Online Trainings

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Casey Gwinn will share the powerful research and outcomes around the science of hope and its transformative power to change the destinies of trauma-impacted youth and adults. Hope is measurable, malleable, and cultivatable, and it is now helping to predict outcomes in the lives of those impacted by direct and vicarious trauma. Hope and resiliency are central to seeing well-being increase in our work with youth and adults impacted by adverse childhood experiences and related polyvictimization as adults. This session will be both personally and professionally challenging as we aspire to do trauma-informed, hope-centered work in our organizations and systems.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

In this workshop, the presenter and participants will discuss how children experience the justice system as a crime victim or witness based on their development, prior traumatic experiences, and the support they receive from caregivers and practitioners. The presenter will describe specific strategies for supporting child victims and witnesses as they navigate the justice system, informing and empowering them, and mitigating any secondary harm by using the child witness materials recently created by the Center for Court Innovation and OVC.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

We know some things about victimization, trauma, and adversity. Various fields have made immense progress over the last decade in introducing trauma-responsive concepts and practices into our human service systems. Even with these successes, however, work remains to be done. This session will review our understanding of how toxic stress has evolved within the scientific community over the last 150 years, where that science now stands, how that knowledge has been applied to reforming systems of care (including courts), and what the future might hold for trauma-responsive policy and practice in the coming decades.

Dr. Matt Buckman, Ph.D., Executive Director, Stress and Trauma Treatment Center

Dr. Colleen Cicchetti, Ph.D., Executive Director, Center for Childhood Resilience at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Dr. Jacqueline Klossing, Ph.D., Clinical Specialist, Egyptian Public and Mental Health Department

Dr. Mashana Smith, Ph.D., Mental Health Consultant, Lurie Children’s Center for Childhood Resilience

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Trauma is impacting the lives of students, educators and families at unprecedented rates. Research has shown that children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and even brain development can be significantly impeded by traumatic stress. Hence, it is not surprising that childhood trauma is associated with impediments in school performance. In recent years, there has been an increasing recognition among educators, advocates, policymakers, and communities of the importance of addressing childhood trauma in schools. This interactive session provides an overview of the Trauma Responsive Schools model and its implementation in both urban and rural school settings. In this session, participants will learn about the participating schools, the professional development sequence, and the consultation model used to support schools in assessing their own strengths and weaknesses in trauma-related policies, procedures, and practices. In breakout groups, participants will engage in reflection and discussion on the presence or absence of trauma-responsive practices within their respective school buildings. Participants will also learn about partnerships for creating multi-sector collaborations with local schools including successes, challenges, and lessons learned. At the end of the session, participants will engage in silent think time and identify at least one idea, strategy, tool, or action step that can be used in their school; participants will be paired for each person to share their takeaway and thinking with their partner.

Laurie Crawford, MPA, Virginia HEALS Project Manager, Virginia Department of Social Services

Nancy Fowler, MBA, Virginia HEALS Project Director, Virginia Department of Social Services

Martin Parker, Virginia HEALS Project Specialist, Virginia Department of Social Services

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Virginia was one of four Linking Systems of Care state demonstration projects that were funded by the Office for Victims of Crime to improve the identification and coordination of care for children, youth, and families who have experienced violence. Over the course of this six-year journey, Virginia not only met project goals and objectives, but also developed a model of service delivery and supporting toolkit, rebranded itself as Virginia HEALS, and moved into a sustainability phase wherein the framework that has been developed to support children, youth, and families will continue to expand and grow.

In this 60-minute presentation, the Virginia HEALS team will describe their approach to the Linking Systems of Care work, including an overview of their structure and data collection/program planning activities. They will discuss each item in the Virginia HEALS toolkit, focusing specifically on Community Resource Mapping, the Screening for Experiences and Strengths, and the Referral and Response Protocol. They will also describe their rollout plan for system and community-level outreach, including updates on training and implementation. Finally, they will discuss their strategies for achieving state sustainability as well as the project’s new goals and objectives as it moves into the future.

Jess Mayrer, MPA, Linking Systems of Care Program Coordinator

Dr. Jackson Bunch, Ph.D., Linking Systems of Care Statistician

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Linking Systems of Care (LSOC) Montana has created a comprehensive policy and practice template designed to catalyze trauma-informed care among Montana organizations and programs. LSOC team members will share data findings from trauma and victimization screening and strategies to help organizations become increasingly trauma informed.

