Virtual Lunch & Learn

What is a trauma informed community, and why does it matter to businesses in Barry County?

Toxic stress in early childhood impacts a person physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially through the lifespan.  It leads to risky behaviors, chronic health conditions, and low life potential, affecting relationships, the ability to find and hold a job/career, and parent effectively.  Research estimates the cost of stress in the US exceeds $300 billion every year from accidents, absenteeism, employee turnover, diminished productivity, and direct medical, legal, and insurance costs.  We will share how other communities have used the trauma informed approach to increase graduation rates, reduce crime, and positively impact both the bottom line and reside quality of life, and the vision of the Trauma Informed Work group to create a trauma informed Barry County.

PRESENTERS:
Bill Mattson:  Bill has been a behavioral health professional for more than 30 years.  He serves as the Program Manager for the Family Support Services of Barry County, Co-chair of the Barry County Trauma Informed Workgroup, a collaboration of healthcare providers, educators, and community agencies seeking to improve the health of county citizens, and serves on the Board of Barry County Community Mental Health.

Deb Timmerman, RN DAIS, CSMW, HMCT is the Chief Resilience Officer for Deb Timmerman & Associates, LLC, a Registered Nurse with multiple certifications in stress, trauma and resilience specialties, she is a Certified Master Trainer for the MI ACE Initiative, an organization focused on raising awareness about the impact of toxic stress during critical development periods, on physical, emotional, and mental health, throughout the lifespan, and is Co-Chair of the Barry County Trauma Informed Workgroup.