Surgeon general praises county
A lot of good work is being done in Humboldt County to combat and curb childhood trauma, says California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris.
“I’m really impressed with the work that’s happening here in Humboldt,” Burke Harris said at a town hall on adverse childhood experiences on Thursday. “I think it’s an amazing example of what can happen when communities come together.”
Burke Harris was joined by state Sen. Mike McGuire and a panel of local care providers who are implementing programs that provide support and resources for both parents and children. Preventing adverse childhood experiences, such as abuse and neglect, is crucial to preventing negative health outcomes, such as heart disease, in the future, Burke Harris said.
A large part of the work being done locally is at the schools.
Dr. Candy Stockton, medical director of the Humboldt Independent Practice Association, talked about how her association worked with the McKinleyville Union School District and Northern Humboldt Union High School District to launch a health center in August 2018. That health center offers wellness coaching, a girls group and, soon, a boys group that help build coping skills and resiliency, such as having a positive self-image, Stockton said.
“We do assessments with all of our enrollees for the social determinants of health and help connect them to services that are appropriate for those needs,” Stockton said. “So really excited, this is more than just a doctor’s visit. This is support for where children are at.”
Erika Chase, executive director of the Hoopa Tribal Education Association, said
they did an adverse childhood experiences survey in the Hoopa community to determine the kinds of trauma people in the community experienced. In January 2019, the association launched a student wellness center that has helped connect more than one thousand students to mental health services, wellness groups, substance abuse counseling and more, Chase said.
The way these services play out most organically is “when we’re doing things that are in line with our traditions, our culture, our languages, and we’re using that perspective to translate all of these things,” Chase said.
On Monday, Chase said the Hoopa Valley Tribal Council passed a resolution recognizing the effectiveness of culturally relevant trauma-responsive practices, so “this is our new standard.”
But the county isn’t just focusing on the schools, it’s also focusing on what happens in the womb.
Humboldt County has the third-highest rate in the state of babies born experiencing withdrawal from being exposed to substances during pregnancy, Stockton said.
Stockton said the perinatal substance use disorder project is helping women at increased risk of substance use through pregnancy and preparing for a child.
“The sooner we can get those women connected to appropriate resources, the more stable the environment that they’re taking children into will be,” Stockton said.
Burke Harris said the county is doing great work, but is at a critical juncture where coordination of care is going to be all-important to closing any gaps in service audience members brought up and preventing burnout in care providers.
While the focus of the town hall was on curbing adversity in childhood, some audience members brought up adults who are living with trauma and people struggling with homelessness.
Research has shown lifestyle choices, such as eating healthily, exercising and meditating, can help reduce the negative health impacts of childhood trauma, Burke Harris said, but caring relationships and compassion can go a long way, too.
For instance, the release of the hormone oxytocin when a person gets hugged can help protect their heart lining, Burke Harris said, and buffer people from the damaging effects of toxic stress.
“The difference between me and the person who’s experiencing homelessness may be the dose of adversity they’ve experienced and the amount of buffering they’ve received,” Burke Harris said. “And so hopefully, that connection, the ability to see that there’s a shared history there, is really important.”