Trauma Informed Education: Improving Educational and Emotional Outcomes for Your Most Challenging Students (New York, NY)

Here's an allegory I love that eloquently addresses the need for proactive endeavor.  It's called The Upstream Rescuer.  I found it on the Prevention Institute's website and did some editing.

While walking along a river, a passerby sees someone drowning.  After pulling the person ashore, the rescuer notices another person in the river in need of help.  Before long, the river is filled with drowning people, and more rescuers are required to assist the first.  Sadly, some people are not saved, and many fall back into the river after they’ve been pulled ashore.  At this time, one of the rescuers starts walking upstream. 

"Where are you going??!!  We need you here!!" the others scream. 
The rescuer replies, "I'm going upstream to see why people keep falling into the river." 

As it turns out, the bridge across the river has a hole through which people are falling. The upstream rescuer realizes that fixing the hole will prevent people from falling into the river in the first place.

I posted this allegory because trauma informed this and trauma informed that is just riverwork.  R I V E R W O R K !!!  We need to be doing bridgework not riverwork!  We need to be figuring out how to prevent adverse childhood experiences rather than how to intervene after the fact.

It is truly a shame that the potential good that could come from the ACE Study is being co-opted by the those entities only interested in intervention, healing, rehab, treatment, and recovery.  Which by the way has become a billion dollar industry.  Follow the money!