Resilience

Join us for this free screening of James Redford’s 2016 documentary Resilience followed by a conversation about trauma-informed practices in our community schools, healthcare facilities, and social service agencies.

A follow-up to Redford’s 2015 documentary Paper Tigers, Resilience delves into the science behind adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including abuse, poverty, and neglect. The trauma and chronic stress created by ACEs adversely affect children’s health and alter their brains, making it physiologically difficult to learn and leaving them more vulnerable to illness and incarceration throughout their lives. Leading a discussion about the local impact of these issues are Cheryl L. Ward of Columbus City Schools, Karen S. Days from The Center for Family Safety and Healing, and Jo Dee Davis of Healing Broken Circles, a nonprofit supporting education within the justice system.

This experience is ideal for all interested in trauma-informed practices, including teachers, administrators, parents, family healthcare providers, and community members.

Cheryl L. Ward, PCC-S, is the director of student and family engagement with Columbus City Schools. She provides leadership and oversight to staff and programs that address homeless students and families, foster care students, and social and emotional needs including mental health, climate and culture, and positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS). Ward is working to develop a district-wide training framework to incorporate trauma-informed practices and restorative justice practices. She is also responsible for community and mental health partnerships and the school’s CARE team, which consists of counselors and social workers who respond to staff or student deaths that may occur within the district. The department focuses on the academic, social/emotional, and behavioral needs of students and works to develop increased parent engagement across the district. Ward serves on committees and boards in the community and is a licensed professional clinical counselor with supervisor endorsement through the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker, and Marriage and Family Therapist Board.

Karen S. Days is currently the president of The Center for Family Safety and Healing (TCFSH), where she leads a multidisciplinary team of experts who address the many short- and long-term effects of family violence, both personal and global. Beginning in 1999, Days served as the first president of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence (CCAFV); a strong Board of Trustees, along with the coalition’s founder, Abigail Wexner, enabled CCAFV to mobilize community resources, support new initiatives, and enhance community education. Prior to CCAFV, Days spent 10 years working in the criminal justice field. Currently, she serves as board chair of the Columbus Board of Health, as a board member of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, and on the advisory boards of the State Victims Assistance Act and Columbus Parent magazine. She also was a founding member of the Columbus Police Foundation Board and served on the boards of Mount Carmel Foundation, YWCA Columbus, United Way of Central Ohio, and Ohio Dominican University.

Jo Dee Davis is the founder of Healing Broken Circles (HBC), a nonprofit organization providing opportunities to heal, learn, and thrive for those touched by the justice system. Davis has worked inside prison settings for the last 18 years, developing and leading an unprecedented and effective community learning center that offers advanced education opportunities for the incarcerated population. Subjects addressed include workforce readiness; arts and creativity; communal and personal growth; and wellness of body, mind, and spirit. HBC hosted the first ever TEDx event in an adult prison, and has since integrated TED-style learning into the fabric of the institution. HBC’s approach has been substantiated, and now enhanced, by the ACES longitudinal study, as many of its recommended practices for the remediation of trauma had already been incorporated into HBC’s programming. A mediator, facilitator, and lifelong educator, Davis was one of seven recipients of the The KIND Foundation’s KIND People Award in 2016. In 2017, she was honored with CF Learning’s Model of Leadership and Service Award.