How Trauma Informed Care Training at Wellpoint Care Network Has Evolved and Will Continue to Evolve in the Future

2023 marks 15 years that Wellpoint Care Network has been at the forefront of the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) movement.

“It’s always interesting being on the front edge of something and having those moments where people are like, ‘what is this?’” said Tim Grove, senior consultant at Wellpoint Care Network. “They were pretty universally captivated by it, but it took a while to figure out what it is, how it can be helpful, how it can be useful.”

Over those 15 years, new processes and concepts have been adapted and added to this crucial training.

“About seven or eight years ago, our staff came to us,” said Grove. “[They said], you can’t talk about trauma without talking about intergenerational and historical trauma. That was kind of the first evolution that we weaved in and built into our curriculum, our practice and how we think about things. And, as that evolution took hold seven or eight years ago, we then started to realize you can’t really help people heal and recover without equity. So, good examples of that two-way conversation with staff who do a really good job at keeping it fresh, keeping it current and keeping it connected to what they’re seeing when trying to help people heal and recover.”

That is why, even if you have been trained before, getting recertified is always encouraged and recommended.

“The folks who have stuck with it, who understand the virtue of repetition, who understand the virtue of application strategies, not just bragging about the fact that we got trained thereby, we’re trauma informed,” adds Grove. “The people who have committed to it in a persistent and real way, have started to see the same outcomes we see. People feel safe and relaxed. People feel more relationally connected. When those two things start to happen, everything gets better. So, whether it’s Racine County, whether it’s our friends up in Brown County and other parts of the state, I think there are a lot of people out there who took the impression that if we just train everybody, we’re good. And, I just want to make sure people don’t miss that opportunity to appreciate what can happen from a transformation point of view when you commit to a more sustained initiative.”

To date, 75,000 people have learned about Wellpoint Care’s Trauma Informed Care (TIC) approach and the Seven Essential Ingredients (7ei). But, the work isn’t done yet.

“There are important groups within the community that we’ve yet to touch as deeply as we’d like,” said Ann Leinfelder Grove, President and CEO of Wellpoint Care Network. “One great example of that is parents of little children — babies, toddlers and young kids. For parents to understand the power of a trauma-informed perspective, it will shape and reshape the trajectory of their young childrens’ lives. That’s a really good reason why we need to keep sharing this information, as well as growing and changing our organization to be able to better access groups in the community for whom this is still novel or new information.”

Among the 75,000 people who have already been trained, more than 750 individuals have taken Wellpoint Care’s Train the Trainer course, ensuring that these cutting-edge concepts, activities, videos, and more are being shared with those who need it most.

Those numbers will only continue to grow, as the important training from Wellpoint Care Network shows no sign of slowing down, especially with what the world is experiencing day-in and day-out.  

“Most people have heard about the reference regarding the past few years from a pandemic point of view, [Harvard uses] this concept called SYN or Syndemic,” says Grove. “What they argue is that all of this adversity, this abuse, this discrimination, this oppression, domestic violence, natural disasters, car accidents, medical diagnosis, whatever —  that’s not happening in a vacuum. It’s happening in a global context that also reinforces this constant theme of threat. So, it’s not just a COVID pandemic, it’s people rightfully arguing that it’s time for all lives to genuinely matter. Its people worried about a global World War III threat regarding what’s going on in Europe. It’s people seeing rain for six days in a row in California or drought or whatever. It’s mass shootings. All of those things around which these adversities are occurring, if they’ve had a moment to look up to say, ‘Whoa.’ If we don’t figure out how to have everybody understand that on some level, and everybody practice some of these core strategies that can help us stay a little more calm or relaxed and thereby help us sort of maximize the best of who we are as humans, we’re: A) in trouble, but more importantly; B) we don’t want to miss the opportunity to truly not just survive these syndemic times, but use the experience to propel us forward in a resilient way, in a nurturing way, in a thriving kind of way, which I think honestly is the opportunity right in front of us. This information is essential if we are taking advantage of the opportunity to be the best of who we are as humans.”

If you are interested in learning more about Wellpoint Care Network’s upcoming trainings and consultations, click here.