Sacramento County has been awarded a $100,000 strategic giving grant from Health Net of California to design a training and service delivery model used throughout the community that will address the impact of community and childhood trauma.
In partnership with community based organizations and Health Net, Sacramento County will create a taskforce that will look at ways to intervene, assess and build responsive methods to effectively address trauma and lessen its effects on vulnerable residents over the long term. The plan includes strengthening existing services and programs already in place to better serve the needs of these residents, particularly for those with Medi-Cal insurance.
“Having a better understanding of and more effectively helping trauma victims is crucial for them to recover,” said Bruce Wagstaff, Deputy County Executive for Sacramento County. “With the Health Net grant, County staff and partners will be able to approach and support those children and community members affected by trauma, and direct them to the best available care and treatment.”
Examples of events that can cause trauma include: being bullied, experiencing natural disasters and witnessing or experiencing domestic violence.
Sacramento County will use the Health Net grant funds to:
- Create workgroups that include county staff, social workers, community based organizations and youth service providers
- Capture and evaluate data related to community and childhood trauma
- Use that data to design training courses and engagement plans for county staff and community service providers
“This grant gives us the opportunity to work collaboratively with our community partners to ensure residents have the services they need for their overall health and wellness,” said Kellie Todd-Griffin, director of Strategic Giving and Community Engagement for Health Net. “Working together, we can break the cycle of violence and trauma, and build an even more resilient community.”
Health Net will serve on the workgroup along with the County and community partners including Sierra Health Foundation, First 5 and Resilient Sacramento. Community listening sessions will also be held to obtain insights from residents.
