Philadelphia ACE Task Force
2019 Highlights
A Big Step Forward!
Exciting news! On December 10, 2019, the Philadelphia City Council approved Resolution No. 19098900 , "Calling upon the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to recognize Secondary Traumatic Stress as a workplace hazard, recommend steps to address mental health injury as a psychological hazard in the workplace as they do with physical injury, and create a standard for Secondary Traumatic Stress." Sponsors: Councilmember Green, Councilmember Gym, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Reynolds Brown.
Policy Workgroup Fall 2019
The Policy Workgroup re-convened in August to kick off a second wave of work, and build skills and understanding of how policy is made. Guest speakers Duwayne Terry, Legislative Aide from Philadelphia Councilmember Derek Green's office spoke about the process of City Council and PA State Representative Christina Sappey spoke about the Trauma Informed Education legislation and steps for bringing work to the State Legislature. Group members worked on their own policy agenda proposals and discussed whether policy or a different advocacy approach was most effective for reaching their desired goals. Active project groups include 1) STS & Resiliency Toolkit - identifying and publicizing local resources on Secondary Traumatic Stress; 2) participating in the Campaign for Trauma Informed Care-Community Action Network ( CTIPP-CAN ) and 3) drafting and support to bring the City Council Call-Upon Resolution to fruition (completed! - special thanks to Dr. Betty Lee Davis for her leadership) and drafting the letter to OSHA. If you would like to get involved in PATF Policy work or have other questions or ideas, please reply to this email.
Have you wondered how Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), ACEs and Community Resilience are linked? If you read the recent news articles highlighting the pain endured by Philadelphia Police officers , SEPTA train operators, Teachers , and Substance Use Professionals , you can see the impact STS has and its potentially preventable negative outcomes. Supporting workplace health supports healthy communities and reduces likelihood of events leading to ACEs. It is "trauma preventive."
Steps leading to Council Resolution
The Philadelphia ACE Task Force launched its policy work in Fall 2018, working with Caregivers Film to prepare background material and identify potential panelists for an informational hearing at City Council on secondary traumatic stress and resilience programs for city workers. Th e council resolution fo r the hearing was sponsored by Councilman Derek Green and Councilwoman Helen Gym. We had an overwhelming response of Task Force members who responded with the call for contributors to this project, and a core group who committed to organizing the work.
Panelists at STS Info Hearing
City Council Informational Hearing Panelists
Hearing Working Group & City Council Members
The PATF Policy Hearing Coordinating Group produced the materials and worked with Councilman Green's office to identify panelists and prepare them for the hearing. Panelists provided a cross section of information from the biology of STS to the impact on workers from different sectors to highlights from DHBIDS and DHS, PPD and PFD, and PhilaPOSH  on what those are doing to prevent and mitigate the impact of STS . Additional testimony included the value of providing information for all levels of departments. This work is part of the #TakeCarePHL Initiative and is chronicled as a policy case study in the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) Policy and Advocacy toolkit .
Welcoming Dr. Roberta Waite to PATF Steering Committee
Roberta Waite, EdD, PMHCNSBC, FAAN, ANEF, has joined the  PATF Steering Committee . Director of Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11 th  Street Family Health Services, Roberta brings to the Task Force her expertise and passion from her work in a Sanctuary-Certified organization that continues to actively work to uphold the tenants of Sanctuary. Additionally, 11 th  Street, has engaged deeply in examining how racism and community level ACE- related issues affect the patients and service delivery. Roberta's interest in research is extensive having conducted the 11 th  Street ACE survey and recently co-authored the book, “ Adverse Childhood Experiences – What Students and Health Professionals Need to Know”.
Philadelphia at APHA
American Public Health Association (APHA) held its annual conference here November. PATF member and collaborator presentation listings can be found here . Christine M. Forke, PhD, MSN, CRNP, presented a preview of new Greater Philadelphia area ACE data.
Vital Village Summit - PATF presents
Vital Village 2019 National Community Leadership Summit in Boston featured Crystal Wyatt and Leslie Lieberman on Trauma-Informed Transformation. For more see # VVNLeadershipSummit2019
3rd Annual Trauma Training Conference
Jeanne M. Felter, PhD, LPC, is the leading force behind the 3rd Annual Trauma Training Conference , which brought together a national array of presenters and participants to Philadelphia at Philadelphia University + Jefferson University to share with each other and learn an extensive range of trauma-informed practice skills.
PHENND Trauma & the Arts
Taking Trauma-Informed to Scale
PATF collaborated with PHENND on its closing panel "Taking Trauma-Informed to Scale: Where to from here?" Dr. Sandra Bloom introduced how art may be an essential tool in trauma healing and facilitated panelists Lindsay Edwards, MA, BC-DMT, LPC, Site Director for Creative Arts Therapies, 11th Street Health Center, Mike O’Bryan, Director of Youth and Young Adult Initiatives, Village of Arts and Humanities, Bhargav Chandrashekar, GlaxoSmithKline, who shared their journeys to bring trauma informed concepts into practice and to scale them up. The cross-section of business with arts and medicine brought this point to light: when the business community sees the value of something, social change can happen quickly as that practice is adopted.
Supporting launch of a new ACEs network - NJEA
PATF members were invited to meet with New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) representatives over the course of the year to share lessons from the field on the ACE framework and network building, and to participate in the launch meetings of their exciting new NJEA ACEs Task Force. The movement is growing!
"Health care professionals, social workers, family caregivers, first responders, and other individuals who work with traumatized people or people in crisis can often experience trauma themselves.

We [held] this hearing to hear their stories, and to learn how the City and other employers can best support Philadelphians who work as professional caregivers."   

- Councilman Derek Green
Wishing you a fulfilling end of 2019 and looking toward 2020 with hope and inspiration. Thank you for your part in bringing our community and world to a better place.