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Building organizational resilience to address cascading collective trauma in a rural Virginia community

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Building organizational resilience to address cascading collective trauma in a rural Virginia community

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Content 1
Building Organizational Resilience to Address Cascading Collective Trauma
in a Rural Virginia Community
Marie E. Petrone
Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
University of Southern California
Doctor of Social Work Program: SOWK 725c
Dr. Renee Smith-Maddox
March 3, 2023
May 2023
2
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my son, Ace Adams. I hated missing some of your baseball and basketball
games for classes, and I am sorry for all the times I would not take you to Chick-fil-A on a
Saturday because I needed to write a paper. Thank you to my daughter, Ayla Adams. You
always make me feel better when I am stressed about being late or having too much work to do,
which was often during this program. Thank you both for your support and patience. I hope I
make you proud, and this is an example that if I can become a doctor, you can do hard things too.
Thank you to Freddy Adams, my love, for never asking how much money I was spending or
complaining about the time I needed for classes and writing. You put up with me and support my
crazy goals, and I love you for it. Thank you to my parents and grandparents for passing down a
strong work ethic and teaching me to always follow my heart. Thank you to my amazing
classmates, Derek Morris, Amy St. Luce, Meagan McCauley, Everette Hill, Rupert Pearson, and
Jessica Clayton. Without you, I would have quit. Instead, I gained a family and I cannot wait to
see where we all go from here! Thank you to USC, especially Cassandra Fatouros and Renee
Smith-Maddox for your guidance. Special thank you to my friend Joni Tables for your leadership
in TICN and willingness to accompany me on this journey. Finally, thank you to all of my
amazing colleagues and collaborators in Amherst County and Central Virginia. I love working
with all of you to make our community an even better place to live.

“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”
Margaret J. Wheatley
“I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it.”
adrienne maree brown
3
Table of Contents
Abstract 4
Introduction 5
Problem of Practice and Literature Review 6
Conceptual and Theoretical Framework 13
Project Description 19
Methodology 24
Project Structure and Implementation Strategy 26
Conclusions, Implications, and Action Plan 32
References 36
Appendix A: Conceptualization of TICN Expansion Initiative 45
Appendix B: Problem of Practice 46
Appendix C: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory 48
Appendix D: Theory of Change 50
Appendix E: Logic Model 52
Appendix F: Design Criteria 53
Appendix G: Prototyping Process 55
Appendix H: Financial Plan 69
Appendix I: Stakeholder Map 71
Appendix J: Communication and Marketing Examples 72
Appendix K: Implementation 78

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Abstract
Collective trauma occurs when a community of people, defined by a shared identity, experiences
an event that damages their collective identity (Silver et al., 2021). Collective trauma has been a
social problem throughout the history of humanity. However, the last few years have brought
about a cascade of collective trauma events impacting communities and individuals in many
ways. Events such as the global pandemic, political unrest, murder of black people by police, and
multiple natural disasters have occurred over the last several years in rapid succession. While the
full range of impacts is not yet understood, there are social shifts evident such as the general
increase in mental health needs (Brunier, 2022). Collective trauma is harmful to communities
and has detrimental effects on future generations (Silver et al., 2021).

The long-term goal of this proposed capstone project is to reduce the impact of collective trauma
in Amherst County, Virginia. The short-term goal will utilize the existing resources of the
Amherst County Trauma Informed Community Network (TICN) to develop and implement a
multi-dimensional, community-level intervention. The existing expertise and community
connections of TICN will be leveraged to target organizational leaders, such as managers and
business owners, with awareness campaigns and knowledge dissemination about collective
trauma. Targeting workplaces will spread trauma awareness to new audiences and build
organizational resilience. This work contributes to disrupting the cycle of incorporating toxic
stress into the collective culture. Future action steps for this project will include supporting
employers and organizational leaders to change internal policies and build supportive practices
into their organizational culture.

