Green Bay Reporter

Rep. Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Davis (D-IL) announced the reintroduction of the Resilience Investment, Support, and Expansion (RISE) from Trauma Act, a bipartisan bill that would increase support for children and adults who have been exposed to trauma such as parental addiction, witnessing violence, and abuse. Nationwide, nearly 35 million children have had at least one traumatic experience, and this legislation would further build our nation's trauma-informed workforce and enhance resources for communities to better support those who have experienced trauma.

“Northeast Wisconsin has seen firsthand how trauma-informed care can help kids, veterans, and other members of our community overcome the long-term effects of trauma,” said Rep. Gallagher. “This bill takes steps to further empower Wisconsin’s trauma-informed workforce and ensure our communities have the support they need to continue to lead in this transformative space.” 

“Trauma is a very personal issue for my community and my family,” said Rep. Davis. “I understand the deep and pervasive harm it causes, and I am honored to work with Representative Gallagher and Senators Durbin, Capito, Duckworth, and Murkowski to champion policies to prevent and mitigate the trauma that far too many children and families in Chicago and in our nation endure. The RISE from Trauma Act helps strengthen the health and well-being of Americans by increasing funding for community-based efforts to prevent and heal the impact of trauma and expand the trauma-informed workforce in school, health, social service, and judicial settings.”

The RISE from Trauma Act would increase funding for community-based efforts to prevent and heal the impact of trauma and expand the trauma-informed workforce in school, health, social service, and judicial settings. The bill builds on conclusions from a 2019 GAO report requested by Rep. Davis and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Senators Dick Durbin, Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) lead the Senate companion. Specifically, the bill would:

• Create a new grant program to fund community-based coalitions to address trauma via stakeholder coordination and targeted local service delivery;
• Create a new grant program to support hospital-based trauma interventions to improve outcomes and reduce reinjury and readmissions of patients who suffered violent injury or experience mental health or substance-abuse needs; 
• Increase funding for the National Health Service Corps loan repayment program to help recruit mental health clinicians—including from under-represented populations—to serve in schools and community-based settings;
• Enhance federal training programs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Education to increase training for early childhood clinicians, teachers, school leaders, first responders, and community leaders; and
• Reauthorize four critical federal programs that Gallagher, Davis, Durbin, Capito, and Murkowski (R-AK) helped enact via P.L. 115-271: the Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care; National Child Traumatic Stress Network; the Adverse Childhood Experiences Data Collection program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Trauma Support in Schools grant program within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency. In Fiscal Year 2023, these four programs that support trauma research, training, coordination, and mental health services received $117 million in federal funding, a $20 million increase from the prior year.

Since 2018, Reps. Gallagher and Davis have partnered to champion policies to address trauma, including founding the Trauma-Informed Care Caucus, enacting policies to expand trauma services and improve health provider training to help children and families exposed to trauma, and leading funding requests for key trauma programs.

The RISE from Trauma Act is endorsed by the following organizations: Afterschool Alliance; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Psychological Association; Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policies and Practice; the Center for Community Resilience; Center for Law and Social Policy; Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative; Children’s Home Society of America; Committee for Children; Family Focused Treatment Association; Futures Without Violence; Justice and Joy National Collaborative (formerly National Crittenton); MENTOR; National Head Start Association; Prevent Child Abuse America; Social Current; Trust for America’s Health; YMCA of the USA; and Zero to Three.

Original source can be found here.