News

The HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) team at Tufts Children’s Hospital interviewed Audrey Smolkin, executive director of the Center on Child Wellbeing & Trauma, on how the Center came to be, how it addresses the needs of children and families in Massachusetts and the purpose of the Center’s website. Audrey shares, “The mission of all of our work, HOPE, and the Center on Child Wellbeing & Trauma needs to be focused on creating an even playing field where we are really all starting from a position of health and ability to contribute to each other.” Read the HOPE interview.…

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Welcome to our e-newsletter!

In this issue…

News and updates

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The Center for Child Wellbeing & Trauma is collaborating with the Departments of Children and Families and Early Education and Care to assemble a cohort offering free trauma-responsive and healing-centered self-assessment and coaching to congregate care organizations.

Congregate care providers interested in becoming part of a cohort and participating in an assessment and coaching exercise with the Center for Child Wellbeing and Trauma, please email us at CCWT@mass.gov.

Download the Flyer

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In partnership with the Center on Child Wellbeing and Trauma, the Worcester Trauma, Resiliency & Racial Equity Training Institute offered a series of opportunities to learn to use trauma-informed knowledge and skills to promote racial equity and resilience in Worcester this winter.

The sessions covered three areas:

1. Foundational Course: This training is for staff, leadership, and volunteers in both public and private sectors interested in the principles of trauma, the trauma of racism, the value of supporting resiliency, and racial equity. The program includes discussion, reflection, breaks, and activities that will help participants apply learning to their everyday work.
2. Supporting Change Agents: This series is an intensive opportunity for those looking to develop specific projects in their community and those interested in exploring being a trauma-informed racial equity facilitator.

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The Center for Child Wellbeing and Trauma’s partnership with Thriving Minds is already making an impact! This collaboration works with school districts and partners to promote and support trauma-responsive and healing-centered practices. We are currently working with 12 schools and districts that serve more than 43,000 students in Massachusetts:

• Holyoke Public Schools
• Fitchburg Public Schools
• Revere Public Schools
• Malden Public Schools
• Haverhill Public Schools
• Winchendon Public Schools
• Spencer East Brookfield Regional School District
• Amherst-Pelham Regional School District
• Gardner Public Schools
• Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership
• Ashfield Middle School (Brockton Public Schools)
• Cape Cod Collaborative

Congratulations and appreciation to all of the partners! We welcome the opportunity to work with other schools and districts on this important initiative.…

On November 4, 2021, the Center on Child Wellbeing and Trauma (CCWT) kicked off our first Community of Practice Cohort in collaboration with seven Family Resource Centers (FRC) located throughout the state. The CCWT did an assessment and is coaching the FRCs in becoming more trauma-informed and responsive. Learn more about our Assessment and Coaching expertise.

The sites that participated in FRC Cohort Community of Practice are:

• Athol/North Quabbin
• Fall River
• New Bedford
• Pittsfield
• Southbridge
• Ware
• Worcester

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Many children began school this year having experienced significant trauma from the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Schools must respond to this need by providing thoughtful, effective supports that focus on helping students heal from trauma.

Thriving Minds—a collaboration between BRYT, the Massachusetts School Mental Health Consortium, and the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy—is offering a new professional development series on Trauma-Informed Practices for School Mental Health. This series is funded by and presented in partnership with the Center on Child Wellbeing & Trauma. Over the course of five sessions, participants will learn to understand the causes of trauma and identify its symptoms, incorporate trauma-sensitive practices within and outside the classroom, establish systems to collect and use data on effective interventions, and build a trauma-sensitive school culture.…

Greetings,

We are thrilled to officially launch the Center on Child Wellbeing and Trauma, a joint project between the Office of the Child Advocate and UMass Chan Medical School!

You can learn more about the Center on our new website or by viewing our flyer. The website is full of resources, information, and toolkits aimed at supporting child-serving organizations. It also features trainings and guides that will help promote learning and information sharing. Please help us spread the word by sharing this new website with others who may find it helpful.

As we launch this new Center, we are looking for child-serving organizations interested in becoming more trauma-informed and responsive to partner with us as we build out a variety of training, coaching, and professional learning community pilot projects this year.…

The Office of the Child Advocate, in partnership with ForHealth Consulting, UMass Chan Medical School, is launching the Massachusetts Center on Child Wellbeing and Trauma with funding included in this year’s state budget. The Center will support child-serving organizations and systems in becoming trauma-informed and responsive through training, technical assistance, communities of practice, and other support. 

 Why a State Center on Child Wellbeing & Trauma? 

Trauma can significantly impact a child’s development, with long-term consequences for physical, mental, and emotional health that can last into adulthood. But with the right supports, many who experience trauma will recover and thrive. 

Every organization that works with children most likely works with children who have experienced trauma, whether they know it or not.…