5
Building Organizational Resilience to Address Cascading Collective Trauma
Collective trauma events have been occurring so frequently that the communities affected
do not have time to recover before another event occurs. This phenomenon is called cascading
collective trauma and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future due to the current social,
international, and environmental instability (Silver et al., 2021; Watson et al., 2020). Collective
trauma is problematic for many reasons. It directly damages the affected group’s culture and
identity, but those who witness the collective trauma indirectly also experience negative
secondary effects (Updegraff et al., 2008; Thompson et al., 2019). The stress response of
collective trauma can be passed down to future generations and perpetuated by existing
macrosystems (Yehuda et al., 2015; Hershberger, 2018). Individuals are often directed to seek
therapy or engage in self-care practices to overcome the collective trauma stress response, but
the response also occurs at a societal or collective level, so social solutions are needed.
This capstone seeks to address collective trauma in Amherst County, Virginia through the
workplace by engaging organizational leaders to make their organizations trauma-informed
(aware of trauma) or trauma-responsive (mitigating the effects of trauma). The existing Amherst
County Trauma Informed Community Network (TICN), which has been raising community
awareness of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), will be rebranded to the Amherst Caring
Coalition and scaled up in two distinct ways (See Appendix A). First, TICN will expand its
current trauma-awareness work to include collective trauma. Including collective trauma makes
TICN’s mission relevant to many new populations beyond the child-serving organizations that
founded the initiative.
The second expansion method will focus on a new target population of organizational
leaders. TICN will support organizational leaders in their own knowledge-building, in future
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action steps to build awareness of collective trauma within their organization, and in identifying
small changes in policy or practice that will better support their employees. The long-term result
will be multiple trauma-responsive organizations that serve as protective factors by prioritizing
employee well-being and organizational culture. When many workplaces in the community
become a protective factor, community resilience increases, and the effects of the stress response
related to collective trauma are lessened (Brisson et al., 2019).
Problem of Practice and Literature Review
Problem Statement
A collective traumatic response occurs when an event damages the fabric of society and
causes long-lasting effects with a large-scale impact that often includes physical, mental, social,
and economic hardship (Cypress, 2020). Collective trauma is a social phenomenon and a western
construct that affects an entire community. The community affected may be geographical, such
as a nation or neighborhood, or it may be a community bound by a common identity, such as
race or sexuality (Kelly et al., 2020).
Over the last few years, many communities have experienced multiple cascading
traumatic events, further harming the stability and well-being of the community (Silver et al.,
2021). Tragic events, both natural and manmade, seemed to occur consecutively before
communities could recover, similar to how cascades continue to come wave after wave without
relief. Some waves are massive, directly impacting a group of people. Others are smaller and
caused by witnessing the effects of the events on others, similar to the secondary trauma endured
by first responders (Updegraff et al., 2008). Media and social media become the narrative
surrounding collective trauma events, creating ripples that reinforce and exacerbate the traumatic
response (Thompson et al., 2019; Xue et al., 2021).
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The unrelenting cascading traumas over the last few years are expected to continue and
become more frequent because of the changing environment and social instability across the
globe (Watson et al., 2020). Work to address this problem aligns with the grand challenge of
creating social responses to a changing environment (Palinkas & Soydan, 2012). Preparation and
response at the community level are needed to create systemic change and design systems that
support everyone, but especially traditionally oppressed groups who are disproportionately
harmed by collective trauma (Muldoon et al., 2017; Watson et al., 2020).
Literature and Practice Review
Trauma is an extreme reaction to an event that potentially involves death or loss of
identity (Hershberger, 2018). The human mind develops psychological defenses, such as
dissociation and fearfulness, to overcome these stressful and overwhelming experiences. These
psychological defenses, better known as trauma responses, fall on a spectrum ranging from mild
to severe (Kalsched, 2020). Whether a traumatic event affects an individual or a collective group,
the consequences of experiencing trauma have far-reaching impacts.
Causality of Collective Trauma
This capstone is based on the understanding that collective trauma is occurring more
frequently and having a more widespread impact on society than in decades prior (Silver et al.,
2021). Further, collective trauma has cumulative effects perpetuating for generations and
contributing to disproportionate adverse outcomes for oppressed communities (Williams et al.,
2019). Collective trauma occurs from a wide variety of experiences, ranging from war to natural
disasters to systemic racism, and encompasses several related concepts, such as historical and
generational trauma (Lerner, 2019). Events such as these cause an entire group or community to
experience a trauma response (Cypress, 2020). (See Appendix B, Figure B1)
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Traditionally, a narrative about the collective trauma would emerge through stories and
rituals. In recent years, the narrative is shared through social media and the 24-hour news cycle
(Lerner, 2019). This narrative further spreads the trauma to those not directly impacted, causing
a secondary trauma response, usually with heightened vigilance and generalized fear or anxiety
(Updegraff et al., 2008; Hershberger, 2018). Next, the narrative is absorbed into the collective
identity through repetition (Olick, 1999), and continued experience of toxic stress becomes
further embedded in the group’s worldview (Lerner, 2019). In this way, collective trauma
changes the group or community’s culture (Hershberger, 2018).
Riedel (2017) reports that collective trauma integrates into family and community
identity, causing unhealthy responses to be considered normal. Future generations do not
perceive the stress, anxiety, and other consequences of collective trauma as abnormal or
problematic. Instead, they see this as a part of their cultural and family identity. Epigeneticists
found that trauma and toxic stress alter the expression of specific genes, causing future
generations to experience heightened stress and anxiety levels (Yehuda et al., 2015).
Overlap of Traumas
Collective trauma must be understood as it relates to and intersects with individual and
secondary (or vicarious) trauma because they often occur in tandem (see Figure B2), contributing
to the cascade of trauma being experienced (Silver et al., 2021). An estimated 70% of adults in
the United States have experienced a traumatic event at some point in their lives, with about 6%
having posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Luszczynska et al., 2009; Manning, 2022).
Secondary trauma occurs when an individual experiences empathy for the suffering of another
individual and, in turn, experiences a trauma response that affects their functioning or
performance, such as anxiety or toxic stress (Sorenson et al., 2017). Secondary trauma can also
9
come from cumulative experiences, such as those a first responder may experience throughout
their career.
Secondary trauma is typically only studied in association with high-risk careers, such as
nursing or counseling; however, it can also occur in the general population through witnessing
tragedies in the media. Holman and colleagues (2020) found that those who closely followed
news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings were more likely to experience trauma
response symptoms. A longitudinal study found that media exposure and post-traumatic stress
symptoms share a cyclical relationship (Thompson et al., 2019). Exposure to media surrounding
collective trauma events predicts increased stress, fear, and anxiety levels. Increased stress, fear,
and anxiety predict high levels of media consumption. Similarly, 60% of participants in a
longitudinal study after the 9/11 terrorist attacks reported traumatic stress symptoms six years
later, after their only exposure had been through media broadcasts and news reports (Updegraff
et al., 2008). These influential news reports were the narrative embedding the trauma response
into the collective consciousness (Lerner, 2019).
Organizational Impacts
Researchers report significant impacts on mental well-being during the cascading trauma
of the past several years. Recent data assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic found a
25% global increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression (Brunier, 2022). When
analyzing workplace impacts, Kelly (2022) states that the proportion of people at high risk for
mental health issues increased from 14% to 34% during this period of cascading traumas.
Further, American workers holding in-person jobs report a 17% increase in job dissatisfaction
and nearly 20% report their work life to have worsened since 2020. Individuals with less
financial security, such as those without an emergency savings fund, are experiencing the lowest
