Trauma Resilient Communities
The Louisville TRC Project Year 5 Summit, celebrating five years of community collaboration and change efforts.
Seven Counties Services is a proud partner in the Louisville Trauma Resilient Communities (TRC) Project!
The TRC Project started in 2018 as a five-year grant funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and managed by the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods. Its two primary objectives are to:
- Champion resilience and equity for Louisville’s youth and families disproportionately affected by trauma, race-based trauma, systematic inequities, violence, and civil unrest.
- Integrate TRC practices and principles within partnering agencies to foster healthy, healing workplace cultures.
Partners collaborating through this transformative project include Seven Counties Services, the Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, and Spalding University’s Center for Behavioral Health.
At Seven Counties Services, our participation in the TRC Project enables us to:
- Enhance leadership and capacity to sustain a trauma-informed system of care.
- Equip employees with the knowledge and skills to address trauma, racial inequity, community violence, and related services.
- Deliver trauma-focused intervention services to children and families impacted by violence, evaluating the project’s impact.
TRC has been integral to our organization’s efforts to make our workplace the best it can be for all our employees. Through the TRC model, we are creating an increasingly trauma-informed culture, providing applicable skills for employees to cope with trauma, prevent re-traumatizing others, and intentionally care for themselves and others.
Having achieved our TRC Partnership Endorsement in 2023 after a five-year completion process, we’ve established a dedicated TRC Project Team that has thoughtfully developed a comprehensive TRC Training Model for our entire organization. To date, over 1,200 Seven Counties Services employees have participated in this training, with all new hires automatically enrolled in TRC training groups.
One Seven Counties Services employee said, “I am proud to work for a company that recognizes things have to change in our world for everyone to be able to be themselves, feel loved and appreciated, and be able to thrive. We work in a field where we try to help clients learn to be themselves, love themselves, and thrive while we forget to do these things for ourselves daily. Someday everyone will be treated equally if we continue to work on growing!”
Our training model fosters self-awareness, empathy, cultural humility, and perspective-taking. It deepens understanding of trauma’s impact, provides insights into TRC approaches and concepts, and educates participants on utilizing TRC tools effectively. This ensures a shared foundation of trauma-informed knowledge, understanding, and language across our organization.
But we aren’t stopping there. Our ongoing efforts include refreshers, quick reminders of tools and their value, success spotlights, team boosters, and more, encouraging continuous utilization and updates to TRC tools. And our executives, leaders, and support staff are increasingly focused on building TRC principles into communication, decision making processes, and approaches to employee support efforts.
Being part of Louisville’s Trauma Resilient Communities strengthens our commitment to integrating trauma-informed care and trauma resilient workplace practices into our organizational culture. Through ongoing training and support for our employees and by providing trauma interventions for children and families across Louisville communities, we strive to make a lasting positive impact on the lives of those we serve, including our valued employees. Join us in building a resilient Louisville for all!
