Trauma Informed Programing to Support Communities in East Harlem
By Brandon Martinez, Research Associate
In East Harlem, the Center for Trauma Innovation is supporting the healing journeys of individuals impacted by the criminal legal system with unique strategies to build relationships, provide innovative services, and respond to community needs.
Nearly 9 in 10 of people who have been incarcerated have experienced a traumatic event in their life and 1 in 7 report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).¹ Given the complex needs of formerly incarcerated people and the impacts of PTSD, supporting people impacted by the criminal legal system requires innovative approaches to address trauma healing.
One program in East Harlem is doing just that. For over three years, the Exodus Center for Trauma Innovation (CTI) has been adapting and establishing trauma-informed practices and approaches to better provide its participants—nearly all of whom have had direct experiences with the criminal legal system—with mental health and other services. To do so, the CTI developed a unique approach that supports participants by creating trusting relationships, developing innovative services, and responding to community needs. A recently published evaluation details how the program was implemented.
For more information about CCT’s ongoing evaluation of the CTI, visit the CTI Evaluation page.
The Center for Trauma Innovation
In 2017, Exodus Transitional Community (ETC) was funded by the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII)—a partnership between CUNY ISLG and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office—to develop the CTI. The CTI serves participants who have experienced chronic trauma related to incarceration, poverty, racism, community violence, and other events. It does so through three core prongs: direct services, training and technical assistance, and a learning community.
CJII does not just involve funding—it also includes rigorous evaluation components to ensure programs are on the right track, and that future programs can learn from their work. The CTI is working with an evaluation team at the Center for Complex Trauma (CCT) at Icahn School of Medicine to understand the program’s implementation and impact by using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. As part of this evaluation, the partnership has produced a process evaluation report that explores how the three core aspects of the program were implemented by the CTI.
Research Questions Used to Guide Evaluation Process
• Program Implementation: Is the CTI operating as intended and according to its plan?
• Program Performance: To what extent is the CTI achieving its program goals?
• Learning and Adapting: How does the CTI respond and adapt to obstacles, challenges, or new insights?
Three Innovative Approaches to Address Trauma Healing
Findings from the process evaluation highlight three primary mechanisms through which the CTI successfully implemented innovative approaches to support participants’ healing journeys. Staff at the CTI draw from their history in the community, experience with and around the criminal legal system, and understanding of the clinical understanding of trauma and healing to build rapport, provide services, and respond to community needs.
Establishing Meaningful Relationships with Participants
Program and clinical staff at the CTI understand the importance of creating trusting and nurturing spaces where participants feel safe and supported. By approaching participants with mutual respect and empathy, CTI staff can better understand the material, social, and health needs of their participants and work to create inclusive spaces to access mental health care and encourage participants—a key component of their trauma healing journeys. To do so, they intentionally structure their enrollment and service provision process to incorporate trauma-informed language and relate to participants’ lived experiences.
The CTI also creates safe spaces through staff practices — and, importantly, many of those staff are formerly incarcerated themselves. One CTI staff member described their approach to establishing participant relationships:
“A person’s gotta feel that… if I walk in here and share something with you, I’m not going to be judged because of what I share or what I look like or how I’m dressed. I think it starts with accepting the person for where they’re at and letting them know that whatever they share is honored and confidential.”
Staff perspectives help create a level playing field with participants, which helps them to establish meaningful relationships. By reducing stigma, reflecting a nonjudgmental attitude, and sharing their own lived experiences, staff create an inclusive atmosphere where participants feel safe to share their own experiences. As a result, participants feel supported and accepted at the CTI, and they are encouraged to work towards their healing goals.
As the field continues to search for ways to repair the criminal legal system and improve the outcomes of those it impacts, the innovative approaches and collaborative philosophy of the action research model offers a new standard for probation reform efforts. Through these concerted efforts, we do not merely seek to understand, but also ensure that our understanding penetrates the academic bubble, translates to realizable remedies, and addresses the most critical issues facing our communities.
Providing Innovative Services to Address Interrelated Needs
Staff at the CTI also understand the importance of addressing participants’ interrelated needs through creative services. They draw on established methods of clinical therapy as well as innovative services to support their participants’ healing journeys. In doing so, the program adapts its healing approach to meet the unique needs of each participant and their goals.
Upon enrollment, participants can access individual counseling, traditional clinical group programming, and innovative group programming. Groups at the CTI provide participants with safe spaces to discuss their trauma and healing; they include programming designed specifically for women, Spanish speakers, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as groups that focus on emotional regulation, trauma and resilience, art therapy, and grief. Participants can also attend innovative non-clinical group services, such as community healer group sessions, trauma-informed boxing and yoga, karate, open mic and improv events, holistic wellness sessions, puppy therapy, and anti-gun groups, among others.
Responding to Community Voices and Expanded Program Impact
The CTI understands the role that community plays in supporting healing journeys, and it intentionally hosts events and conducts outreach to establish rapport and understand community needs. For example, events like Open Mic Night are open to non-participants and help broaden the reach of the CTI’s programming, while outreach activities focus on addressing the immediate needs of community members. One program participant highlighted the program’s unique approach to supporting community members in East Harlem:
When CTI staff see people going through stuff and they reach out to them, they're doing their best, right there. They're doing their best. 'Hey, are you homeless? You got food?' The CTI is talking. Nobody should be hungry.
They got breakfast right here. I mean, they even give you coffee. They even give you a MetroCard right? To go from point A to point B…These friendly faces. Whatever you're going through. They're still friendly faces. Nobody's gonna come out yelling at me, it’s, 'What's going on?' and 'How can I help you?'
The CTI chose this approach to supporting participants based on its experience with and feedback from formerly incarcerated people adjusting to life after incarceration. When basic needs are met, participants are available to spend time working through their trauma with the CTI. With this approach, the CTI is better able to provide services that meet the interrelated needs of participants and community members—often by first helping them meet their immediate needs of food, shelter, and employment.
The CTI and CCT teams are currently collaborating to understand the program’s impact on participants and share evaluation findings for other programs and researchers. Future analysis will examine participant healing and how the CTI supports healing journeys. For more information about the CCT evaluation of the CTI, visit the CTI Evaluation page.
About the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative
Under former Manhattan District Attorney Cy R. Vance, Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office created the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) in order to use $250 million seized in international financial crime prosecutions to invest in transformative projects that will improve public safety, prevent crime, and promote a fair and efficient justice system. CJII is a first-of-its-kind effort to support innovative community projects that fill critical gaps and needs in New York City’s criminal legal system infrastructure.
CJII focuses on three investment areas—crime prevention, diversion and reentry, and supports for survivors of crime. The CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance manages and provides technical assistance to CJII contractors, and conducts oversight and performance measurement throughout the lifetime of the initiative.
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Wolff, N., & Shi, J. (2012). Childhood and adult trauma experiences of incarcerated persons and their relationship to adult behavioral health problems and treatment. International journal of environmental research and public health, 9(5), 1908–1926. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph9051908
Wolff, N., Huening, J., Shi, J., & Frueh, B. C. (2014). Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder among incarcerated men. Journal of urban health: bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 91(4), 707–719. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-014-9871-x
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