Faith Leaders Join Dialogue About Effects of Trauma

Submitted Photos

Pottstown area faith leaders listen as Robert K. Reed, executive deputy state attorney general for Office of Public Engagement, describes the importance of connections in building a trauma-informed community. The event was held Feb. 7, 2019 at the TriCounty Active Adult Center, sponsored by the Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection Networks work group to encourage faith leaders to get involved in the effort to understand and deal with trauma in children and families.

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection.

More than 30 faith leaders of the Pottstown area participated Feb. 7 in a dinner program hosted by Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection to learn about the effects of trauma and how to become involved in trauma-informed practices as a community.

The program held at TriCounty Active Adult Center was hosted by the Networks Work Group of PTICC and featured as guest speaker Robert K. Reed, a former federal prosecutor who heads the Office of Public Engagement for the state attorney general.

“What you’re doing here is phenomenal,” Reed told the group. He said that a Trauma Informed Network is being implemented across Pennsylvania to train police, teachers, health care workers, faith leaders and others about the effects of childhood trauma on issues of gun violence, suicide, and opioid abuse.



The goal is to build networks in schools, churches, and communities which foster resiliency in children and families, Reed said. The work being done by PTICC is an example for other towns to follow.

“ACEs are not what you find in your deck of cards; they are Adverse Childhood Experiences, or trauma, and they constitute a public health crisis in our communities,” Reed said.

Kurt Holloway, of First Presbyterian Church, and Rev. Vernon Ross,
of Bethel Community Church, participate in a demonstration
of the effects of Adverse Child Experiences (ACEs) on a child's
developing brain. Melons of different sizes were used to show that
a child's brain can shrink due to trauma, according to
Robert K. Reed, executive deputy state attorney general
for Office of Public Engagement.

Using melons and citrus fruits to demonstrate, Reed explained that by the time a child is 3 years old, trauma can have neurological effects that shrink the brain from the size of a grapefruit to an orange.

By adulthood, that brain shrinkage can create change equivalent to a large honeydew melon becoming a small cantaloupe.

ACEs are situations that can impact the brain development and health outcomes of children, when they occur between prenatal and 18 years of age. 

Citing statistics in Pennsylvania, Reed illustrated the links between those adverse childhood experiences and resulting issues of violence, suicide, alcoholism, chronic disease, and drug overdoses.

The effects can be reversed, Reed said. “Our brains can recover through love and connection – the human connection can make the difference.” 

“Human connection” embodied in the PTICC message “Connection Matters” was the impetus for this week’s event, explained Valerie Jackson, Pottstown Early Action Kindergarten (PEAK) Coordinator and PTICC coordinator. “Connection matters; belonging matters; your story matters – and if we’re going to make a difference, we have to start working together,” she told the group.

The faith community was identified by the Networks group as an important part of Pottstown becoming a trauma-informed community. 

Faith leaders who attended the dinner were encouraged to seek out information about ACEs and get involved in PTICC as a way to become empathetic listeners in the community. In addition to the program, those attending received a toolkit of resources to become proactive in the community dialogue.

“There are people you can touch and reach with this message,” Jackson said in challenging the group. “We want to be responsible for the children of our community, and that time is now.”

Representatives attended from the following churches: Pottstown Church of the Brethren, First Baptist Church, Trinity Reformed United Church of Christ, Harris Family Ministries, Casade Oracion, The Salvation Army, Bethel A.M.E., Coventry Church of the Brethren, Zion’s United Church of Christ, First Presbyterian Church, Bethel Community Church, Heart of God, Restoration Deliverance Life Center, and Fresh Start Ministries.

Also attending were representatives of the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, PEAK, Community Health and Dental, Pottstown Works, The Salvation Army, and TriCounty Community Network. Members of the planning committee also included representatives of the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities and Family Service of Montgomery County.

The Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection is an initiative of the Pottstown School District which brings together a diverse group of partners to build a trauma informed resilient community in Pottstown. For more information and ways to become involved, please visit www.pottstownmatters.org or call 610-970-6655.