Lisa DeGeeter, J.D., Linking Systems of Care for Ohio’s Youth Program Coordinator, Ohio Domestic Violence Network

CeCe Norwood, MA, Founder and Workgroup Facilitator, Nirvana Now!

Nancy Radcliffe, Project Director, Ohio Attorney General’s Office

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Ohioans dream big and aren’t afraid of hard work. The Linking Systems of Care for Ohio’s Youth (LSCOY) project will report out on its efforts to improve the lives of children and youth who have experienced victimization and trauma. This project is ambitious in its scope, focusing on the best way to serve individuals from birth through 26 years of age. LSCOY presenters will share an overview of the work that has been done, what will be done, and how the project may have lasting effects.

Kate Krieger, MPH, Project Director, RTI International

B. Lindsay Waldrop, Victim Justice Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

The purpose of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Improving Outcomes for Child and Youth Victims of Human Trafficking Program is to support states to integrate human trafficking policy and programming at the state or tribal level and enhance coordinated, multidisciplinary, and statewide approaches to all forms of trafficking, as well as at-risk populations, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes for children and youth who are victims of human trafficking. Currently, 11 states are implementing these statewide projects, with a range of strategies, partners, and approaches. This presentation will share an overview of the Improving Outcomes grantee projects, strategies grantees have used to link systems to better serve youth victims, and lessons learned through project implementation. The presentation will include small group discussion activities.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

This session will provide an opportunity to explore system-wide, community-based leadership. Participants will learn about a cross-system exploration of equity and inclusion, and they will focus on community at all levels while building formal and informal strategies to sustain collaboration and engagement across community and government systems.

Dr. Charlyn Harper Browne, Ph.D., Senior Associate, Center for the Study of Social Policy

Lisa Mishraky-Javier, MSW, Senior Associate, Center for the Study of Social Policy

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

This session will address how racist histories of children and family-serving systems (child welfare, juvenile justice, education, etc.) shape how systems and system actors treat Black, Native, and Latinx children and youth and families, impacting their overall well-being. The session will cover what research has uncovered about how biases toward Black, Native, and Latinx youth manifest, especially for youth that may have involvement in multiple systems. Ultimately, the session will provide participants with insights about how to employ strategies to mitigate biases that impede racial equity as well as strategies to advance equity centered understandings of well-being.

Hunter Hurst, IV, MS, Senior Research Associate, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Gene Siegel, MA, Senior Research Associate, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Kelly Mangiaracina, J.D., King County CSEC and Program Manager, Seattle Washington

Geri Yrigolla, Alternative Community Engagement Services Center Lead Probation Officer, Pima County Juvenile Court Center, Tucson, Arizona

Dr. Jeana Bracey, Ph.D., Associate Vice President of School and Community Initiatives, Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut Inc.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

Children, youth, and young adults who are survivors of traumatic events during their formative years often encounter multiple human service and legal systems. Youth with multi-system experiences require an approach that recognizes multi-system involvement, is aware of trauma histories, and can link services, building upon resilience factors and promoting healing.   This workshop introduces three efforts outside of the formal Linking Systems of Care demonstration project that have successfully linked two or more systems that serve child victims of maltreatment and/or family violence.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

This session will provide participants with the opportunity to think about collaboration as not just connecting courts and system partners with resources but as the location where stakeholders and partners have the opportunity to establish a shared language, shared goals and a shared vision that can positively shift the lives of families.

Dr. Tien Ung, Director of Impact and Learning, Futures Without Violence

Mie Fukuda, Ed.M., Program Manager, Futures Without Violence

Quality Improvement Center on Domestic Violence in Child Welfare (QIC-DVCW)

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

As COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on families and communities throughout 2020, national media sources reported widespread concerns about increases in family violence during shutdowns - even as child abuse and neglect reports declined due to the decreased visibility of children. The limitations of a child protection system focused on surveillance by mandated reporters, and organized around risk management, came sharply into focus as a result. The recognition of those limitations coincided with calls for reform (or even abolition) to address structural racism within systems, specifically law enforcement and child protection, after the murder of George Floyd. Across the country, there is a growing consensus about the challenge and opportunity in front of us -- to create a true child welfare system that addresses root causes of harm to both child and adult survivors of violence, and to move upstream to address family vulnerabilities resulting from structural racism and structural poverty.

