Lansing, Michigan, January 21, 2025: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is partnering with the State of Michigan’s NEAR Collaborative to provide training and coaching through the Trauma-Informed (TI) Ambassador program. The purpose of the TI Ambassador Program is to help units within state systems advance through the Trauma-Informed State Systems Road Map. It will help further NEAR’s vision of building a resilient Michigan by preventing and overcoming the effects Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma, and toxic stress through a cross-systems approach.
This work is important to the NEAR Collaborative and State of Michigan because the impact of trauma is pervasive and costly to every system. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) Workplace Mental Health Report shared that 76% of employees had struggled with at least one issue affecting their mental health, while 46% have been diagnosed, and 37% revealed this diagnosis to their employer (from a survey of working people from the CEO Roundtables of the American Heart Association). Further research suggests that stress alone costs American companies over $300 billion in health care costs, absenteeism, and poor performance. Additionally, roughly 40% of turnover is due to job-related stress.
So where is the good news in all of this? It is also reported that employees who strongly agree that their employer cares about their overall wellbeing, including mental health, are 69% less likely to search for a new job, 71% less likely to report experiencing a lot of burnout, and 36% more likely to be thriving in their lives. These individuals are also 5x more likely to advocate for their employer as a place to work, and 3x more likely to be engaged at work.
“The purpose for integrating the Trauma-Informed Ambassador program into our state systems has been to raise the awareness of state employees, affiliates, and contractors, of what trauma, toxic stress, and ACEs are and how they impact the way we function, not only with clients or consumers within community, but also within our workplaces and with our colleagues,” said Michelle Walters, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Project Coordinator and NEAR Collaborative Coordinator. “When we invest in our staff and team, giving them the tools, understanding, and language, we show our commitment to making an investment in them and the residents of our great state.”
TI Ambassadors are representatives from Michigan’s Department of Education (MDE), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO). Ambassadors have committed to participate in training sessions to deepen content knowledge, action labs to practice behavior change, and coaching/office hours to develop and implement an action plan within their unit from June 2024 through September 2025. Action plans will cultivate more trauma-informed, responsive, and resilience-building workplace cultures, programs, and services.
Those interested in learning more about the project and the Trauma and Resilience at Work team at CSW can contact Patricia Maguire, pmaguire@skilledwork.org.
About Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW): Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is a national workforce policy non-profit that partners with government, business, education, and community leaders to cultivate good jobs and the skilled workers to fill them. Since 1991, CSW has catalyzed change in educational and labor market systems, focusing on scalable improvements in worker skills, job quality, and access to opportunity. CSW provides services across five strategy areas: Competencies & Credentials; Improving Practices & Outcomes; Federal, State, & Local Systems Change; Research & Evaluation; and Trauma & Resilience at Work. CSW advances policies and practices which increase economic mobility, particularly for people of color and others historically excluded from success.
About the NEAR (Neuroscience, Epigenetics, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Resilience) Collaborative: Established in 2018, the NEAR Collaborative is dedicated to a cross-systems approach that raises awareness, promotes effective solutions, and aligns systems, policies, and programs to understand and address Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma, and toxic stress. Since its inception, the NEAR collaborative has actively engaged its membership with a primary focus on infrastructure and capacity building.
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