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mental health scores (Kelly, 2022). This data demonstrates that employers and workplaces play
an important role in resilience to collective trauma.
According to Lerner (2019), collective trauma erodes the trust between leadership and
members of an organization. Erosion of trust leads to lowered engagement and less cooperation
among all parties. As mentioned previously, secondary trauma often comes from work
environments that expose an individual to the trauma endured by others. Another point of
overlap between secondary and collective trauma occurs at the organizational level. As discussed
in an interview with Sarah Yanosy, an expert on trauma-responsive practices, when an
organization becomes toxic, the entire workforce will be affected. This becomes a type of
collective trauma since the workforce identifies as a collective group, shares the negative
narrative, and suffers the consequences of stress and anxiety. This level of toxic stress in the
workforce can irreparably harm the organizational culture and identity. When this toxicity
becomes embedded in an individual’s professional identity, they will either leave the field or
come to expect high levels of negativity and stress for the duration of their career.
Current Practice
Most options for addressing collective trauma support the individual. Commonly touted
interventions include counseling or therapy, building individual protective factors, and engaging
in self-care to become more resilient (Updegraff et al., 2008; Sales et al., 2019). These
suggestions are problematic in addressing collective trauma for several reasons. First, they focus
on individual healing, which is undoubtedly important, but collective trauma affects
communities and therefore requires interventions that can address an entire community. Second,
these suggestions ignore the retraumatization that occurs through the repetition of the trauma
narrative and how a stress response can become a cultural marker (Thompson et al., 2019;
11
Updegraff et al., 2008). Most problematic, these suggestions put the responsibility back onto the
struggling person rather than addressing it systematically (Barton et al., 2021; Patton Davis &
Museus, 2019).
At the organizational level, trauma-informed practices are commonly used to support
clients who suffer from trauma-related problems. These same principles support staff who
vicariously experience trauma through their clients or have experienced trauma in their personal
lives or from witnessing collective trauma events. The city of Baltimore implemented trauma-
informed practices in its organization after the death of Freddie Gray and subsequent incidents of
civil unrest (Damian et al., 2017). Their goal was to support the community who had experienced
collective trauma, but they found that trauma awareness also benefited their employees.
Interpersonal relationships improved, empathy for peers increased, and the organizational culture
benefitted. Ray (2021) asserts that trauma-informed workplaces should be a solution to bringing
employees back into the workplace after the collective trauma of the pandemic. Keesler (2020)
analyzed the effects of a trauma-informed approach on organizational culture and found that a
higher score in trauma-informed organizational culture was related to high scores in resilience
and lower rates of stress.
Stakeholder Perspectives
Collective trauma damages organizations and breeds resentment and mistrust within
organizations (Lerner, 2019). Workforce challenges emerged in the wake of the pandemic,
including high rates of turnover and difficulty filling vacant positions (Bersin, 2022). In addition,
the increased stress of daily life is rising to toxic levels, leading to massive shifts in our culture,
as evidenced by the recent great resignation (Bersin, 2022; Hsu, 2021). The great resignation was
a trend when workers left their jobs in record numbers, fueled by their personal response to the
12
pandemic. For some, a desire for self-betterment fueled their resignation (Taylor, 2022). Others
chose to leave their careers because they were struggling with anxiety and toxic stress (Staglin,
2021). Employers face the challenge of avoiding toxic work environments while keeping their
processes going with fewer employees and resources. With these challenges in mind, many
organizational leaders are looking for solutions to support their workforce, keep the employees
they have, and compete in a changing labor force landscape.
Social Significance
Worldwide, people suffer from cascading traumatic events at an exponentially increasing
pace (Silver et al., 2021). Terrorism and war are creating refugee populations seeking asylum in
record numbers, many of whom are families with children (Taub, 2022). Racism, inequity, and
oppression continue to harm traditionally oppressed communities and other marginalized groups,
but the last few years have been especially harmful (Akerele et al., 2021; Williams et al., 2019).
The murders of African Americans by police were witnessed through social media across the
globe, causing increased stress to the black community (Gold, 2021). The effects of the
pandemic, including grief and loss, economic hardship, and isolation, continue to damage the
mental health of many individuals. World Health Organization (WHO) officials declared the
mental health crisis the next pandemic, citing a 25% increase in anxiety worldwide (WHO,
2022). In his state of the union address, the U.S. president made mental health a prime focus of
his administration due to the increased need post-pandemic (National Alliance on Mental Illness,
2022).
In addition to the mental health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic is being blamed for
exacerbating many other social challenges. Child abuse became a prominent concern of school
administrators when students were not in the buildings every day, and abuse rates tripled during
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the height of the pandemic (Pereda & Díaz-Faes, 2020). One contributor to child abuse is
parental burnout, which reached high levels because of pandemic closures and quarantines
(Griffith, 2020). Burnout has become a common theme, triggering the Great Resignation that
began in late 2020 and continued through 2021 (Bersin, 2022). Employees are reporting burnout
at such high rates that it is being compared to psychological hibernation, a phenomenon similar
to mild depression that occurs in extreme isolation (Russell, 2021).
The pandemic and social unrest of the last two years have taken a toll on individuals,
families, and communities. It disproportionately harms oppressed communities and rural
communities, who struggle with fewer work opportunities and fewer resources to support mental
wellness. With all that has happened, the status quo of power inequities and the impending doom
of climate change remain. These social and environmental threats will only increase the
frequency of collective trauma events. Finding a solution to mitigate the effects of cascading
collective trauma has never been more imperative. In the words of Bednarek (2021), “The
enormity of losses ahead open up a collective trauma field that will have far-reaching
consequences on the mental health of many and in turn, the psychological response to adversity
will shape the future of the world. We live in important times.” (p. 1).
Conceptual and Theoretical Framework
Positionality Statement
I currently serve as a senior-level public school leader in rural Amherst County, Virginia,
but my true calling is to be a healer. After years of direct care service in mental health, I have
started working to create change at the macro level through advocacy. My work helping children
and families motivates me to continue in this field after years of secondary trauma. I plan to
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transition to writing and speaking about trauma and mental health to generate awareness while
expanding the collective consciousness.
I identify as a cis-gender, hetero, white woman and mother of two. I was adopted by first-
generation Italian-American parents and was raised in and around Philadelphia. While no longer
practicing, I was raised Roman Catholic and attended a Parochial school until 9th grade. I am on
the cusp of two generations, gen X and Millennial, familiarizing me with a world before cell
phones and instant connectivity while having the millennial ability to easily navigate technology.
During my formative years, I experienced hardships that led to a life-long interest in psychology
and a strong desire to serve others in their healing process. I practice gratitude for my current
middle-class socioeconomic status because I spent much of my life in poverty. While I engage in
capitalism for survival, I advocate against most capitalist principles, believing that the
disbursement of power closely follows the disbursement of wealth.
I moved to Virginia at the age of 24 and experienced a culture shock that lasted several
years. Nearly two decades later, I still feel like an outsider in this rural community and have been
affected by the history of the region in which I live. Amherst County land was taken from the
Monacan Indian tribe, and I own ten acres of this stolen land. I carefully steward the land out of
love for the Earth but know no action can right the wrongs of the past. I also recognize the
atrocities suffered by African slaves and their descendants in Virginia. While I can never fully
understand the experiences of others, I can be an ally in their healing. I have embraced personal
goals of raising positivity within the community while maintaining self-awareness and internal
growth. Through my advocacy, I believe I can bring incremental healing to the community by
addressing the effects of collective trauma.
Theoretical Framework
