A cross-system approach to developing workforce competencies, curriculum, and champions for trauma-informed care

Trauma informed practice, everyone is talking about it, but what does it really mean and how can it be achieved in a large urban public service system? Multiplying Connections, a Philadelphia based initiative, is addressing these questions through a collaborative cross-system coalition focused on building capacity for trauma informed care for children 0-5.

In 2006, with funding from the William Penn Foundation, the Health Federation of Philadelphia formed a Cross System Training Institute (CSTI) charged with promoting trauma informed practice in four large public systems that serve young children, the School District of Philadelphia, and the City's Departments of Human Services, Maternal Child Health and Children's Behavioral Health.

Using a nominal process the CSTI has developed the first set of core professional competencies for effective trauma informed and developmentally appropriate practice. In 2009 the group developed a full-day core course introducing professionals at all levels to these competencies. Through the project's website, providers in Philadelphia will be directed to additional training and staff development opportunities which deepen their competence in specific domains in the Core Competencies.

This presentation will describe the process used to develop the core competencies and foundational curriculum, as well as lessons learned from establishing and sustaining a cross-system training institute and creating local champions for trauma informed practice.