Jody’s Story

“I always say it’s about being an active participant, and not letting services just happen to you.”

“A lot of times, system involvement makes it easier for everyone involved to sit back and rely on the medication or therapy. I al-ways say it’s about being an active participant, and not letting services just happen to you. If you put effort into your life, and see positive results, you develop a sense of pride.

Giving families something to hold onto, like a set of evidence-based Resilience Factors, will keep them engaged. I tell them, here are the things that every person needs to move to-ward success and well-being and live a big full life. Then during the next few meetings, we’ll focus on one specific factor as it fits into the person’s life. If they’re old enough, I’ll ask the children to co-facilitate these meetings by charting out who they have in their life, what their role is, what activities are they involved in, and ask how we can bring community in. When you break it down like that, you can find out what’s missing and families start thinking in those terms too.

You don’t wear trauma on the outside. People could be going along in their day and get triggered. Instead of being frustrated, how can we acknowledge where someone is, and not shame, not blame, not be upset? Trauma informed care asks us to not look at what someone did, but what they need. That’s how we can fig-ure out how to help them. It’s unrealistic to think that overnight, snap, things are different. But I take it one step at a time.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity