A Biocratic Paradigm: Exploring the Complexity of Trauma-Informed Leadership and ™.

A paradigm shift is under way in the human services because of breakthrough knowledge and research in understanding the underlying etiology of physical, emotional, and social problems at the micro-level of the individual, at the meso-level of the family and institutions, and at the macro-level of the entire society. The three levels of human existence-micro, mezzo, and macro-constitute interactive, interdependent, complex adaptive living systems. The complexity of these problems requires us to use our imaginations to envision health in individuals, organizations, and societies because it does not presently exist.

Developing a Community-Wide Initiative to Address Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress: A Case Study of The Philadelphia ACE Task Force.

The Philadelphia ACE Task Force is a community based collaborative of health care providers, researchers, community-based organizations, funders, and public sector representatives. The mission of the task force is to provide a venue to address childhood adversity and its consequences in the Philadelphia metropolitan region. In this article we describe the origins and metamorphosis of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force, which initially was narrowly focused on screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in health care settings but expanded its focus to better represent a true community-based approach to sharing experiences with addressing childhood adversity in multiple sectors of the city and region.

The Intergenerational Circumstances of Household Food Insecurity and Adversity.

Household food insecurity is linked with exposure to violence and adversity throughout the life course, suggesting its transfer across generations. Using grounded theory, we analyzed semistructured interviews with 31 mothers reporting household food insecurity where participants described major life events and social relationships. Through the lens of multigenerational interactions, 4 themes emerged: (1) hunger and violence across the generations, (2) disclosure to family and friends, (3) depression and problems with emotional management, and (4) breaking out of intergenerational patterns.

Cost-benefit analysis simulation of a hospital-based violence intervention program.

Background: Violent injury is a major cause of disability, premature mortality, and health disparities worldwide. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) show promise in preventing violent injury. Little is known, however, about how the impact of HVIPs may translate into monetary figures.

The prevalence of trauma and childhood adversity in an urban, hospital-based violence intervention program.

Hospitals represent a promising locus for preventing recurrent interpersonal violence and its psychological sequella. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis to assess the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among victims of interpersonal violence participating in a hospital-based violence intervention program. Participants completed PTSD and ACE screenings four to six weeks after violent injury, and data were exported from a case management database for analysis.

Developing a trauma-informed, emergency department-based intervention for victims of urban violence.

The Surgeon General's report on youth violence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other national organizations are calling for public health approaches to the issue of youth violence. Hospital-based violence intervention programs have shown promise in reducing recurrent violence and decreasing future involvement in the criminal justice system. These programs seldom address trauma-related symptoms.

The art and challenges of long-term and short-term democratic therapeutic communities.

This paper, cowritten by Kingsley Norton, since 1989 Director of Henderson Hospital (a therapeutic community founded by Maxwell Jones in 1947 in the United Kingdom), and Sandra Bloom, Founder of the Sanctuary Model in the United States, compares and contrasts the practice of the democratic therapeutic community (TC) as applied to the notion of long-term care (up to twelve months), to that of the democratic therapeutic milieu (TM) as applied to short-term care (up to one month).

Multiple opportunities for creating sanctuary.

This article describes the experience of five change agents from a diverse group of settings: two residential treatment programs for children and adolescents, a group home for disturbed adolescents, a residential substance abuse program for urban women, and an acute care psychiatric inpatient unit. What all of these innovators share is a willingness to engage in the challenging and complex process of changing their systems to better address the needs of the traumatized children, adolescents, and adults who populate their various programs. Using the Sanctuary Model as originally applied to a specialty inpatient psychiatric program for adult survivors of childhood abuse as their guide, the leaders of each of these organizations discuss the process of change that they are directing.

Assessing the implementation and effects of a trauma-focused intervention for youths in residential treatment.

This paper describes methods being used to implement and assess the effects of a trauma-focused intervention in residential treatment programs for youths with emotional and behavioral problems, and histories of maltreatment and exposure to family or community violence. Preliminary baseline profiles of the therapeutic environments and youths are also presented. The intervention, referred to as the Sanctuary Model (Bloom, 1997), is based in social psychiatry, trauma theories, therapeutic community philosophy, and cognitive-behavioral approaches.

Creating sanctuary in residential treatment for youth: from the "well-ordered asylum" to a "living-learning environment.".

This paper addresses the need for a coherent conceptual therapeutic approach to guide work with disturbed children and adolescents in residential treatment centers. The paper identifies changes in the population currently in care; examines the two dominant approaches that historically have shaped the standard treatment models used by most residential centers; and discusses four longstanding debates that have complicated the development of a consistent therapeutic approach for residential programs. It concludes with a description of The Sanctuary Model.