On April 25th and 26th, Director of the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative (the Collaborative), Lara Altman, attended the Center for Health Care Strategies’ Advancing Trauma-Informed Care convening in New York City.

Advancing Trauma-Informed Care is a national initiative led by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and its goal is to understand how trauma-informed approaches can be practically implemented across the health sector. After hearing about Health & Medicine and the Collaborative’ s work with Trauma-Informed Hospital Collaborative—a group of 16+ Chicago area hospitals working to begin (and advance) the process of becoming trauma-informed systems—CHCS invited members of the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative to attend the convening.  Marlita White, Director of Violence Prevention and Behavioral Health at the Chicago Department of Public Health, represented the Collaborative on a panel entitled “Integrating Trauma-Informed Care into Strategic Priorities.”

Lara and Marlita were excited to be among other leaders in the field of trauma-informed care. They heard from representatives from places like San Francisco Department of Public Health, Montefiore Medical Group, and Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition—all of whom shared their successes and challenges. The discussions reinforced the unique nature of our Trauma-Informed Hospital Collaborative, which is the first such group in the country.  It also highlighted that the process of becoming trauma-informed takes time and resources, and that there is still much to be learned about how we measure impact and financial returns on investment. Lara and Marlita left inspired by the possibilities ahead which will be shared with our partners in Illinois. For those interested in learning more, check out this resource guide prepared by CHCS.