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Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory (see Appendix C) holds that an
individual’s environment consists of five systems nested within each other and within a certain
period of time (Guy-Evans, 2020). The largest system, the macrosystem, encompasses all of the
other systems, and it is at this level that collective trauma typically occurs. When the storm of
collective trauma creates waves in the macrosystem, damaging ripples reach all other systems
and cause stress for the individual. Collective trauma is a social experience, so it is experienced
differently by each group or individual, depending on how protective or feeble their
environmental systems may be (Hershberger, 2018; Harvey, 1996). It also effects the
chronosystem by creating a whirlpool at the point in time when the event occurs, influencing the
community at later points in time.
Ecological systems theory suggests that changes to the larger systems (macrosystem,
exosystem) can also positively affect the individual (Harvey, 1996; Guy-Evans, 2020). When the
environment mitigates the risk of trauma, that system becomes a protective factor (Hawkins et
al., 1992). Increased protective factors correlate with improved resilience and fewer lasting
trauma symptoms for individuals. The same is valid at the organizational level. Organizational
resilience at the microsystem and mesosystem levels contributes to social cohesion and
community efficacy at the macrosystem level, showing that the ripple effects go in both
directions (Tayyib, 2022).
Theory of Change
This capstone project sets out to raise awareness of collective trauma, specifically what
collective trauma is and how it affects community members. Further, this project seeks to
empower those in leadership positions within Amherst County organizations so that they may
take actionable steps to mitigate collective trauma in their organizations. Awareness is the first
16
step to motivation for change, and once organizational leaders are motivated, they can shape
organizational policies and practices to become more trauma-responsive (Tayyib, 2022). These
changes would lead to improvements in employee well-being, organizational culture, and trauma
risk factors facing workers. When this occurs in multiple organizations, the Amherst County
community will experience an improvement in social cohesion and community efficacy (Tayyib,
2022). These improvements can contribute to disrupting the potential adverse effects of
collective trauma on future generations.
Two existing models for awareness-building inform this capstone. The first is the
population health approach (Bloom, 2016; Tayyib, 2022). This model espouses the importance
of multiple intervention levels to meet the many needs of a community, including prevention,
intervention, and targeted interventions for at-risk groups. Services and interventions are always
considered in the context of the community. The population health approach begins with
awareness and psychoeducation about the issue, but, as Bloom (2106) points out, awareness is
not enough. Being trauma-informed is a start, but changing the environment to minimize risk and
maximize resilience means being trauma-responsive. Leaders must be a part of the process of
becoming trauma-responsive by modeling change in their behaviors and attitudes (Bloom, 2016).
Tayyib (2022) suggests including community leaders in coalitions to build a shared sense of
responsibility and collective efficacy.
The second, similar model of awareness-building is the trauma-informed community
network model, which arose in response to the Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) study to build
community-level awareness about the impact of ACEs (King et al., 2021; SAMHSA, 2014). The
idea behind this model is that acknowledging the impact of trauma on the individual will create
social environments (micro-, exo-, and mesosystems) of resilience and healing. Awareness is
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achieved through collaboration among various stakeholders, reaching as many sectors as
possible. The trauma-informed community network model was put forth by experts (SAMHSA,
2014), and recent research confirms that there is evidence that the model works (King et al.,
2021; Matlin et al., 2019). King and colleagues (2021) identified two factors as most
significantly contributing to success: a diverse, cross-sector network of collaborators and a core
organization as the leading driver for change. Both of these factors exist in the Amherst County
TICN, which acts as the vehicle driving this capstone forward.
The change process cannot begin until people know about the issue, but awareness itself
will not create the change needed to eventually disrupt the incorporation of collective trauma into
the fabric of society. Best practices in awareness-building call for the target audience's
engagement in specific action steps (Christiano & Neimand, 2017). Therefore, an essential
aspect of this capstone is that each opportunity to disseminate knowledge will also include a
specific call to action for the leader. The action taken by the leader is one incremental step
towards becoming a trauma-responsive organization, creating organizational resilience to
mitigate the effects of trauma (SAMHSA, 2014). At the individual and microsystem levels,
building protective factors is one of the best practices for resilience to trauma. Creating
community resilience and collective efficacy at the exo- and macrosystem levels means making
many organizations protective factors (Brisson et al., 2019).
To begin building awareness, several existing resources must be leveraged. The existing
Amherst County TICN will implement this capstone project and served as the design team. The
members have many community connections and TICN is experienced in awareness-building
initiatives. Several TICN members are certified master trainers in an evidence-based model for
trauma-informed communities. Using these established resources, TICN members will begin
18
personally reaching out to business owners, managers, and human resources professionals within
their network of associates and through marketing strategies discussed later in this paper. When
connecting to leaders, TICN members will give an elevator pitch to explain the need for their
organization’s leaders to participate in a training session.
TICN members will then provide training to build trauma awareness, followed by a call
to action for those leaders. The call to action will involve committing to one of the following:
entering into a collaboration with TICN by attending meetings or joining the team, bringing the
trauma training to their management teams or workforce, or engaging in activities to learn the
scope of impact that collective trauma has had on their organization (such as surveys or relevant
data collection). These action steps can serve to support the leader in identifying the scope of
how collective trauma impacts their organization, either through further collaboration with TICN
to build knowledge or gather feedback from their employees. Future work beyond the scope of
this capstone will support leaders in designing the activities for their organization to address
collective trauma through policy, support, or other interventions. Appendix D elaborates on the
theory of change, and the Logic Model for this Capstone Project is in Appendix E.
The success of this capstone project relies on influencing community awareness and
perceptions. TICN functions using an emergent strategy (discussed further in the next section),
which recognizes that each small action has ripple effects that contribute to greater change.
Large, fundamental shifts require small, incremental steps because every system is
interdependent (Brown, 2017). Each leader who recognizes the impacts of collective trauma and
takes a small step to mitigate those impacts in their organization is creating ripples in the
community, like those from a stone dropping into a pond. The more actions taken throughout the
community, the more stones that create ripples and eventually turn into waves.
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Project Description
Description of Solution
This solution is a multi-directional expansion of the existing TICN initiative in Amherst
County (conceptualized in Figure A1). TICN is a group of representatives from multiple child-
serving agencies, civic organizations, and interested community members working towards
implementing the SAMHSA (2014) model of creating a trauma-informed community in response
to ACEs. As part of this work, TICN has successfully targeted awareness training and messaging
toward school staff, social services workers, juvenile justice workers, and community mental
health practitioners. TICN recognizes that the pandemic and cascading collective trauma events
have created additional toxic stress for families in the community and that their current work was
not addressing trauma in the adult population in any way. In response, TICN has decided to scale
up its initiative in two ways.
First, TICN will incorporate collective trauma awareness into its existing work. The focus
for several years has been awareness about the impact of ACEs. All future training sessions, such
as those held at the start of every new school year for teachers, will include information about the
impacts of collective trauma. Refresher training sessions are usually held annually at child-
serving agencies, and information about collective trauma will be highlighted. TICN uses the
Ace Interface
1
training as one of the evidence-based trainings to bring information about trauma
to the community. Ace Interface has already updated the training model and materials to include
collective trauma information.
Second, this solution focuses on expanding the reach of TICN beyond child-serving
agencies and towards a true community collaboration that benefits everyone. As an intentional

