Trauma-informed care: Why it was Stafford County
Addiction Summit’s No. 1 topic

By Kyle Stucker
Nov 20, 2019

First appeared here: https://www.fosters.com/news/20191120/trauma-informed-care-why-it-was-stafford-county-addiction-summits-no-1-topic

DOVER — Experts at the annual Stafford County Addiction Summit Wednesday stressed communities and providers must fully rethink all strategies that push struggling children and adults off rather than directly addressing their root traumas.

To Dr. Larry McCullough, the founder of Pinetree Institute in Eliot, Maine, embracing trauma-informed care will be one of the region’s key next steps in stemming social issues like substance use disorder.

McCullough said that’s especially important in terms of addressing people and their access to services on an individual level, particularly in terms of the adverse childhood experiences shown to be major contributing factors to substance use.

“We’re at that point where which is, I believe, is a tipping point,” said McCullough. “To me, it’s that idea that there are actions that we can take that can actually make a difference. We are learning more about that as a society in the same way we’ve made huge changes in smoking behavior. We can make the same kinds of changes in some of these issues that are much more fundamental to the work that we are doing. That’s what gives me hope.”

McCullough was the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s summit, a Strafford County Public Health Network program at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital that drew hundreds of attendees from across the social service, recovery, education, health care and law enforcement fields.

The theme of this year’s forum was trauma-informed care. TIC is a premise built around the idea that trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) create a cycle of abuse that changes how children develop, leading to physical, mental and behavioral problems as the children become adults. It’s also built around the idea that positive childhood and adult experiences and supports can counter those things and increase addiction resiliency.

McCullough said TIC is not a specific program, but rather a different way of asking questions to meet an individual on the level they need.

“We begin with, ‘I believe you,’” said Debra Altschiller, Haven’s community liaison, a member of the New Hampshire Human Trafficking Collaborative Task Force and a state representative. ”‘I believe you. I believe you have suffered.’ And from there, once somebody who is experiencing trauma is told, ‘I believe you,’ then we can go to all manners of places from there because that’s a trust.

McCullough said there are many traditional care systems and approaches that, intentionally or inadvertently, “reject and eject” struggling people and the issues at hand, rather than give them the kinds of empowerment, resources and tools they need.

McCullough cited school isolation rooms as one example, describing them as a “convenient” but ultimately unhelpful way some districts attempt to handle students who experience behavioral outbursts. A recent Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois investigation found schools in Illinois, one of 31 states that allow secluding children in locked rooms, have been misusing them.

“Maybe there are some things we can do to adjust our circumstances to that actually would fit better and enable that person to engage,” McCullough said while describing classroom outbursts through a TIC lens. “It opens a different set of questions that we would start to ask instead of just, ‘How do I get them out of here and down to the principal’s office?’ Schools that implemented trauma-informed approaches… (saw) detention in the principal’s office drop by 70 or 80 percent because now we don’t need to do that any more because we’re thinking about it differently.”

Others who spoke on the topic Wednesday included an expert panel featuring: Altschiller; Lt. Matt Larochelle of the Manchester Police Department’s Adverse Childhood Experience Response Team (ACERT); Mark Lefebvre of Southern NH Services’ NH Works for Recovery program; Jennifer Hollidge, the only National Guard child and youth coordinator in the state; and Michelle Muffett-Lipinski, a Dover city councilor and the principal of Northshore Recovery High School in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Each of the panelists said their agencies are working to use trauma-informed approaches in their work, as well as improve the ways in which they assist people who have experienced trauma.

Muffett-Lipinski said she believes there’s “a lot more work to do” to raise awareness and “change the conversation” in local communities and governments.

She encouraged the couple hundred people present Wednesday to serve as strong advocates for approaches that use TIC to combat the multi-generational underpinnings of addiction.

“I don’t think people really know the vulnerability of these children,” said Muffett-Lipinski. “Until we can get the story out there of what happens to them, and really follow their trajectory from cradle to grave — which happens a lot faster if you have a higher ACEs score — I don’t think people understand the severity of what’s happening and that they’re in our schools.”

Altschiller voiced similar remarks while stating collaboration is key to effectively addressing issues surrounding trauma.

“The work that we do can’t be siloed,” she said.

Debra Altschiller is the wife of Howard Altschiller, Seacoast Media Group’s executive editor and general manager.

First appeared here: https://www.fosters.com/news/20191120/trauma-informed-care-why-it-was-stafford-county-addiction-summits-no-1-topic