Ann Arbor, MI, December 17, 2024: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) has been contracted for a fourth year of work with the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC), implementing professional development and a train-the-trainer series on trauma-informed and healing-centered approaches with the Detroit at Work public workforce development system.
CSW will conduct three sets of activities: (1) refresh and expand a cohort of Detroit at Work “ambassadors” who have been champions for trauma-informed, healing-centered, and resilience-building approaches at their career centers for the past three years; (2) with the assistance of the ambassadors, survey Detroit at Work staff regarding their knowledge and use of trauma-informed and healing-centered approaches; and (3) provide four professional development (PD) train-the-trainer sessions in which ambassadors are trained to deliver trauma and healing PD sessions themselves. The ambassador cohort was confirmed in December 2024 and will begin their work in January 2025. PD train-the-trainer sessions will commence in March 2025 and conclude in August 2025. CSW will finish the project by September 30, 2025, with a final report to DESC.
Ninety percent of adults have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives, and between 64 percent and 83 percent of adults experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) such as abuse or neglect before the age of 18. Individuals who come from lower-income, less-educated backgrounds–such as many workforce development participants–people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to experience ACEs. Trauma can affect people well into adulthood and can undermine an individual’s ability to learn in education and job training programs and succeed in employment. Additionally, many workforce development staff have experienced personal or community trauma, as well as secondary trauma from their work with trauma survivors or those actively experiencing trauma.
Vickie Choitz leads the Trauma and Resilience at Work team and co-facilitates the training. She has found that, “unless they have been trained on the brain science of trauma, workforce development professionals may mistake a participant’s trauma response behavior as rudeness or laziness and deploy ineffective practices. This training helps staff understand and adopt more effective responses when working with those who have lived experience with trauma and are actively experiencing trauma, improving success for the participant, the staff, and the organization.”
“DESC has found CSW’s trauma, healing, and resilience training incredibly important and powerful for helping our career center staff understand how trauma shows up in education, training, and employment programs, and how they can adopt practices that respond better to trauma survivors and help them succeed and thrive in their career journeys,” stated Madelyne Bernard-Diab, Executive Director, Career Centers System, DESC.
CSW began working with the Detroit at Work system in May 2021, providing staff training and organizational coaching on trauma-informed practices. CSW has been building the cohort of Ambassadors since the first year, and they have been advancing these practices within their centers, laying a strong foundation for their participation in this train-the-trainer initiative. For more information about this project, contact Vickie Choitz, Director, Trauma and Resilience at Work team, at vchoitz@skilledwork.org.
About Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW): CSW is a national workforce policy nonprofit that catalyzes change in educational and labor market systems, policies, and practices to increase economic mobility, particularly for people of color and others historically excluded from success. For more than 30 years, CSW has focused on achieving scalable improvements in worker skills, lifelong learning, and job quality. CSW collaborates with change makers to develop strategies, identify evidence to inform strategies, build the capacity of organizations, manage initiatives, and evaluate lessons learned.
About Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation (DESC): DESC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization charged with implementing the vision of the Mayor of Detroit’s Workforce Development Board. DESC is the lead agency for “Detroit at Work” which provides job placement, search, training, career advisement and other supportive services to tens of thousands of Detroiters every year. DESC is a Michigan Works! Agency and a proud partner of the American Job Center Network.
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