1
More information about the Ace Interface training model is available here: https://www.aceinterface.com/
20
step towards this goal, TICN will seek out local organizational leaders (employers, managers,
human resources leaders, and decision-makers) to pitch the need for them to learn more about
how collective trauma is impacting their employees and their organization. This will include
leaders in the private sector, which in Amherst County is mostly manufacturing, agriculture, and
some retail. Leaders will be engaged through marketing and social media efforts, as well as
direct contact via networking or community events.
Once an organizational leader is ready to learn more, a one-hour training session will be
held for that leader and anyone else they would like to bring using the Ace Interface training
model. The session can be held virtually or in-person, based on the preferences of the
participants. At the end of the session, the leader and all attendees will be asked to commit to an
action step. The suggested actions include attending a TICN meeting or joining the TICN
coalition, bringing the same training presentation to more employees in their organization, or
working with TICN to identify what impact collective trauma is having on their organization and
workforce. The latter action would involve surveys or focus group interviews of staff to
determine their level of well-being and identify needs among employees. Again, there are several
choices for how the organization could gather this information, and the data collection would be
tailored to the organization and leader preferences.
Further, TICN and its trained members will also offer consultation services to
organizational leaders. Consultation is designed for after leaders have become trauma-informed
through the training session, but can occur at any point in learning process. As leaders become
more aware of collective trauma and its impacts, they will likely have questions about how to use
their new knowledge to improve their organizations. Consultative services will help them to
answer lingering questions and take action. During a consultation, TICN members will learn
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more about the organization’s goals and leader’s perceptions around trauma. TICN will then
suggest policy or practice changes that the organization could consider to become more trauma-
responsive. Possible suggestions could include changes to the physical space of the building,
such as designing a break room using trauma-informed principles (Ray, 2021), changing leave
policies to include a mental health day, or allowing virtual mental health services during the
workday (Glied & Frank, 2021). Consultations will help organizations choose trauma-responsive
solutions without compromising their productivity or bottom line.
Lastly, TICN decided rebranding would be a beneficial way to highlight the
multidimensional expansion efforts. In alignment with the mission of striving to make Amherst
County the most caring community in Virginia, the team decided to become the Amherst Caring
Coalition. The hope is that the new branding will make clear to the community that a wider
audience is targeted. This change also highlights some of the other TICN activities that are not
part of this capstone project, such as the Caring Cottage, a trauma-informed meeting space
available to the public.
Strategy
The expansion initiative outlined in this paper is intentionally flexible and broad, using an
emergent strategy. In the context of this capstone project, an emergent strategy allows for endless
opportunities to provide individualized support to each organization based on its unique needs
(Ebrahim, 2019; Brown, 2017). Each incremental change implemented in an organization
contributes to the larger systemic changes TICN seeks. Additionally, this capstone project is part
of a diverse array of activities (past, present, and future) that combine to have more significant
influence in creating the social changes desired and in line with TICN’s mission. The team
constantly seeks opportunities to support the overall mission rather than adhering to a static plan.
22
As Brown (2017) states, change is constant, and from it emerges opportunities for individuals to
contribute to systems because everything connects via relationships and interactions. By giving
leaders more information to inform their decisions and practices, they are better able to
intentionally make supportive and adaptive changes, thereby building organizational resilience.
This expansion initiative supports the grand challenge of creating social responses to the
changing environment, which calls for preparation for the inevitable collective trauma of the
future (Bednarek, 2021). Creating a network of trauma-informed and trauma-responsive
workplaces that act as protective factors in the county will increase community resilience and
social cohesion, lessening the damage of future collective trauma events. When change
inevitably occurs, the community will be better prepared to adjust.
Context of Solution and Existing Opportunities
No other organization addresses the issue of collective trauma at the exosystem or
macrosystem level in or around Amherst County. When the toxic stress of collective trauma
begins to impact an individual, they are encouraged to seek therapy or engage in self-care,
neither of which are viable solutions to address collective trauma. At present, there are many
barriers to therapy, ranging from a shortage of appropriate practitioners to stigma in seeking help
(Gold, 2021). Self-care has been a trendy topic in public discourse since the start of the
pandemic, but this unfairly puts the responsibility of wellness onto the struggling individual
(Barton et al., 2021; Sales et al., 2019). Since collective trauma is a social phenomenon, it should
be addressed with a social or collective response.
As discussed previously, the trauma-informed community network model (SAMHSA,
2014) has been successfully used by TICN to expand trauma awareness about ACEs for several
years. Building on this existing model to include the impacts of collective trauma is a logical
23
step. TICN in Amherst has trained many child-centered stakeholders, such as the public school
division, to build protective factors in the micro- and mesosystems. This expansion into
collective trauma and the employment sector builds upon the success of past TICN endeavors
and expands TICN’s reach into the larger environmental systems (meso-, exo-, and
macrosystems).
Likelihood of Success
Some key assumptions must be addressed before this project can be a success. First, it is
unclear that organizational leaders will take an interest in collective trauma since they currently
have very little understanding of its impact. They should become interested once they learn about
the topic, but this may prove false. Second, sustainability of the expansion initiative could be a
challenge. TICN currently succeeds in Amherst County because the planning committee
members work closely and communicate well. If people change positions or drop off the team, it
could disrupt the whole dynamic. Furthermore, the planned budgetary process is not guaranteed
since this program is based on voluntary time and grant funding. These resources may become
scarce in the future.
All of these potential barriers to success are important considerations, but they are all
surmountable. This project is lean and needs very little additional input other than time from
TICN members, which has not been a problem to date. The expansion initiative is built on a solid
foundation of resources and previous successes, including an eclectic network of collaborators,
supporters, and contacts. The nimble emergent strategy of constantly adjusting to the current
environment allows TICN to adapt easily to barriers and take advantage of opportunities as they
emerge. While long-term sustainability will need to be addressed, this project is highly likely to
succeed.
24
Methodology
A strength of Amherst County is the strong relationships among the child-serving
agencies, including the schools, courts, social services, and mental health providers serving on
TICN. This organization serves as the backbone of this capstone project, acting as both the
design team and the implementers. The design process followed the principles of Liedtka and
Oglivile (2011) and utilized resources from the accompanying guidebook (Liedtka et al., 2019).
During the What Is stage, research was conducted to understand the problem of cascading
collective trauma. This deep-diving literature review yielded subcategories, such as
intergenerational trauma, historical trauma, racial trauma, and trauma from natural disasters.
These subcategories became applicable as alternative search terms, along with the term ‘toxic
stress.’ With a lack of literature on rural collective trauma, internet searches were conducted to
gather information on prevalence, impacts, and existing solutions relevant to this population.
However, information on collective trauma in rural communities, both onset and treatment,
remains scarce.
Primary research into how collective trauma affects rural communities was conducted
through focus groups and interviews within Amherst County, VA. Focus groups were held
immediately following a one-hour training session about the impacts of trauma and adverse
childhood events (ACEs). The participants in the two focus groups were school administrators
(n=15 and n=17, respectively). A third focus group was held with leaders of public and nonprofit
agencies (n=7), and a final focus group will line staff in those same agencies (n=12).
Surveys of teachers and staff in middle and elementary schools were conducted.
Collected data included quality of life and work satisfaction questions. The local social services
organization also collected information on staff satisfaction and COVID-19 impacts and
25
provided the results for analysis. Additionally, interviews were conducted with leaders of several
organizations to gather their perspectives on how collective trauma impacts their organization,
what (if anything) their organization is doing to mitigate collective trauma, and what preferences
they would have if a solution was offered. All primary and secondary research was used to
establish the design criteria for a potential solution (see Appendix F).
Next, listening sessions were conducted during the What If and What Wows stages to
explore the community's strengths and needs. The design team began to brainstorm potential
solutions based on the design criteria. As the target population became clear, journey maps were
created to see what barriers to engagement and change existed among employers, community
leaders, and community members (see Appendix G, Figures G1-G3). Journey mapping helped
determine the barriers leaders would encounter in engaging with TICN trainings. The design
team determined that using a website aligned with a project goal of awareness building and
would be beneficial to overcoming those barriers. The design team frequently met to review the
website prototype during development and provide feedback.
Presently, the design team is working through the What Works stage. A multi-directional
expansion of TICN is planned. A website was built to serve as the high-fidelity prototype, and
plans are being made to roll out the expansion initiative, starting with kickoff events and a
marketing campaign. These resources will test the assumptions that leaders are interested in
supporting their employees through the current landscape of cascading collective trauma.
Implementation phase will be ongoing, as will the continued search for effective strategies to
support the TICN mission. As barriers or opportunities arise, the design team will adapt and
respond accordingly. Knowledge dissemination will also become an essential part of What’s
Next phase.
26
Project Structure and Implementation Strategy
Prototype
During the prototyping process, the design team developed several journey maps as low-
fidelity prototypes (see Appendix G). These journey maps tested the assumption that
organizational leaders would be interested in learning more about supporting their employees
impacted by collective trauma. The journey maps, broken into stages the leader would
experience, confirmed that leaders would be interested during the awareness stage but would
need more information to make an informed decision about the next steps. It became clear that
leaders would lose interest in the consideration stage of the journey because they needed a
reliable source to gain that knowledge. The design team concluded that a website could provide
the necessary information to address the gap in the user experience and ensure that leaders
interested in trauma-informed practices remained engaged through the retention stage of the
journey. TICN’s only online presence had been a Facebook account, which has limited followers
and did not meet the need for useful and valuable information on collective trauma.
The completed website (https://www.caringcottage.org/) serves as the high-fidelity
prototype for all TICN functions and specifically highlights this capstone’s expansion effort (see
Appendix G). Re-branding from TICN to Amherst Caring Coalition is made clear on the
homepage and discussed on the About page. The About page also contains the mission statement
and other relevant information about the Amherst Caring Coalition. The Employers and Leaders
page is dedicated to the expansion effort as it relates to this capstone project. The three activities
listed on this page include the training session focused on organizational leaders, the awareness-
building training that leaders can bring back to their organizations, and consultation services for
leaders who are ready to create change in their organizations. Each activity is described in detail
27
and has a link where users can request the service or additional information. This page also
contains a frequently asked questions section to provide further information about services and
what users can expect, which was suggested by website testers.
The prototyping process has been iterative, evolving from journey maps to a site map
(see Figure G4) and eventually becoming the website. Even in the website development phase,
extensive feedback informed many iterations. The website was tested by the design team, users
known to the author, and classmates at USC. Feedback was positive, with most suggestions
being errors in verbiage or spelling mistakes. The rebranding process also involved changing
graphics and colors to make the site aesthetically pleasing. The formatting of the website has
been well-received, though the layout has significantly altered since developing the site map.
Many of the sections initially proposed, such as a blog, can be added in the future.
Connection to Problem of Practice
This capstone project targets workplaces throughout the Amherst community to create a
network of trauma-informed organizations supporting as many community members as possible.
Working adults spend most of their productive time at their workplace, so targeting change in the
workplace is similar to how trauma-informed schools create better support for children impacted
by ACEs (Zakszeski et al., 2017; Damian et al., 2017). This capstone project will better support
the workforce of Amherst County by bringing awareness to organizational leaders and offering
to support them in making simple and effective trauma-informed changes. These improvements
in the employment system will become protective factors contributing to organizational and
community resilience when future traumas occur (Damian et al., 2017; Tayyib, 2022).
Market Analysis
28
TICN welcomes all approaches to creating awareness around collective trauma, so other
organizations working in this space are viewed as potential collaborators, not competitors. When
TICN was formed, only eight other organizations worked toward trauma-informed communities
in Virginia, but none were in rural communities. Since that time, the number of organizations
doing this work in Virginia has more than doubled
2
. TICN frequently collaborates with groups
from neighboring communities and state partners, but no other organizations in Amherst seek to
address collective trauma.
Additionally, there are very few organizations working to support employers and leaders
in Amherst County. The county government and local Chamber of Commerce are the only
organizations that offer any services to employers and organizations, and those are more geared
towards marketing and business strategies. Many larger organizations have employee assistance
programs to support their employees, but those services are designed to be accessed by
individuals when needed and do not create organizational resilience.
Financial Plan
TICN operates under the local government umbrella through the Children’s Services Act
department of county government. To date, all time and materials have been donated by the
community partners involved in the coalition. The proposed expansion includes adding a
website, marketing, and communication strategies that will incur costs. These expansion
activities will raise awareness of the impact of collective trauma and empower leaders to take
action in support of their employees. All services will remain free to the participants. The
following responsible financial plan will support the start-up and the first year of the proposed
expansion.

