Working with Traumatized Populations: Newhouse Speaks

“Trauma-informed care frames trauma as not what is wrong with you, but what happened to you.”

One of the most inspiring figures I’ve met at Syracuse University is Ingrid Gonzalez-McCurdy, EMPA and CAS in Conflict and Collaboration candidate. In our summer 'boot camp' course, PRL 602: Theories in Public Diplomacy, she immediately struck me as a masterful presenter. Her mannerisms, diction, and congenial tone enable her to capture the attention of a room full of stressed (and often distracted) college students with ease.

Today, in front of the room and in her element, Ingrid is guiding a peer-to-peer lecture on a filed of study she knows well. Ingrid, with the soothing demeanor of a life-long friend, is the director of human performance for Elmcrest Children’s Center. There, she manages a team of staff development advisers. At Syracuse University, she is expanding her knowledge of conflict theory to foster skill development with her staff. A subject that is imperative to her work is trauma education. This is the focus of her talk today at Maxwell as she makes the case for a trauma informed approach in public education, healthcare delivery and community development.

She begins with a discussion on how trauma affects the brain. The first images she shows are brain scans. The amygdala, which plays a key role in the processing of emotions, is larger in individuals who have experienced trauma. They will be more reactive and have a harder time calming themselves down. The hippo campus - the brain’s memory center - is also impaired with trauma. After experiencing trauma, it has a harder time learning and retaining information.

“Trauma is, first, a neurological response for survival,” Ingrid said.

She then shows us the following video on how trauma specifically impacts the brains of children in environments of learning:

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) produced a study on adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Ingrid tells us that 64% of the U.S. population in the ACE study, who are white and educated, have trauma. What does that then say about the poor and marginalized members of our community?

Ingrid is quick to supply the answer: “Their exposure to trauma and need for care is higher.”

Finally, Ingrid guides us through an exercise on neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change its neural pathways.

“Put your hands together. Which of your thumbs is on top? Now separate your hands and try to clasp them together with the other thumb on top.”

She laughs as some people in the room struggle with the exercise. “I see a lot of-” she then makes a frown as an example “- faces. This is how you build new neural connections. You have to do things over and over again to build new pathways and create those new habits.”

In public diplomacy, understanding how trauma impacts a population, and even on an individual level, is imperative. As always, I appreciate Ingrid’s ability to guide conversations on difficult, but necessary, conversations that are crucial to bridging gaps in current communications strategies.

If you, or anyone you know, could benefit from learning more about trauma, Ingrid recommends using the Trauma Informed Care Resource Center’s website.