| | Is anyone else wondering how October snuck up so fast? With Election Day just around the corner (November 8) and early voting starting, we wanted to highlight a few advocacy resources. Members of, and candidates for, Congress are likely to hold more constituent events in their district this month. From town halls to canvassing, these events provide rich opportunities for direct education to policymakers. This is a great time to ask where your representatives stand on trauma-related issues. To help maximize your engagement, CTIPP has created an asynchronous and interactive advocacy series with resources and reflective questions, including how to prepare for engagement, build power and momentum, storytelling for advocacy, and build/sustain relationships with policymakers, among other valuable lessons. The series was developed by Whitney Marris, CTIPP’s Director of Trauma-Informed Practice and System Transformation. You can also view CTIPP’s Building the Movement workshop on policy and advocacy and download infographics for education and engagement tools, which can be utilized as talking points on issues like the cost of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the public health approach to address, prevent, and mitigate trauma. To ensure you receive updated information around specific calls to action in the future, please join the Campaign as an organization or individual if you have not already done so. Sincerely, Your Friends at CTIPP P.S. - If you ask a policymaker a question on video or relevant news clips from local media, please share the clip with Laura Braden Quigley, our director of communications and outreach (laura@traumacampaign.org). | | |  | IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: With CTIPP’s support, the U.S. House passed the Mental Health Matters Act on September 29th, which includes the Supporting Trauma-Informed Education Practices Act, a bill that CTIPP endorsed in May. "Trauma-informed practices in schools have been shown to decrease expulsions, suspensions, staff turnover, and behavioral referrals while increasing school-wide fulfillment and school completion," said Jesse Kohler, CTIPP’s Executive Director. “Specifically, the Local Interagency Agreements will have a profoundly positive impact on children and communities, decreasing health disparities, justice involvement, violence, and more." | | | | | | | | Educate Congress on Trauma-Informed Schools: Advocacy is a long-term commitment usually based on small wins that add up over time. Earlier this year, CTIPP helped mobilized hundreds of advocates from over 36 states to successfully secure $1 billion in the recent version of the appropriations legislation to train and retain school-based mental health professionals while encouraging them to use trauma-informed practices. Now, we need more advocates all over the country to mobilize Congress to pass the Trauma-Informed Schools Act. We’ve created an easy outreach guide and a trauma-informed schools report to ease outreach and education to Congressional offices with information to understand proven methods in better supporting students, teachers, and other school staff members to improve the health, well-being, and safety of the entire school community. | | | Later this month, Congressman Paul Tonko (NY-20) will introduce legislation to fund community-based initiatives that will help communities build capacity to withstand tragedies such as natural disasters. Strong communities heal more quickly from traumatic events. The Congressman is seeking organizations to endorse this legislation by October 12th. Click here to read the Community Mental Wellness Resilience Act. Click here to endorse. | | | Apply for ReCAST Funds: SAMHSA is issuing ten ReCAST (Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma) grant awards of up to $1 million per year for up to four years to promote resilience, trauma-informed approaches, and equity in communities that have recently faced civil unrest, community violence, and/or collective trauma within the past 24 months; and assist high-risk youth and families through the implementation of evidence-based violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs. Deadline to apply: October 17, 2022. Interested in Briefing Your Federal Legislators? CTIPP is offering to partner, coordinate, and set up the logistics, so you can virtually brief your U.S. Senate and House representatives on trauma-informed policies and practices in your community, sector, or system. Simply email Jen Curt, CTIPP’s Director of Government Affairs (jen@traumacampaign.org), to start the process. | | | | | | | | Thursday, October 13: The Lunch Hour with Sandra Bloom, M.D., CTIPP’s Board Chair. Hosted by Collectively Rooted and Heal PA, join this free discussion with Dr. Bloom, who has helped pioneer the field of traumatic stress and is a past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Dr. Bloom has written three books about the Sanctuary Model and, in 2020, introduced an online organizational approach called Creating Presence. | | | | MINDFUL MOMENT: 4 - 7 - 8 BREATHING | | | | | | | | The 4-7-8 breathing technique can help calm your nervous system, and you can practice anywhere. Simply find a comfortable position and breathe through your nose for 4 seconds. Hold your breath for 7 seconds, then breathe forcefully out for 8 seconds. You can usually do around three cycles of 4-7-8 breathing in one minute. | | | | | | | | | | | | Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice
1050 Thomas Jefferson Street NW Seventh Floor | Washington, District of Columbia 20007
(215) 370-1362 | jesse@traumacampaign.org | | | | | | | | | | | |
