Cheryl Sharp, a senior adviser for trauma-informed services at the National Council of Behavioral Health, said early, effective treatment is imperative. She also said it's best for the adviser to ask nondirect questions about the event because trauma experiences are often extremely personal.

Local organizations are looking to be more proactive in treating people who have been through trauma.

At Butler’s Family Pathways, several groups kicked off learning about trauma-informed care in an all-day meeting last week.

Elan Welter Lewis, executive director of the family support group, said the consortium has been in the making for awhile, but was given a push thanks to a grant from the Staunton Farm Foundation.

“It’ll be impacting the major systems of care within our community,” Welter Lewis said.

“It’s where we’ve been heading for quite some time as a community. It expedites what we want to do.”

Three speakers from the National Council of Behavioral Health were there. Cheryl Sharp, a senior adviser for trauma-informed services at the organization, said early, effective treatment is imperative. And because trauma experiences are often extremely personal, she said it’s better to ask nondirect questions about the event.

“Ask about the symptoms of people’s experiences,” Sharp said, “And then get into more depth, if necessary.”

She said in making sure people receive proper treatment, the best principles are safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment and choice. Instead of following a linear path, it’s better to go the appropriate speed for the individual.

According to the Mental Health First Aid National Council for Behavioral Health, trauma can have a variety of negative effects if it’s not properly cared for early on.

In its Adverse Childhood Experiences study, it found that 80 percent of people in psychiatric hospitals have experienced physical or sexual abuse, 66 percent of people in substance abuse treatment report childhood abuse or neglect and 90 percent of women with alcoholism were sexually abused or suffered severe violence from parents.

Welter Lewis calls trauma-informed care gentler and kinder, more sensitive to those people.

Trauma is often misunderstood by outsiders, she said.

Representatives from several Butler organizations went to the kickoff meeting. Butler County Children and Youth Services, five departments of the Butler County Human Services, including Mental Health, Intellectual Disabilities, Early Intervention and Drug and Alcohol, Butler Memorial Hospital’s department of behavioral health, the Community Outreach program, Totin Family Services, Irene Stacy Mental Health Center and Butler County Prison’s Trauma Learning Group were all present.

“It opens everybody’s eyes to know a lot of people have been through trauma,” said Phillip Shaffer, deputy warden at Butler County Prison. “I do think it’s something that’s going to be at the forefront and make a difference.”

Welter Lewis said the group will meet on a quarterly basis as each organization begins to implement the new trauma care.