Ongoing Projects:
Lighthouse Youth & Family Services
This month, we provided a 50 card fulfillment to Lighthouse Youth & Family Services here in Cincinnati!
From their website: "Lighthouse offers an integrated system of care for ages 0-24 designed to guide and track their progress over time. This includes mental health services, including same-day assessments, as well as youth housing, emergency shelter, community juvenile justice services, residential treatment, and foster care and adoption.
A national leader in developing services for youth and families, Lighthouse opened the first group home for girls in Ohio and has operated the first and only sanctuary for youth ages 10-17 in the Cincinnati area since 1974. Lighthouse is also a pioneer in the effort to end youth homelessness and is the lead agency in the KEYS to a Future Without Youth Homelessness initiative in Hamilton County."
These cards will be distributed to the youth they work with, as well as those living in their residential treatment homes who have experienced trauma.
The majority of the cards were created by Wyoming Fine Arts Center's elementary and middle school aged child artists! We were so excited to make this connection and distribution happen, for children by children.
Some of these cards have been uploaded to our website and can be viewed in the slideshow on our home page.
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Tristate Trauma Network
We are currently working on collecting cards for our next fulfillment, to Tristate Trauma Network (TTN)!
From their website, "Established in 2015, the Tristate Trauma Network (TTN) focuses on providing high-quality training to service-industry professionals on trauma-responsive care and educating the public on how trauma plays a crucial role in our emotions, behaviors, and ultimately, our futures.
To date, we have trained more than 4,000 and certified more than 300 service-industry professionals in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. In addition, through our Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) Learning Communities, we have facilitated change within 32 tristate agencies to become more trauma-informed. TTN is a membership-based group of more than 200 dedicated individuals and agencies who understand that trauma knows no boundaries, no stereotypes, no gender and no race and requires a specialized approach.
Each of our members plays a vital role in creating trauma-informed systems of care and influencing change for future generations so that trauma survivors can not only heal but thrive."
These cards will be distributed to those they provide trauma-informed training to and then passed on to those in need.
If you'd like to help us by writing a card or organizing a volunteer hour with your organization, group or workplace, please send us an email at survivorcards@gmail.com
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Upcoming Projects & Events:
Forest Hills Foundation 5K
This May, on Saturday, the 14th we will be at the Forest Hills Foundation 5K (FH5K) at Nagel Middle School from 9-11:30 AM at their after party event! Come run or walk the 5K at 8:30, then learn about some awesome local resources at the after party. The after party event is free and all are welcome.
For more information, click here!
This yearly 5K is held to raise mental health awareness, raise funds, cultivate resources and create opportunities. Over the last 14 years, they've raised over $2 million to improve areas of health and wellness, access and innovation and experimental programs. This year's proceeds from the 5K will go straight towards wellness initiatives for Forest Hills school district students.
May is Mental Health Awareness month and they hope you will join them as they "Take a Step to Stop the Stigma."
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Recent Behind-The-Scene Updates:
501c3 Pending Status
This month we finalized our IRS paperwork filing. We are an estimated 2-4 weeks out from 501c3 status! We will announce this on our Instagram account @survivor_cards as soon as this is officially established.
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Girl Scouts of Western Ohio - Program
We are happy to announce that we are partnering with Girl Scouts of Western Ohio to create a program this December in Blue Ash for their Brownie (grades 2-3) and Junior (grades 4-5) Girl Scouts to learn about mental health and trauma-intervention skills.
From their website, "We serve more than 30,000 girls in a 32-county area throughout western Ohio and southeast Indiana, with the support of more than 11,000 dedicated volunteers. And we love every minute of it!
Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world. Through programs from coast to coast, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges—whether they want to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or advocate for climate justice, or make their first best friends."
This program will provide age-appropriate education to girls, as well as provide them with a chance to write cards for a Survivor Card fulfillment for youth in need of hope and healing words.
We will provide more information, including how to sign up the Girl Scout in your life, once it becomes available!
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Trauma-Informed Care
We have a new resource guide on our Media page for those who want to incorporate trauma-informed care into their letter writing workshops or volunteer hours.
It is titled "Trauma-Informed Care: A Quick Beginner's Guide for Organizations, Groups and Workplaces" and can be printed or virtually distributed.
Please note, this is a quick start guide and does not replace trauma-informed training or education! There are resources on the final 2 pages for individuals, as well as trainings and guides to learn more.
We hope that this is a useful tool and can inspire you to learn more on how to make your workplace trauma-informed.
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Logos
Our logos by Gee Gardner were finalized and have been added to our website, as well as our printable materials. See below for our favorites!
Thank you for reading and for your amazing support, as we continue to touch the lives of survivors everywhere.
- Alyson