
