Following the passing of Laney Dahm, her husband Don Dahm reached out to provide financial support for the establishment of the development of a program to support the emotional wellness and resiliency of the students and residents of SW Philadelphia. This initiative called the “Laney Dahm Program for Emotional Wellness,” provides trauma-informed care and operates as a collaborative project between The Common Place and its community partners.
The program engages with community organizations and others that share the following goals: Train staff to recognize signs of trauma and to use trauma-informed approaches; offer counseling to children and families; and provide programs that promote emotional wellness, creativity, and the development of social-emotional skills to children and families of the SW Philadelphia community through the provision of education and resources.
Through Mr. Dahm’s generous support, TCP has been able to integrate trauma-informed practices into existing programming, seek out innovative resources, and make these resources accessible to the community.
Background:
The 1998 landmark Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) study identified categories of harmful events, series of events, or sets of circumstances that contribute to the development of long-term health and mental health sequelae and are more prevalent in urban settings.
The Sanctuary Model
Developed by Sandra Bloom, MD, the Sanctuary Model is a trademarked, comprehensive, trauma-informed approach to organizational change. It hinges on the notion that problematic human behavior is the result of psychological injury, which is in turn the result of chronic stress. When this reality is acknowledged at every level of an organization, those served by the organization are better able to cope with chronic and unrelenting environmental toxicity. In addition, the model acknowledges the likelihood of secondary traumatization to those providing services and includes mechanisms to address those needs, which allows the organization as a whole to function more effectively.
Foundational to the Sanctuary Model are seven cultural characteristics: nonviolence; emotional intelligence; social learning; shared governance; open communication; social responsibility; and growth and change.
Social – Emotional Learning (SEL)
The phased implementation of trauma-informed programming at TCP has included the following:
– providing education about trauma to all levels of staff;
– infusing trauma-informed practices into group activities;
– offering targeted, empirically validated therapeutic interventions (such as Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavior Therapy) to children and families.
Many of the activities and curriculum integrations are based on the CASEL (www.casel.org) model. Our goal is to provide a SEL foundation by introducing a growth mindset with the Mindset Works curriculum. Developed by Dr. Carol Dweck, the growth mindset is the understanding that abilities and intelligence can be developed. The Mindset Works company has two programs that focus on k-3 and 4 –9 respectively. Growing Early Mindsets (GEM) is a literacy-based curriculum that blends growth mindset and SEL. Brainology is a blended learning curriculum that teaches students how to develop a growth mindset.
Using GEM programming as the foundation, we are continuing the SEL integration with the noted Second Step program which has developed a new Out of School Time (OST) curriculum. The program
will support children from Kindergarten through Grade 5 by providing engaging resources and age-appropriate activities that support children’s social-emotional development through self-regulation, social skills, and community-building.