Innovation

Advancing communities and improving lives.

Trauma Informed Community Development is a framework that emerged as a result of the Orthodox Church and Hill District community members in Pittsburgh, PA taking on a grassroots exploration of community trauma.

This interest resulted from community based reflections on the amount of suffering in the community across many generations, and the visible impact it had on the life of the community. Significant partnerships would develop between the Orthodox Church, community members, and researchers and clinicians from Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh who took great interest in supporting a faith-based, grassroots, community-led effort to develop a response to community trauma.

Eventually these efforts culminated in a Consultative Workshop in April of 2014 during which community experts as well as relevant subject matter experts came together in an attempt to “problematize” the issue of community trauma with the intent to develop a community based response. Highly innovative and heavily informed by research and community experience, Trauma Informed Community Development is the framework which resulted from these efforts.

Training and Coaching

Training opportunities are available for people seeking to learn Trauma-Informed Community Development. Introductory workshops, intensive institutes, and classes are available.

Because this framework is so extensive, it is quite often supported with ongoing coaching. Consultation can be offered before training in order to understand what preparation is recommended before attempting to launch a TICD initiative in one’s respective community. Consultation may also be offered to support the implementation of TICD post-training.

Toolkit

The Trauma-Informed Community Development framework includes a toolkit that helps community members manage workflow, assess progress, and analyze impact. This toolkit has been developed and innovated over several years of practical experience in facilitating TICD.

Learning Collaborative

Cohorts from several different regions have come to be trained in the TICD framework. This has created a unique opportunity to build a Learning Collaborative dedicated to facilitating a better understanding of how to most responsibly and effectively facilitate positive community transformation from Trauma Affected Communities to Resilient Healing and Healthy Communities. This network of community innovators allows a tremendous opportunity to share best practices and support mutual growth and learning.