2
Information obtained from https://grscan.com/programs/community-programs/va-ticns
29
The plan for the nine-month start-up period and first year of operation is as follows:

Start-up
September 1, 2022
- June 30, 2023
Year 1 Operations
July 1, 2023 - June
30, 2024
Revenue $307 $5000
Expenses
Personnel $0 $0
Other Expenses $607 $5000
Total Expenses $607 $5000
Surplus / Deficit ($300) $0

The expenses during the start-up period consist of website costs and marketing printables.
During the first year, those expenses will increase, and there will be additional expenses in
communications, training materials, and conference fees for knowledge dissemination. Revenue
to cover costs will come from grant opportunities and donations, amounting to approximately
$5000. Grants
3
will be sought to fund the operational expenses through the next fiscal year.
Detailed budgets are in Appendix H.
Assessing Impact
Outputs will measure the reach of TICN activities, such as the number of participants
attending events or training sessions, but the impact of those activities is less linear. The
activities of this capstone project contribute to a portfolio of activities designed to influence the
community. The causality of change is difficult to measure because there is little control over
outcomes, and the cause-and-effect relationship can be influenced by extraneous factors
(Ebrahim, 2019). In order to determine whether this expansion effort is a success, TICN will use

3
Multiple grants will be considered. However, the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation grant application will
be submitted: https://www.lynchburgfoundation.org/grants-and-scholarships/applying-for-competitive-grants
30
output measurements related to the reach of awareness and leader engagement in action steps or
consultation services.
The impact of specific action steps taken within organizations could be measured through
data collection. Surveys (quantitative data) or key informant interviews (qualitative data) can be
conducted in partnership with the organization. Development of these data collection methods
would be a collaboration between TICN and the organizational leader(s). The emergent strategy
employed by this project allows for great flexibility in future actions that will align with the
mission to create a caring community, influence social awareness of collective trauma, and
conform to the needs of organizations and leaders. It is hypothesized that the work of this project
will contribute to disrupting the integration of collective trauma into the collective culture. See
the logic model (Appendix E) and social performance conceptualization (Figure D2).
Stakeholder Engagement, Outreach, and Communication
An advantage to rural communities is that word-of-mouth and informal communication
networks are easily accessed (Kelly, 2015). Smaller communities are full of relationships and
networks, which produce interactions from which emerge new opportunities (Brown, 2017).
According to the U.S. Census information (2021), there are approximately 550 employers in
Amherst County. Many are smaller businesses with only 11 employers having more than 100
employees (Economic Development Amherst). Direct marketing through personal and
professional networking will be the main strategy for involving stakeholders. This includes
reaching out to deliver elevator pitches or taking advantage of opportunities at community events
or meetings to discuss the upcoming Amherst Caring Coalition initiative. Having common
connections builds trust and improves influence, making the marketing through networking
strategy likely to succeed (Cialdini, 2009). With county officials as partners in this work, direct
31
marketing to employers is easily possible. Additional outreach will include marketing techniques
through social media. Email campaigns, press releases for news coverage, and printable
marketing materials will also be strategically utilized to advertise events and services. See
Appendix I for stakeholders and Appendix J for marketing examples and the elevator pitch.
Implementation Strategies
Barriers and facilitators to success were identified at each implementation stage using the
EPIS framework (see Appendix K) (Palinkas & Soydan, 2012). The inner context barriers relate
to the structure of TICN, which is a network of partners working together rather than a
traditional organization with assigned roles and accountability. Often other job responsibilities
impede TICN work. Also, the team members of TICN bring years of knowledge and expertise to
the group. If there is turnover, that information disappears, jeopardizing sustainability. Strategies
to overcome these potential barriers include continued leveraging the team's shared values to
create long-term structure and sustainability. To overcome the external barriers related to leader
attitudes toward collective trauma, TICN will leverage the numerous small-community networks
of relationships and deliver persuasive information. This effort starts with the elevator pitch and
continues in the training session for leaders and beyond.
Ethical Considerations
The relationship between employer and employee is not equal. Employers hold power in
this relationship, and their needs/desires (profits, productivity) usually supersede employees'
needs/desires (time away from work, good salary/benefits). A vital design justice value is to shift
power to those without it (Costanza-Chock, 2020). This capstone targets leaders, using their lens
of striving for organizational success to educate about how supporting the needs of their
employees can be mutually beneficial. However, while this project targets decision-making
32
leaders, the well-being of employees was paramount throughout the design process. Furthermore,
the motivation to tackle collective trauma as a wicked problem arose from concerns that
oppressed populations in Amherst County continue to suffer from the cumulative effects of
cascading collective and generational trauma. This capstone project is an incremental step
toward improving life for those groups and leaves open the possibility for future work that is
more targeted and culturally relevant.
Conclusions, Implications, and Action Plan
Future Decisions and Actions
Using an emergent strategy prompts an array of creative solutions that can adapt for each
organization and leader (Brown, 2017). This capstone project is like an unplanted seed with
unlimited potential. A desired next step from the design group is to develop a culturally-relevant
toolkit for employers who want to implement trauma-responsive practices in their organization.
This toolkit would be informed by feedback from organizational leaders participating in this
initiative, and in collaboration with a design team that looks at the work of TICN through a
social justice lens. A culturally-relevant toolkit can begin to address employment sector
inequities stemming from the generational trauma and systemic oppression of minority groups.
Implications and Effect on the Field of Practice
The success of this capstone project would demonstrate that community solutions to
trauma are possible when organizations’ resources are leveraged. At present, most collective
trauma solutions do not occur at the macro-, exo-, or mesosystem levels. This capstone project
can potentially change how businesses function and support their employees. In addition, it can
challenge the popular notion that trauma (collective and secondary) can be overcome with self-
care. Self-care places the burden of responsibility on the individual who is struggling, rather than
33
on the organization that is causing or perpetuating the toxic levels of stress (Barton et al., 2021;
Patton Davis & Museus, 2019). Reversing this belief is an ambitious challenge, and this capstone
project could be an essential step in that direction.
Limitations and Risks
The greatest strength of TICN could potentially become its greatest weakness in the
future. The members of the TICN are highly dedicated to this mission and have gained the
support of the organizations in which they are employed. However, circumstances change, and
there remains a chance that essential members of TICN could move on to different jobs or even
move away from the community. Losing members who have been the driving force behind this
trauma-awareness work for several years could cause the entire initiative to end. For
sustainability purposes, creating a position and hiring someone who would be responsible for
moving this work forward and searching for additional opportunities to grow would be
beneficial. This recommendation should be explored in future grant opportunities once the
expansion is implemented and has demonstrated success.
Knowledge Dissemination
There is an immediate plan to present the information contained in this capstone research
at the James River Community Collaborative training in June of 2023. Additional conference
presentations will also be sought. Social media will drive the information campaign with future
plans to begin with video posts. The website can also be used as a tool to disseminate knowledge
about collective trauma. A member’s section or a blog component can easily be added to the
website to highlight information and continue informing organizations about new insights or
highlighting successes. There is also a plan to collaborate with a colleague and write a book
about community-level responses to preventing and mitigating collective trauma.
34
Next Steps
TICN is continually scanning the community for opportunities that align with its mission,
but there are also some intentional steps that must be taken (See timeline in Figure K2). TICN
will need to secure at least $5000 in grant funding to continue offering services for free. The
funding search is ongoing, with a promising grant application due in March 2023. Prior to
August 2023, there are plans to hold three separate events to raise awareness of cascading
collective trauma and how it impacts the Amherst community. These events will feature
information sessions along with food and certificates for attendance. The new branding will be
made public to announce the change from TICN to Amherst Caring Coalition. The events also
offer networking opportunities to engage local business and organizational leaders. Starting in
August 2023, team members will request meetings with organizational leaders to deliver the
elevator pitch and invite them to schedule a trauma training session for leaders.
Conclusion
The proposed actions outlined in this paper are a continuation of existing efforts to
improve community resilience in Amherst County, giving the project a solid foundation from
which to build upon. Once this project is implemented, more opportunities to further improve the
culture and resilience of the community will emerge. Building protective factors and bringing
awareness to the community are important contributions to reducing the damage caused by
collective trauma. There is no way to stop collective trauma from occurring and no simple
solution exists for when a collective trauma event occurs. These simple actions strategically
placed within the larger environment combine to have a greater effect. Change must occur now,
or future generations will suffer.

