Thank you to all who joined us for the Cross-Discipline Trauma Conference!

Thank you to all who joined us for the Cross-Discipline Trauma Conference of Central Texas.  TNOYS was pleased to partner with Austin Child Guidance Center to host this great event.  One participant, Krystle Ramsay, from the residential treatment center at Hill County Youth Ranch, a participating site in the TNOYS’ Creating a Culture of Care initiative, sent in her thoughts of the conference. Please help us welcome Krystle as a guest blogger!

Our team from Hill Country Youth Ranch was thrilled to attend the Cross-Discipline Trauma Conference of Central Texas!  The presenters were extraordinary.  The highlight of the conferencewas Dr. Bruce Perry’s Monday session.  It was definitely information overload, taking several days to process.

I have only worked with children in a residential setting for 10 years.  In my short career I have seen the various effects of traumain our children.  Our children come from extremely traumatic experiences that make us cringe at the thought.  They are not only ripped out of their homes, but move within the foster care system repeatedly.  Our children come from unstable homes and are brought into an unstable system with good intentions.

The conference content provided a fresh outlook.  As professionals, we have the tendency of looking at the presenting problem, surface behaviors.  We feel like we have done our job if we can “fix” the problem.  We are driven by outcome measures; we want to see results.  The children and cases we work with are so much more than that.  There are so many factors that much be considered when working with children and a systems approach is imperative.

This conference was the best conference I have attended.  I learned something new at each session.  Thank you to TNOYS, Austin Child Guidance Center, and the other partners for organizing such an amazing conference.