Harvest House Brings Trauma Intelligence Training for Staff

Categories: BELONGING AND CULTURE: Building Support & Capacity, Grants, Nonprofits, Capacity Building Grants,

Editor's Note: This message was authored by Erin Minor, Chief Executive Officer of Harvest House.

Have you ever needed to hit the “reset” button?

For us at Harvest House, it was time for a reset. After 18 months of COVID and its effects on us as employees and our community of 1,000+ men, women, and children we serve every year, our team needed something to help us recenter our mission and reconnect with each other.

Thanks to a capacity-building grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, we brought in trauma intelligence and grief expert, Blythe Landry from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to help our team better understand trauma amongst ourselves and our clients, and “respond to it in more empathic, effective, and productive ways.”

For those of us with a history of trauma, this last year has been especially tough. Our anxiety, fear, and depression has been exacerbated by the collision of a pandemic, political and social unrest, economic downturn, and isolation, making even the smallest tasks more difficult. When you’re in social work not only do you carry your own fears, but often you internalize the fears and struggles of the people you show up for every day. That’s a lot to carry. If you know a social worker, give them some encouragement, a hug, and maybe even a gift certificate for a massage.

Read Erin Minor's full message on Harvest House's website