35

“For change to happen in any community, the initiative must come from the individual.”
Dalai Lama

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting
for. We are the change we seek.”
President Barack Obama
36
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45
Appendix A: Conceptualization of TICN Expansion Initiative

Note: The y-axis, labeled Awareness Subject, represents the movement from awareness efforts targeting
ACE’s to the inclusion of collective trauma. The x-axis shows the expansion in target audience from
child-centered organizations (schools, juvenile services) to employers and leaders in all sectors of the
community. The existing services fall within the TICN box, but the expansion to include more trauma-
related information and new target audiences is represented by new branding to Amherst Caring
Coalition.
46
Appendix B: Problem of Practice
Figure B1
Model of Causality

Note: This conceptualization demonstrates how a collective trauma event causes harm to the individual
and the community affected. The trauma response is further impacted by the numerous environmental and
individual factors.

47
Figure B2
Overlap of Trauma

Note: This diagram demonstrates how the
types of trauma intersect. An individual may
experience any combination of trauma in
their lifetime or no trauma at all. Common
alternative names are also listed.

Figure B3
Connection to Environment and Theory
Note: This figure demonstrates how the
types of trauma expand in their impact
and align with Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological Systems Theory in
Appendix C.

48
Appendix C: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory

Note: This figure is from https://psychology.fandom.com/wiki/Bioecological_model
This capstone is based on the understanding that collective trauma has been occurring for
generations (chronosystem), and is occurring more frequently at the present time. Its impact on
society is more widespread than in decades prior and has cumulative effects perpetuating for
generations (chronosystem) (Silver et al., 2021). When a collective trauma event occurs, the
affected community experiences a stress response (microsystem, exosystem) (Cypress, 2020). A
narrative emerges through social media and the 24-hour news cycle, though in past generations,
the narrative took the form of stories and rituals (exosystem). This narrative spreads the trauma
to those not directly impacted, causing a secondary trauma response (mesosystem) (Updegraff et
al., 2008).
Next, the narrative embeds into the collective identity through repetition (macrosystem)
(Olick, 1999). This narrative triggers a stress response, usually with heightened vigilance and
49
generalized fear or anxiety (individual) (Hershberger, 2018). The repetition of the narrative and
continued experience of toxic stress becomes a part of the group’s worldview and identity
(macrosystem) (Lerner, 2019). In this way, collective trauma changes the group or community’s
culture for generations to come (Hershberger, 2018; Jacobs, 2011). Epigenteticists report that
trauma and toxic stress alter the expression of specific genes, causing future generations to
experience heightened stress and anxiety levels (individual, chronosystem) (Yehuda et al., 2015).
Further, research into toxic stress during pregnancy has shown that the mother’s stress response
can become biologically embedded (Conradt et al., 2020). Maladaptive maternal responses will
damage the fetal and infant stress response systems, potentially creating life-long issues
(microsystem).

50
Appendix D: Theory of Change
Figure D1
Theory of Change

51
Figure D2
Social Performance Conceptualization

52
Appendix E: Logic Model

53
Appendix F: Design Criteria
Table F1
Design Criteria - Part 1
CRITERIA WIDER OPPORTUNITY SPACE
MUST -Reduce the perpetuation of collective trauma
in rural families/communities
-Be a collective solution: involve the wider
community or organization or groups.
-Address the disparity in trauma impacts in
rural and oppressed communities
-Be desirable to the community so that they
want to implement the solution.
-Be accessible and relevant to rural
communities

-Disrupt the cycle of passing trauma to the next
generation
-Be a collective solution for the nation or global
community.
-Improve disparity in oppressed groups.
-Be desirable to a national or global audience.
-Be accessible and relevant to all communities
COULD -Include TICN in the solution
-Address collective and secondary trauma
simultaneously
-Change social norm of rugged individualism
-Address the fear culture present in media and
social media
-Be a solution related to communication
-Be a solution applied to organizations or
institutions

-Include state and national trauma organizations
-Address collective, secondary, and individual
trauma
-Leverage technology or social media to change
norms
-Be a solution that addresses multiple age groups
SHOULD

-Include training and awareness campaigns
-Avoid or overcome partisan rhetoric
-Be an intergenerational solution
-Be culturally relevant and adaptable

-Increase community knowledge of trauma
-Be unifying
-Consider future generations
-Be adaptable outside the US
WON’T -Be harmful to anyone
-Increase harmful stigmas surrounding mental
health or trauma
-Be a clinical or medical treatment
-Be difficult or cumbersome to implement
-Increase disparity of trauma impacts
-Be difficult to access
-Further divide the community

-Create new disparity or adversely affect any group
-Contribute to or perpetuate the systems of
oppression
-Involve insurance reimbursement
-Be based on politically divisive theories
-Compromise on ethics or social justice

54
Table F2

Design Criteria - Part 2

Design Goal

TICN will expand its awareness efforts to address cascading collective
trauma by targeting new populations beyond those working with
children:
1. Must be a community-level effort
2. Should target all generations, especially adults
3. Could target organizations or institutions
4. Won’t create division or be controversial

User Perceptions ● Relates in a logical way to current efforts
● Aligns with desirable change
● Easy to do

Physical
Attributes
● Will be an efficient use of time
● Will be convenient for the participant
● Will deliver on the organization’s needs or desired outcomes

Functional
Attributes
● Should be quick and easy
● Will provide knowledge and trigger desire to act
● Will align with the organizations' goals or solve problems they
are facing (turnover, morale, etc.)

Constraints ● Won’t contribute to political divide or be controversial
● Will be scalable to future target populations and replicable by
other communities

55
Appendix G: Prototyping Process
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The first prototypes developed for this capstone were journey maps of potential target
audiences. Journey mapping helped the design team make two essential decisions. First, the team
was able to clarify the target audience to organizational leaders. This determination was based on
a leader’s perspective of desiring ways to improve organizational performance, counter the
effects of the pandemic, or gain a competitive edge. Second, the team recognized that lack of
information would be a barrier for employers and leaders at the consideration stage, as described
in Figures G1 and G2. To remedy this, the team recognized the need for a web presence. The site
map in Figure G4 was developed to plan the information needed on the website to overcome this
barrier in the leader’s journey.

