The Center for Trauma & Resilience is pleased to announce that we have been chosen by The NonProfit Times (NPT) as a 2017 Best Nonprofits to work for, making this three years in a row!

The Best Nonprofits To Work For selection is a competitive process whereby employees were given a confidential survey of statements with which they could agree or disagree covering eight general categories: Leadership and Planning, Corporate Culture and Communications, Role Satisfaction, Work Environment, Relationship with Supervisor, Training and Development, Pay and Benefits, and Overall Employee Engagement.

An excerpt from the NonProfit Times article highlights the work of CTR and its staff:

 

The last time that the Center for Trauma & Resilience made the Best Nonprofits list, it went by a different name: The Denver Center for Crime Victims.

“We wanted something that was more positive and more directly reflected what we did,” said Kathi Fanning, director of training. “We deal with trauma all the time. We’re hoping to move people toward resilience,” she said. The former name left people identifying as a crime victim but not reflective of the progress that they make.

The name change helped to expand the circle of people the center works with, despite some initial hesitation and even unhappiness from peers in their community.

The center has a contract with the sheriff’s department to do trauma sensitive yoga groups with jail inmates. Fanning said that incarcerated people typically also have been victims at some point in their lives and cope with that stress and anxiety. Staff often want the assignment and have no hesitation because inmates are such an appreciative group, she said. “Folks in jail are really appreciative of someone coming in and taking the practice to heart,” she said, using the practice to calm themselves.

There is a sort of counter-intuitiveness to it — that a victim services group is doing service for perpetrators — but “we try to have a bigger lens than that. They had victimization in their life as well and that’s who we should be serving,” Fanning said.

“We look at trauma as a health issue not just a victimization issue. Look at both victims of crime and other service providers, and what impact trauma has on someone’s health,” Fanning said. “Trauma is more than just momentary psychological impact but affects someone’s entire health,” she said.

The center’s name change has helped to shift attitudes around that as well as empowered staff to be able to address trauma in a bigger circle, helping people increase social support, reduce the risk of health problems. “It’s brought to the forefront as a staff, health disparities and those kinds of more community and long-term impact of trauma, she said.

 

The program was open to all nonprofits in the United States with 501(c)(3) status that have a facility with a minimum of 15 employees.

The staff and leadership team at The Center for Trauma & Resilience work to create and maintain a cooperative work environment that promotes accountability, trust and respect for individual strengths and team growth, while sharing a commitment to a common vision.

Click here to view the entire list of NPT’s 2017 Best Nonprofits to Work For