For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – Marshfield Clinic Health System has received a $200,000 grant over two years, partnering with Wisconsin communities to increase awareness and address effects of trauma through trauma informed care, specifically focusing on afterschool, community-based organizations, and child-care systems.

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation awarded the grant, which was jump-started initially by a new curriculum – Supporting Children with Complex Trauma in Afterschool Programs. The curriculum was developed by the health system’s Center for Community Health Advancement (CCHA) and Wisconsin Afterschool Network (WAN) consultants. This work was funded by the state’s Department of Children and Families.

The Mott Foundation grant, along with the new curriculum, will be used for training, technical assistance, and education by health system staff for community-based organizations, child care centers, and school-based afterschool programs. Regional communities of practice facilitated by CCHA staff and WAN consultants in Eau Claire, Wausau, Stevens Point, the Fox Valley and Milwaukee will be developed to help support implementing trauma-sensitive programs and referral pathways will be developed.

Trauma is extreme stress that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope through an event or circumstances that harms physical or emotional well-being. Trauma informed care involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to effects of trauma.

“By using trauma informed care, afterschool programs like Boys & Girls Clubs and YMCAs can play an even bigger role in building resilience and positively impacting all children, youth and families,” said Wisconsin’s First Lady Tonette Walker. “I am excited to see how Marshfield Clinic Health System and the Wisconsin Afterschool Network will integrate trauma informed care into their work with afterschool programs and spread their knowledge across Wisconsin.”

Walker has a longstanding interest in this issue and about a year ago, health system officials met with her to discuss trauma informed care. A common theme was to embed trauma informed care into large statewide “systems” that daily serve thousands of Wisconsin children and youth, many who have experienced trauma.