The Implementation of Trauma-Informed Practice in a Large American Indian Community

Trauma-informed practice (TIP) within child- and family-service systems infuses and sustains trauma awareness, knowledge, and skills into organizational cultures, practices, and policy. The Ambit Network of Minnesota (MN) seeks to integrate evidence-based treatments into community systems of care for traumatized children, and to create a continuum of care for highly diverse groups of underserved children and families, including American Indian (AI) youth. Over the next three years, the Ambit Network will be working with one of the largest American Indian tribes in MN to achieve two goals: (1) develop a trauma-informed workforce across child-serving agencies; and, (2) improve outcomes for children and families exposed to traumatic experiences. The primary emphasis of this poster presentation is the implementation of the first goal. In order to develop a trauma-informed workforce in this tribal nation, 50 tribal directors and supervisors from diverse service systems were trained on trauma and TIP in response to leadership concern about limited cross-system collaboration. After establishing a strong partnership with tribal leadership, in addition to the execution of a pilot training focused on cultural and local adaptation, five one-day TIP trainings were provided to approximately 265 front-line service providers, including child welfare, juvenile justice, and tribal court members, among others. As part of the training, attendees were asked to provide written feedback regarding their perceptions of the strengths and barriers associated with implementing TIP within their own agencies and across service systems. A mixed-methods design was used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data analysis (i.e., line-by-line and focused coding methods) revealed that front-line service providers were confident in their abilities to make appropriate referrals for children and work with clients who had experienced trauma. Regarding barriers for implementation within specific agencies, providers were concerned about data privacy and information sharing procedures. In contrast, across agencies, communication between and among agencies was identified as the greatest barrier for TIP implementation. Quantitative analyses revealed significant differences in the usefulness of the TIP training (e.g., practical knowledge and skills), and the amount of personal and organizational change needed to implement TIP in daily practice, across service-provider disciplines. With respect to the cultural sensitivity of the TIP training, the majority of service providers rated the training as neutrally sensitive, expressing a strong desire for additional trainings with specific emphasis on issues relevant to the AI community.