Voices’ Blog

Resilience Week: Winchester Area Trauma-Informed Community Network

Posted:  -  By: Chlo'e Edwards

Currently, all communities face unprecedented times, and in the Winchester Area, this is no different. As a newly formed trauma-informed community network, network leader and Councilwoman Tina Culbreath-Stevens leads the charge in advocating for trauma-informed approaches for educators, policymakers,  healthcare workers, and more to ensure their community understands the impact of trauma on children and families. Their goal is to implement wraparound services to foster resilience across systems to support all members of the community, particularly those that are disproportionately disadvantaged.

For Culbreath, the work of the Winchester Area TICN is personal.  Read the story of how she became involved in this contagious movement here. As a Councilwoman, frontline grocery store worker, mom, and network leader, she stated,

“I will tell you what’s important to me, transparency, hearing the voices of all people in our communities and making sure that we bring different perspectives by understanding the importance of diversity and inclusion in addition to knowledge, really getting to know more about your town.”

Serving as the backbone of the Winchester Area TICN is the I’m Just Me Movement, a non-profit organization led by Culbreath and her husband, with a mission to strengthen youth, families, and communities through partnership, education and training, and positive development. In the age of COVID-19, Culbreath has moved her family and children support programs online through E-Mentoring; community members have the opportunity to spread kindness by writing notes of encouragement during this time. For the children she serves, Tina adds,

“Some people feel like they don’t have an equal shot in life, those who have experienced trauma but also communities that are underrepresented. I think that being a TICN leader and on Council represents that it is possible to achieve the opportunities to positively impact our community. As a person of color, we need to see and be represented in all aspects of communities. It’s important to have young people see themselves in me and through the TICN so that they know they can influence change.”

Join the Winchester Area Trauma-Informed Community Network by connecting with Tina Stevens-Culbreath to learn more.

We are #TraumaInformedVA this #ResilienceWeekVA. 

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