Creating a system of care in which a wide range of collaborating partners intentionally and actively build protective factors at practice and policy levels will help both child and adult survivors to be safer and promote their healthy development and well-being. This presentation will present five protective factors that illustrate opportunities for prevention and early intervention with families impacted by co-occurring domestic violence and child maltreatment.

Seth El-Jamal, MA, Director of Prevention and Intervention Services, Illinois Collaboration on Youth

Jocelyn Vega, Trauma Specialist, Illinois Collaboration on Youth

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

How do we respect youth and communities’ hidden rules as useful and functional in social services and programming environments? In her book, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby K. Payne states that hidden rules are “the unspoken cues and habits of a group.” With this lens of hidden rules, service providers can recognize and value youth and communities existing skill sets before structuring program experiences, goals, and expectations. Hidden rules awareness is pre-work for cautiously structuring programming. This awareness also engages healing processes by empowering participants to be leaders of how the material and decision making is crafted and delivered.

In this training, service providers will tangibly learn how to code their programming within existing hidden rules. This training will immerse participants to consider youth’s hidden rules to align our programming in advance. Additionally, this training will provide trauma-informed best practices for community engagement. As takeaways, audience members will engage in group discussions, reflective questions, two breakout rooms, and polls to gain experience identifying and applying hidden rules.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

It is easy to suggest that a multidisciplinary team is needed to address diverse public health and safety issues such as child abuse. However, the implementation of an effective multidisciplinary team is challenging as it includes numerous organizations and agencies that are employed in their own organizational structure, and when participating in a multidisciplinary team there is no clear hierarchy or unified control and command. This session will highlight a newly developed model for creating a robust and sustainable multidisciplinary team by working at multiple levels of service and leadership across the involved partner agencies.

Alyson Morse Katzman, MPA, Associate Director, Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse

Rev. Anne Marie Hunter, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership Against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

This presentation will address the importance of working with faith leaders and faith communities to improve access to community services, provide support for survivors, and strengthen accountability for those who abuse. We will address why faith communities should be included; how to engage faith communities; and how faith-based leaders and communities could partner with your agency on intervention, prevention, accountability, and long-term social change.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

In this workshop, the presenter will facilitate a conversation among participants about barriers to universal access to effective trauma therapy services for children and teens in their communities. The presenter will suggest questions that teams can ask of providers to determine their ability to work effectively with children exposed to violence (in essence, what to look for), and will provide a range of strategies for increasing the effectiveness of existing trauma treatment for children as well as expanding the capacity of individual providers and the community as a whole to provide such treatment to all children who need it to heal from their exposure to violence.

Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth Information Expo, June 29-July 1, 2021

The traditional perspective of trauma sees those inflicted as distinct entities, treated by a myriad of systems. With this framing, we cannot fully understand the mechanisms of trauma at work, nor the opportunities to heal. How then, do we create better systems based off what we each see and hear to better collaborate with communities? Hear the unique story of Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia – a clinical psychologist, former jail warden, family member of a formerly incarcerated loved one, mother, and family member of a correctional professional – and how she redefines the scope of trauma by seeing systems for what they truly are: people. Dr. Tapia’s talk will focus on acknowledging the truth of our roles in the system, our own individual need for healing, and how we can move forward to reduce harm in the name of creating a safer and more just country for our youth.

Module One provides background information regarding the development of the seven key principles that drive the Linking Systems of Care Montana Trauma-Informed Approaches training.

This is the first module of the series, Click to View Entire Curriculum

Honorable Victor Reyes, Retired

During this session, faculty will lead a discussion acknowledging the existence and effects of trauma in our professions and discussing antidotes to mitigate its consequences in all aspects of our lives. One method that may be beneficial is focusing on regulating reactions to situations and developing the ability to handle daily challenges with patience and wisdom. A stressful workload affects us at a coarse and subtle level and we can ameliorate the consequences by regulating our bodies and easing our minds.

