News and stories

What do you do at Columbia Pacific CCO?

I support community leaders to help improve resiliency of kids and families in our region. As dad of three young sons, aged 3-11, I know how important community supports are to family health.

In my role, I have an opportunity to support the Resilient Clatsop County network in Clatsop County and the Columbia County Childhood Trauma Informed Network in Columbia County. It is an honor to work with such dedicated folks across our region.

What is a trauma informed network?

Great question! For the community, the idea behind the Resilient Clatsop County and Columbia County Childhood Trauma Informed Network was to create a forum for organizations and people interested in working together to address childhood trauma and increase resilience and well-being in children, families, and our community at-large.

These community-led efforts have participation from groups as diverse as school districts, healthcare providers, local governments, and non-profit organizations.

Why is this work needed?

In recent years, we’ve learned a lot more about the tremendous impact that unaddressed Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have on future health and well-being. ACEs include things like experiencing abuse or neglect, growing up in a household where a parent was not able to be fully present for their child due to mental illness, substance use, incarceration, or other factors.

In healthcare we’re seeing that people with higher numbers of these unaddressed ACEs are at greater risk for developing health and social problems. But, when children have safe environments to process trauma, the long-term impacts can be reduced.

For example, here in Clatsop County, we know that our community has higher rates of adverse childhood experiences—higher than the state of Oregon and the national average—and limited cross-sector capacity to address childhood trauma.

Coming together as a community, we’re working to address childhood trauma and build resilience in children and their families so all kids can have a fair shot at reaching their full potential.

What types of partners are engaged in this work?

It is a broad cross section of the community from schools and health systems to public safety. We wanted to make sure that this work was really community led, so we’ve helped build county specific coalitions to address needs in our area.

Our Resilient Clatsop County network has more than 25 member organizations, including: school districts, health care providers (Providence, Columbia Memorial Hospital, Clatsop Behavioral Health, Clatsop County Public Health, Coastal Family Health Center, etc.), local government entities and non-profits.

Likewise, the Columbia County Childhood Trauma Informed Network has more than 34 member organizations, including: school districts, health care providers (Columbia Community Mental Health, Columbia Health Services, Legacy Medical Group, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Scappoose Clinic, etc.), local government entities and non-profit organizations—ranging from Columbia Pacific Food Bank to United Way of Columbia County.

We hope to build out a similar community led model in Tillamook County as well.

Where can people get more information about these efforts?

I’d like to invite you to view network websites to learn more about this work:

• Resilient Clatsop County: www.resilientclatsopcounty.org.
• Columbia County Childhood Trauma Informed Network: https://www.columbiacountyctin.org/

Organizations and individuals can express interest in joining these efforts by filling out a letter of commitment on the websites. Our team will reach out to discuss how you can get involved!