Connecting Stories: Trauma-Informed Networking

Carlisle Fire Company

615 NW Front St, 19963, Milford, DE, United States

Madelyn Wright

0 followers

Vision: I hope to be a connector of communities and organizations so that each caregiver in a child's life can identify and respond to the symptoms of trauma in a way that promotes healing.My trauma informed journey started by watching my foster siblings display behaviors that seemed completely uncalled for in ​most all situations, from exuding a shrill and terrible scream that would last an entire car ride, to flinching at the perfect temperature bath, to scratching incessantly at the sheets and not soothing at bedtime.As a teenager, I started with an attitude of ignorance. They were just bad, annoying kids in my mind. As I spent more time with those kiddos though, and grew to love them, I began to notice a trend. A trend that spread across the eleven foster children that came into our home. I did not have an answer but began to wonder who would be able to care for and meet these children's needs longterm?What teacher would take the extra time?What doctor would listen to all the unrelated symptoms and come to a sensible conclusion?What police officer would care when they broke rules that most other kids could follow easily enough?This sent me sprinting towards my bachelors degree in Special Education at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. I learned about how the system would treat these children, and I started to learn about behavior and disabilities. Sometimes behavior and special needs go hand-in-hand, but with my foster siblings still at the forefront of my mind, I knew that they were not all disabled. So what was causing them to act the way they did? Another trend began to form. A group of children like my foster siblings being mislabeled and misdiagnosed and drowning in a system that had no idea what to do with them.The answer came to me in the form of a weekend seminar being offered by a local non-profit called OrphanWise. They introduced me to the term "complex developmental trauma" and exposed me to how the brain and body react to trauma. Not only did they explain the why they told me what to do about it. I was then introduced to Trust Based Relational Intervention® or TBRI®.I was hooked.I spent the next three years reading, researching, and listening to everything I could get my hands on related to complex developmental trauma and the world began to make so much more sense so it seemed. TBRI® is a complete change in mindset. Now I looked at children with genuine curiosity, why were they acting out? What need was causing this behavior? How could I meet that need?I can remember being not sure if the strategies would work but was determined to go all in and try. Not only did they work, but I started to become known as someone who could work with kids who had "tough behaviors" in my first job at HeadStart as a substitute, as a student teacher in a 6th grade middle school classroom, and later in a 12th grade high school classroom. I was a novice implementing new strategies and they were working.Not only does TBRI® give you tools to help others but also insight to look into your own past and your own attachment style. Attending that weekend seminar led me to my counselor who is now a good friend and mentor. I learned the value of deep healing for myself so that I could offer it to others.My senior year of college, I reached out to that very same non-profit asking for more resources and direction and instead received a life changing job. I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the United Way of the Ocoee Region for one year and during my term worked side-by-side with OrphanWise who taught me the ins and outs of TBRI®. Not only was I becoming more trauma informed but my VISTA position enforced skills of community outreach and capacity building for an organization. ​Thanks to OrphanWise I am now a TBRI® Practitioner trained by the source itself, The Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, and can offer the Caregiver Training to my home state of Delaware.My Goals:I hope to see every adult in a child’s life using the same language surrounding behavior, and correcting problem behavior with consistent, appropriate responses.After your initial organizational training, I will continue to be available for consultation and implementation support.I am a big believer in hands-on learning (courtesy of my bachelor's degree in Special Education) which will help trainees consistently remember and implement what they learn.I hope to reduce teacher burnout by providing them with the tools and resources to handle behavior in the classroomI hope to reduce foster parent turnover.Parents who have undergone TBRI® training report significantly less stress as reported on the Parental Stress Scale.I hope to reduce youth violence.After just two years of TBRI® implementation, one school at a facility for at-risk youth reported a 93% decrease in referrals for physical aggression or fighting with peers.I hope to reduce teen pregnancies especially in foster children. Helping foster parents and other caregivers forge genuine connections with the children in their care will reduce the likeliness of pregnancy.I hope to reduce youth incarceration by equipping caregivers to diffuse tense situations before they escalate into prosecutable offenses.