Thank you Governor DeSantis (and Zack Gibson in the Governor’s Office) for declaring today as Florida’s Trauma Informed Care Day.  

Many of Florida’s most costly, intractable social problems including our opioid and substance dependency crisis, our sky-rocketing public health costs, tragic school failures, and the multigenerational cycle of families into our criminal justice and child welfare systems, can be decreased by addressing early trauma.

 Initiatives are taking shape at both the state and local level to help communities become more resilient and trauma informed.  At the same time, Florida’s elected officials are engaged in discussions on how to improve the safety and climate of schools, how to solve the opioid crisis, invest in early learning, improve our mental health system, shift child welfare toward prevention and reform criminal justice.  This is a critical moment to raise awareness of trauma informed policy and practice.  Our vision is that statewide momentum will be created for replication and expansion of trauma work to achieve collective impact.  

We concur with Dr. Vincent Felitti: “Addressing adverse childhood experiences is the most important opportunity for the prevention of health and social problems and disease and disability that has ever been seen.” 

Thank you for the trauma work you’re currently doing and for sharing so that others may be inspired to spark trauma-responsive initiatives in their communities.

All the best,