350 Forum attendees visit data tables manned by 30 local community agencies and organizations as they discuss how trauma is seen in their agencies and what programs they have to prevent, assess and treat it.
History of WCCI
In 2015, a group of youth-serving agencies in Watauga County began to explore how to better serve youth in Watauga County. Taking direction from the Center for Disease Control‘s “Essentials for Childhood” document, they decided the first step would be to raise community awareness and provide education about trauma and resiliency. To this end, a “State of the Child” Forum with themes of Childhood Trauma and Trauma-Informed Communities was held in May of 2017. Approximately 400 people attended, representing key sectors from Watauga County and surrounding areas.
In August 2017, a leadership team was formed to continue this important work. Now known as the Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative (WCCI), their mission statement is:
To promote health and resiliency in our community and to effectively prevent, recognize and treat trauma by creating safe, stable, nurturing environments and relationships. WCCI meets monthly to develop goals and help implement change. To promote community change, six committees were created: Awareness, Data, Funding, Policy, Prevention, and Events. Community members began to attend meetings and create meaningful change through the work of these six committees.
In 2017, the momentum began to build. Consistent meetings and engagement was established. WCCI began implementing a shared language of trauma and resiliency across Watauga County and began the push of conversations, presentations, and awareness to a variety of service organizations and systems. The second State of the Child Conference was held for 330 registered attendees. Throughout 2018, the momentum remained steady and WCCI established a website and increased its social media presence. The data committee began to find ways to track data from the WCCI presentations and the ACEs prevalence of its own WCCI members. In 2019, the first ever WCCI conference: What’s Strong in you was held for more than 600 people.
Moving into the 2019-2020 year, WCCI formed a speaker’s bureau and hired an outreach specialist to increase the capacity for presentations in the community. In March 2020, the COVID pandemic struck the world. WCCI quickly adapted and began virtual meetings that included resilience skills and connection corners. They published the Responding to Community Stress Newsletter to promote resilience and self-care ideas for community members during a time in which we experienced a world-wide trauma. Currently, there are three committees: Awareness, Events, and Policy/ Prevention. The goals remain the same: to increase awareness of trauma, resilience and trauma-informed practice across Watauga County and these committees continue to create meaningful change in Watauga County. See below for WCCI major accomplishments.
WCCI Highlighted Accomplishments:
2016-2017
2017-2018
2018-2019
2019-2020
2020-2021
2021-2022
A complete list of WCCI accomplishments can be found below.
In August 2017, a leadership team was formed to continue this important work. Now known as the Watauga Compassionate Community Initiative (WCCI), their mission statement is:
To promote health and resiliency in our community and to effectively prevent, recognize and treat trauma by creating safe, stable, nurturing environments and relationships. WCCI meets monthly to develop goals and help implement change. To promote community change, six committees were created: Awareness, Data, Funding, Policy, Prevention, and Events. Community members began to attend meetings and create meaningful change through the work of these six committees.
In 2017, the momentum began to build. Consistent meetings and engagement was established. WCCI began implementing a shared language of trauma and resiliency across Watauga County and began the push of conversations, presentations, and awareness to a variety of service organizations and systems. The second State of the Child Conference was held for 330 registered attendees. Throughout 2018, the momentum remained steady and WCCI established a website and increased its social media presence. The data committee began to find ways to track data from the WCCI presentations and the ACEs prevalence of its own WCCI members. In 2019, the first ever WCCI conference: What’s Strong in you was held for more than 600 people.
Moving into the 2019-2020 year, WCCI formed a speaker’s bureau and hired an outreach specialist to increase the capacity for presentations in the community. In March 2020, the COVID pandemic struck the world. WCCI quickly adapted and began virtual meetings that included resilience skills and connection corners. They published the Responding to Community Stress Newsletter to promote resilience and self-care ideas for community members during a time in which we experienced a world-wide trauma. Currently, there are three committees: Awareness, Events, and Policy/ Prevention. The goals remain the same: to increase awareness of trauma, resilience and trauma-informed practice across Watauga County and these committees continue to create meaningful change in Watauga County. See below for WCCI major accomplishments.
WCCI Highlighted Accomplishments:
2016-2017
- First Conference Held: State of the Child with approximately 400 attendees
- Momentum gained and conversations continued across the county.
2017-2018
- Second Conference Held: with approximately 330 attendees
- Consistent monthly meetings with committees established
- Began implementing a shared language of trauma and resiliency across Watauga County
- Conversations, presentations and awareness increase to a variety of service organizations and systems
- Integrating data and findings into the work & direction of WCCI
- Researching trauma-informed practices already happening in Watauga Agencies
- Began community mapping resources and available supports
2018-2019
- Third Conference Held: What’s Strong in You?: 600 people attended
- Hosted Five movie screenings featuring the documentary Resilience as well as a poverty simulation
- ACE’s survey of WCCI membership launched by ASU
- WCCI website and social media created
- A presentation tracker form was developed to collect information on all wcci presentations
- Compassionate Schools Trainings completed at all 9 WCS Public schools
2019-2020
- WCCI Speakers Bureau was formed
- The first paid staff member of WCCI hired
- Virtual WCCI Meetings in response to COVID-19
2020-2021
- Fourth Conference Held: Community is the Solution
- Wednesday Conversations began
- First meeting of the Resilient North Carolina Collaborative Collaborative
- Increased engagement of nontraditional community partners (such as restaurants, hair salons, scout leaders, massage therapists, etc.), not just those in traditional social service/helping professions, with the goal of empowering them to provide resources to people they come across during the course of their daily work who may be struggling with trauma or adversity.
- A large wave of WCCI presentations since the formation of WCCI
- Developed a Crosswalk between Family Forward NC Policies & WCCI organizations
2021-2022
- Fifth Conference Held: Rooted in Resilience with 140 attendees
- In conjunction with housing partners & other key community stakeholders, members of the Policy/Prevention Committees helped plan and facilitate a free, four-session Community Watauga Housing Forum to discuss the breadth & depth of community housing issues that was open to all community members
- The First Worker/Family-Friendly Policies are presented
- Members of the Prevention Committee completed a "Shattering Stigma" Video Campaign.
- Supported the WHS Social Justice group to learn about their own goals around making the school system a more equitable and just environment for students of color
- Created the Facilitators Guide for Community Conversations
- Created Trauma 102 Training to begin rolling out during the 2022 WCCI Conference
A complete list of WCCI accomplishments can be found below.
The definition of Trauma-Informed Child and Family Service Systems as presented by Dr. Tripp Ake.
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Crystal Kelly, Executive Director of the Children's Council, dicussing trauma and brain architecture. |
Monthly WCCI meetings are attended by representatives from across the community, including: AppHealth Care, Appalachian Regional Healthcare System, Appalachian Regional Public Library, Appalachian State University, Blue Ridge Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, Blackburn’s Chapel, Boone Police Department, Boone United Methodist Church, Children’s Council of Watauga County, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, Crossnore School and Children’s Home, Daymark Recovery Services, Inc., Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Social Services, Guardian Ad Litem, Hospitality House, Mediation and Restorative Justice Center, private therapists, theHeart church, Southmountain Children and Family Services, Youth Villages, WAMY, Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Watauga Medics, Watauga County court system, Watauga County Schools, and Western Youth Network. We thank you for your time, energy and commitment.
Tonier Cain, motivational speaker, author of "Healing Neen" talks about trauma and hope. |
Gary Childers, Executive Director of the High Country United Way, platinum sponsor of the State of the Child Forum, during the data table portion . |