• Honorable Janice Rosa, Retired
• Honorable Ramona Gonzalez, Presiding Judge, Circuit Court, La Crosse County, Wisconsin
• Honorable Patricia Martin, Presiding Judge, Child Protection Division, Cook County, Illinois
• Dr. Charlyn Harper Browne, Senior Associate and Project Manager, Center for the Study of Social Policy
• Paula Gomez-Stordy, M.Ed., Senior Director of Training and Technical Assistance, National Latina Network, Casa de Esperanza
• Nikki Borchardt Campbell, Executive Director and Ansley Sherman, Program Attorney, National American Indian Court Judges Association
• Jen Robinson, Co-Founder and Youth Intervention Director, Awaken: Communities United to End Sex Trafficking
• Dr. Ramón A. Pastrano IV, MSM, MATS, President, Third Sphere, LLC

To watch additional sessions from this All Sites Meeting, please click here

Vision 21 is supported by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) in order to evaluate and assist the crime victim assistance field. Join Bethany Case and Lindsay Waldrop, Program Specialists from OVC, for a brief history of Vision 21, its partners and resulting programs such as Linking Systems of Care for Children of Youth.

Implementation Science refers to incorporating best practices and research of fields that serve children and families. Lyman Legters, Senior Fellow of the Annie Casey Foundation, presents the importance of practice changes and steps to implementation that extend beyond initial training. 

This webinar will address implications and issues to consider when piloting screening tools for victimization in immigrant populations. Topics covered include: (1) who is considered an immigrant; (2) the different types of immigration status; (3) how immigrant populations are relevant to the Vision 21: LSC Project; and (4) discussing special needs and considerations for serving immigrant populations.

Focus Groups are a type of qualitative research which is used in the social sciences and business to investigate phenomena that may not be easily quantifiable.  Focus Groups can be useful to clarify population opinions, particularly where you have populations who may not respond well to conventional methods. Kelly Ranasinghe and Eryn Branch from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges facilitate discussion on how and when use of Focus Groups is encouraged.  

The Center for Court Innovation (CCI), in collaboration with the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, present an overview of the Defending Childhood Demonstration Program, its implementation and recommendations. The goals of this program include prevention of children’s exposure to violence; mitigating the negative impact of such exposure when it does occur; and developing the knowledge and spreading awareness about children’s exposure to violence. Join Rachel Swaner and Lama Hassoun Ayoub from CCI for lessons learned from Defending Childhood sites.  

Jane Halladay Goldman, PhD, Director, Service Systems program at National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS),

Lisa Conradi, PsyD, Director of Clinical Operations, Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, and

Cassandra Kisiel, Ph.D., Research Associate Professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Principal Investigator and Director, SAMHSA-funded Center for Child Trauma Assessment and Service Planning, of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Partners in the Linking Systems of Care from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges present a webinar on development and implementation of screening tools in the field. Discussed are the types of screening tools, as well as ethical and logistical considerations regarding implementation of assessments. 

The presenters provided an overview of the unmet needs and barriers facing crime survivors who have limited English proficiency (LEP), including those who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Information about the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) language access initiative and examples of tools available to assist Vision 21: LSC demonstration site’s initial work on language accessibility were discussed.

The presenters highlighted ethical procedures and issues to consider when conducting demonstration projects which plan to deploy screening tools for victimization by various professional and non-profit agencies, including juvenile justice and social services. Discussion topics included: (1) understanding informed consent and child assent procedures (2) communicating research risks and benefits; (3) ensuring voluntary participation during recruitment and screening; (4) communicating confidentiality; and (5) developing referral and information sharing procedures. 

The presenters explained how the discovery process in the criminal and civil systems is applicable to the Vision 21: Linking Systems of Care (LSC) initiative and implementation activities. Presenters utilized case studies and hypotheticals to discuss record-keeping, subpoeana duces tecum (SDTs), and ethical/legal obligations. 

Cuyahoga County's Children Exposed to Violence Initiative is nationally recognized as a model of a successful demonstration project. Funded through the Defending Childhood Initiative (DCI), the Cuyahoga County initiative is similar in many aspects to the Vision 21: Linking Systems of Care for Children and Youth (LSC) demonstration project. Jakoyla Gordon and Jeff Kretschmar discussed the successful process behind the Cuyahoga County project, and how project staff at Vision 21: LSC demonstration sites can integrate the lessons learned in Cuyahoga County in their own state efforts. The information presented is particularly relevant to piloting a screening tool.