Health & Medicine’s Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative has been proud to work with partners at Rush University Medical Center on numerous trauma-informed efforts, including our Chicagoland Trauma-Informed Hospitals Working Group and Statewide Working Group to Address Childhood Adversity.

In a special interview in honor of this past Trauma-Informed Awareness Day, our colleagues at Rush interviewed Drs. Kyle Bersted and Janet Yarboi of the Department of Pediatrics to learn how they are promoting healing among staff in their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts using Restorative Justice (RJ) practices. The interview highlights Rush University Medical Center leaders’ innovative thinking about how to achieve trauma-informed, healing-centered transformation system-wide, including how staff can support each other’s well-being.

“We wanted to bring people together, break down siloes, worry less about who works where, and see ourselves as a community that shares a mission and has a shared humanity,” Dr. Janet Yarboi shared.

RJ is a deeply valuable and transformative framework for advancing trauma-informed, healing-centered environments. The Collaborative is committed to promoting practices that foster compassion and healing and looks forward to continuing to learn about the impact of these initiatives at Rush and beyond.

Check out the interview to learn more about what led them to implement RJ approaches, what they hope to accomplish, and how they see RJ helping the healers at Rush.