56
Figure G1
Local Employer Journey Map

57
Figure G2
Organizational Leader Journey Map

58
Figure G3
Community Member Journey Map

59
Figure G4
First Iteration of Site Map

High-Fidelity Prototype
The website (www.caringcottage.com) evolved from the original site plan in Figure G4.
Several originally planned pages and functions were changed or tabled until later. The blog
function, for example, was determined to be a desirable website function, but one that would
require some time to build up content. The team will work on creating blog content over the next
several months before adding the blog to the website. The Services page listed in the site map
60
was also redesigned with each service having a dedicated page. The addition of social media will
occur in the near future but is not currently a function on the website.
When a user visits the website, the Home page contains the new Amherst Caring
Coalition logo. Below the menu is a header stating “A Trauma-Informed Community Network in
Amherst, VA” to remind visitors that this coalition was formerly known as TICN. To hint at the
connection to TICN, the former logo is further down the page in a photo gallery. Below the
header are pictures of a past training event and a slideshow with quick links. Next, there is a link
to reserve the Caring Cottage, the trauma-informed space TICN designed for public usage,
followed by an events section stating there are no upcoming events at this time. The events
section will be vital in the future because all registration processes and tracking of attendees can
be done through the website. The photo gallery mentioned earlier is next, then contact
information, community partners’ logos, and an inspirational quote.
A great deal of information is contained on the About page. The About page begins with
the organizational mission statement, followed by information about the caring cottage and a link
to the reservation form. Next, the page contains the TICN’s history and contact information for
community members to participate in subcommittee work. Finally, the About page includes a list
of future activities TICN is looking forward to starting.
The Employers and Leaders page is where the capstone project is explained. This page
starts with a header stating, “All services are free!” There is a simplified goal statement and the
three options for services that can be requested. First is the trauma training for leaders described
in this paper. Second is the trauma awareness training for organizations. This service could be
reserved at any point, but it was designed to be one of the action steps leaders are called to take
at the end of the trauma training for leaders. This second training session would bring the same
61
information to a broader audience within the organization. If desired, leaders could request
elaboration in certain areas of the content based on their organizational needs. The third service
is the consultative services that leaders can access to help make decisions about creating trauma-
informed organizations. At the bottom of this page, there is a Frequently Asked Questions section
that provides more information for those considering one of the services.
The remaining pages are less relevant to this capstone project but essential for the
portfolio of work being done by TICN. The Caring Cottage page contains the aforementioned
form for reserving the Caring Cottage, as well as pictures of the cottage and a map of its location.
The Contact page contains forms for joining the mailing list, asking questions, and most
importantly, requesting training sessions or consultative services. The Resources page contains
links to partner groups across Virginia, information about the evidence-based models being used
by TICN, and a link to a listing of Amherst community resources. Images of the website follow.
Home Page
62
63
64

About Page
65
66

Employers and Leaders Page
67

68
Resources Page

69
Appendix H: Financial Plan
Table H1
Start-up Budget
Amherst Caring Coalition
Expansion Start-Up Budget
September 1, 2022-June 30, 2023

REVENUE
Donation 307

Total REVENUE $307

EXPENSES
Training Materials $0
Knowledge Dissemination $0
Marketing Expenses $300 printed flyers
Caring Cottage Sign $0
Website Costs $307 domain and hosting
Communication $0

Total EXPENSES $607

SURPLUS/DEFICIT -$300

Note: Expenses for the start-up period are minimal. $307 has already been spent on the website and was
donated by this writer to meet the requirement for the capstone high-fidelity prototype. An additional
$300 is estimated for printing of flyers to advertise existing services (Caring Cottage) and the three
kickoff events planned for the expansion rollout. Some of the marketing funds may be allocated to
promoting advertisements of the events on social media.

70
Table H2
Year 1 Budget
Amherst Caring Coalition
Expansion Year 1 Budget
July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024

REVENUE
Donation 0
Grants 5,000

Total REVENUE $5,000

EXPENSES
Training Materials $500 handouts and snacks for 15 events
Knowledge Dissemination $900 conference fees for 3 conferences
Marketing Expenses $2,100 printing, flyers, advertisements
Caring Cottage Sign $800
Website Costs $340 domain and webhosting
Communication $360 domain linked email for 2 users

Total EXPENSES $5,000

SURPLUS/DEFICIT $0

Note: A $5000 grant will be sought to cover the expenses of the first year for this expansion effort. Costs
associated with this include an estimated $500 for snacks, refreshments, and handouts for training session
participants, approximately $900 for conference fees and travel expenses to share information at
conferences about the expansion effort, and approximately $700 ($340+$360) for electronic
communication costs to continue the domain and link email services with the domain. $800 is being
requested to purchase a sign for outside of the Caring Cottage. The remaining $2,100 will be allocated to
marketing and advertisements.

71
Appendix I: Stakeholder Map
Figure I1
Stakeholder Map

72
Appendix J: Communication and Marketing Examples
Elevator Pitch
I’m a member of an amazing community group called the Amherst Caring Coalition. Our
mission is to make Amherst the most caring community in Virginia. We recently started talking
with leaders like you who are struggling with high rates of turnover, staff who are not
productive, and who don’t always show up for work when they are supposed to. We have an
innovative perspective on what’s going on with your employees and believe it’s the effects of
trauma, specifically collective trauma from the pandemic and all of the other significant issues
we have experienced over the last few years. We have a 1-hour training session for leaders
explaining how collective trauma impacts your employees and your business/organization. We
can bring the training to you at your convenience or hold the session over a lunch break,
whichever works best for you. I think you and your business/organization would really benefit
from this information.

73
Marketing Examples

74
75

76
77

78
Appendix K: Implementation Strategies
Table K1
Summary of Inner / Outer Context Barriers and Facilitators at Each Stage of EPIS
Inner Context Outer Context
Barriers Facilitators Barriers Facilitators
Exploration Time and
workload for
TICN
Shared values
and goals
Lack of
understanding
Networks
Preparation Structure Collaborative
relationships

Political
influences
Existing training
curriculum
Implementation Infrastructure for
monitoring
Lean financial
needs
Organizational
leaders’ time

Relationship
building
Sustainability Turnover Culture Shifting
organizational
priorities
Dissemination
and scalability

79
Figure K1
Implementation Timeline

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Collective trauma occurs when a community of people, defined by a shared identity, experiences an event that damages their collective identity (Silver et al., 2021). Collective trauma has been a social problem throughout the history of humanity. However, the last few years have brought about a cascade of collective trauma events impacting communities and individuals in many ways. Events such as the global pandemic, political unrest, murder of black people by police, and multiple natural disasters have occurred over the last several years in rapid succession. While the full range of impacts is not yet understood, there are social shifts evident such as the general increase in mental health needs (Brunier, 2022). Collective trauma is harmful to communities and has detrimental effects on future generations (Silver et al., 2021).

The long-term goal of this proposed capstone project is to reduce the impact of collective trauma in Amherst County, Virginia. The short-term goal will utilize the existing resources of the Amherst County Trauma Informed Community Network (TICN) to develop and implement a multi-dimensional, community-level intervention. The existing expertise and community connections of TICN will be leveraged to target organizational leaders, such as managers and business owners, with awareness campaigns and knowledge dissemination about collective trauma. Targeting workplaces will spread trauma awareness to new audiences and build organizational resilience. This work contributes to disrupting the cycle of incorporating toxic stress into the collective culture. Future action steps for this project will include supporting employers and organizational leaders to change internal policies and build supportive practices into their organizational culture.

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Creator Petrone, Marie E. (author)

Core Title Building organizational resilience to address cascading collective trauma in a rural Virginia community

School Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work

Degree Doctor of Social Work

Degree Program Social Work

Degree Conferral Date 2023-05

Publication Date 04/24/2023

Defense Date 03/30/2023

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

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