Delaware health workers trained to deal with effects of trauma, toxic stress

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DHSS has a new program "Social Workers at the Library" in Dover and six other libraries in the state where visitors can get help navigating through the various assistance programs offered by the agency. Jennifer Corbett/The News Journal

In the course of the next year, state health employees will be trained to better understand trauma and how it can shape the lives of Delawareans they interact with every day. 

The training is specifically targeted to help people who experienced a traumatic event during their childhood. Experts also refer to this as "toxic stress," in which a child frequently experiences hardship, such as divorce, witnessing violence and living with an adult with mental illness or suffering from addiction.

Wilmington University has been working with a select group of Department of Health and Social Services employees this winter on "trauma informed care" that encompasses the idea of understanding trauma, its impact and the recovery process when providing services. These 26 people will go on to train 1,000 employees in Social Services, Child Support Services and State Services Center. 

These employees are often on the front lines of helping Delawareans who are in a crises, state officials said. 

The hope is that if employees approach their work through this lens, and frame their questions and responses differently, it could lead to faster interventions and improve trust among Delawareans. The training comes at a time when Delaware is feeling the effects of the opioid crisis and the city of Wilmington leads the country in teen shootings. 

"So many people in our world now are living with toxic stress and adverse childhood experiences," said Marilyn Siebold, the Wilmington University professor leading the training. The university currently offers a certificate in trauma-informed approaches. 

"We're talking about how do we use a trauma informed lens," she said. "How do we think differently on what's going on in people's lives?"

In Delaware, 50.4 percent of children have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, state officials said. In Wilmington, it is 60.5 percent of children, compared to the national rate of 47.9 percent. 

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The idea of "trauma informed care" recently made national news when journalist Oprah Winfrey reported on how a similar technique was being used with children in Milwaukee in a "60 Minutes" episode. 

During the Delaware training, the employees will learn about the concept, how to apply it and what outcomes to look for, Siebold said. There will be a focus on creating more nurturing relationships, providing a feeling of safety in their environment and giving residents a sense of choice. 

People who face toxic stress often don't think clearly or make the best decisions, Siebold said. 

"Instead of thinking and then saying, 'Why did you do this,' and focusing on all the things that are wrong with a person, it's asking them what happened and really understanding the context," Seibold said.  

An example of this, she said, could be working with a person who has missed several meetings with his or her probation officer. Instead of making assumptions, employees should say, "Tell me what happened," she said.

"You might find out they missed the meetings with the probation officer because they're involved in a domestic violence situation and felt unsafe to leave the house," Seibold said  

The training will also emphasize the importance of the employees practicing self-care. Since these employees are often learning and hearing about other people's trauma, they "can absorb some of that," she said. The training will teach employees about potential risk factors and how to deal with it. 

"You can't be a good service provider unless you take care of yourself," she said. 

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Renée Beaman, director of the Division of State Service Centers who has undergone the training, said state employees have to "learn to change our conversation." They need to ask critical questions instead of reading basic questions off of a standard assessment sheet, she said.

If state workers are providing temporary housing for the homeless, Beaman said as an example, employees need to dig deeper to find out the reason why these Delawareans are homeless. 

"We now have to look through that different lens to weed out and pull some of the layers off that cause individuals to remain in this crisis state," she said.  

"It's not going to be overnight, but it's going to bring the staff together and look at the community differently."

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Contact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or at mnewman@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @merenewman.