At the 2019 MACo Winter Conference session, “It Takes a Village: Building Resilience and Treating Trauma,” attendees learned about how traumatic events, especially those experienced early in life, can have long-lasting detrimental effects well into adulthood as well as the ways local governments are working to treat such trauma.

Dr. Helene Felman from Kaiser Permanente provided an overview of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how chronic stress caused by such childhood trauma leads to long-term health impacts. She then shared on the work Kaiser Permanente is doing to address trauma and build resiliency.

Baltimore City Council Member Zeke Cohen discussed the Elijah Cummings Healing City Act. A bill he sponsored that would help ensure that city employees are properly trained to help youth that have experienced traumatic events. Cohen shared how witnessing the impacts of trauma as a teacher in the city helped shape his determination to work on such issues as a city council member.

David Trolio, Director of the Department of Community Services for Cecil County provided a narrative of how the impacts of the opioid crisis on children and families prompted the county to form a multi-disciplinary trauma subcommittee that has studied what was happening in the county and spearheaded the development of a comprehensive system of connecting families to services, holding training for services providers, and reaching out to educate community members.

The session was moderated by Carroll County Commissioner Stephen Wantz and held on Wednesday, December 4, 2019. 

The 2019 MACo Winter Conference, “Building for the Future,” was held on December 4-6, 2019, at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel in Cambridge, Maryland.