United Way Announces New Community Impact 100 Partners

United Way of Greater Kansas City announced the selection of this year's Impact 100 partners, and Crittenton Children's Center was included. This annual list is comprised of the hundred most vital health and human service organizations that United Way will invest and partner with to bring real-time solutions to our community.

The full list of selected organizations can be found here.

Trauma Smart participates in Leadership EDIT Summit 2023

Team members provided Trauma Smart resources and information at the Leadership EDIT 2023 Conference to support its goal of creating a cohort of building and district leadership who are focused on creating equitable and trauma-informed systems.

How do we keep “trauma-informed” the focus of leadership?

Original Source: Missouri Children's Trauma Network

Our team member Jeanie Thurston presented at the 2023 Missouri Children's Trauma Network Training Summit on how to maintain a trauma informed focus as leaders. One way to keep that focus is to model a trauma-informed approach in their interactions with all staff. A trauma-informed approach considers not only the impact of trauma for individuals served, but also the lives of staff. Using a trauma-informed approach in the work environment may lead to an increase of skills and resiliency with staff.

Read More

Trau­ma Smart pro­gram sup­ports youth who’ve expe­ri­enced adversity.

Original Source: Robin LaBarbera

Recent research published in the journal Psychological Trauma about the intervention Trauma Smart points to the effectiveness of the training school staff in trauma-informed approaches. Data from the evaluation indicated that participants were satisfied with the training, they scored higher on the knowledge assessments, and staff attitudes became more favorable to trauma-informed approaches from before to after implementing the training program. 

Read More

Center School District staff take on Trauma Smart training

Original Source: KMBC

Staff at Center School District learn how to help children impacted by trauma and violence through a program developed by Saint Luke's Crittenton Children's Center. Watch KMBC's story on the special Trauma Smart training as students head back to school.

Read More

Trauma Smart Supports Shawnee Mission School District’s Impact Institute for Educators

Original Source: SMSD.org

Trauma Smart manager Britt Visser presented at SMSD's Impact Institute for Educators on the impact of trauma and the role that educators can play in helping children cope and recover. She was one of many speakers to support the even that hosted over 400 educators.

Read More

Trau­ma Smart Pro­gram Changes Approach to Kids Who Act Out

Original Source: News 12 The Bronx

The Admin­is­tra­tion of Chil­dren’s Ser­vices is try­ing what they call a ​“holis­tic” approach to address­ing chil­dren who act out. Ear­lyLearn NYC pro­grams, such as the one taught at Bronx Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege, pro­vide child care to fam­i­lies in the city, but the ​“Trau­ma Smart” pro­gram includes emo­tion­al education.

Read More

NYC Learn­ing Pro­gram Changes Class­room Behavior

Original Source: NBC New York 4

A city pro­gram called Trau­ma SMART, launched three years ago, is work­ing like mag­ic to help par­ents, care­givers and teach­ers bet­ter sup­port chil­dren who may expe­ri­ence adversity.

Read More

3 Hick­man Mills Stu­dents Were Shot and Killed This Year. How Will the Com­mu­ni­ty Respond?

Original Source: The Kansas City Star

Five stu­dents in the Hick­man Mills School Dis­trict have been fatal­ly shot or injured by gun­fire since 2016.

At least three stu­dents were shot and killed this year alone, includ­ing 9 year old Dominic Young Jr. On Dec. 4, 16-year-old Mar­quise Ellinburg was found with gun­shot wounds out­side a home on Cor­ring­ton Avenue. He lat­er died at a hospital.

Vio­lence has tak­en a seri­ous toll on the Hick­man Mills School Dis­trict. But the trau­ma affects the entire com­mu­ni­ty. School offi­cials can only do so much to sup­port stu­dents and their fam­i­lies. It takes a broad-based effort to deal with the far-reach­ing con­se­quences of vio­lent crime.

School dis­trict offi­cials have imple­ment­ed ser­vices to address trau­ma and con­flict res­o­lu­tion in an effort to help stu­dents cope with the loss of a class­mate or fam­i­ly mem­ber and pre­vent future violence.

Read More

Preschool Trau­ma Pro­gram In Kansas City Get­ting Nation­al Attention

Original Source: KCUR-FM

A pro­gram start­ed in Kansas City, Kan., offers teach­ers and par­ents an alter­nate way to deal with intense emo­tions and poten­tial­ly avoid the long-term impact of trau­ma. The pro­gram has been spread­ing in recent months, even get­ting nation­al attention.

Read More

Teach­ing Chil­dren to Calm Themselves

Original Source: New York Times

When Luke gets angry, he tries to remem­ber to look at his bracelet. It reminds him of what he can do to calm him­self: stop, take a deep breath, count to four, give your­self a hug and, if nec­es­sary, ask an adult for help.

Read More

School Pro­gram Works to Help Kids in Kansas and Mis­souri Deal with Home Trauma

Original Source: KMBC-TV

A school pro­gram that helps young chil­dren who have expe­ri­enced trau­mat­ic events is get­ting nation­al attention.

Read More