Greater Nashua Public Health Annual Meeting

Previous Annual Meetings

2022 Greater Nashua Public Health Annual Meeting

The 2022 Greater Nashua Public Health Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, February 10, 2022. The theme was "Together Again: Strengthening Community Connections". To watch the full recording, please click here.

2019 Greater Nashua Public Health Annual Meeting

Working Together at the Roots: Building a Trauma-Informed Community on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 at the Event Center at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua, NH.

Desired Outcomes

Deepen understanding of the emerging Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) related science and how other communities are applying this to achieve significant reductions in pressing public health problems.
Share testimonials and stories from lived experience within our community.
People have “aha moments” about:
- How ACEs are the roots of challenges they deal with in their life, work, and community.
- How common the effects of trauma are (e.g., “helpers” and those we serve are all affected and affect each other), which move us beyond an “us and them" frame.
Generate a sense of potential and some new ideas for how we could apply this in our work and community.
Build a sense of momentum and commitment to work on this in our community and appreciation that this is a longer journey.
Each person gains greater awareness of resources that exist in our community to support this journey and a sense of where they fit in that larger “ecosystem”.
Strengthened trust and relationships across that “ecosystem”.

The Process

In June of 2018, the City of Nashua DPHCS was awarded the Kresge Foundation Applied Learning Resource Grant through the Emerging Leaders of Public Health (ELPH) Program. The cornerstone of the learning experience was focused on planning, design, and implementation of a transformative process to advance a new role for the DPHCS as Chief Public Health Strategist. In the role of Chief Public Health Strategist, DPHCS convened partners to engage in a systematic, yet adaptive approach, using a prevention framework, to collectively identify, review, and analyze data, develop strategies, as well as identify capacity and funding resources to become trauma informed in an effort to address ACEs and build community resilience.

DPHCS used two evidence-based conceptual frameworks for prevention strategy development: A New Framework for Addressing Adverse Childhood and Community Experience: Building Community Resilience (BRC) Model, by Ellis, W., Dietz, W. (2017) and combined this with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Framework: Essentials for Childhood-Creating Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments for All Children. The DPHCS leadership team worked with partners to develop a strategic plan based on four key areas: ACEs Prevention Framework, Data, Finance, and Branding. Working with stakeholders and Greater Nashua partners, including the PHAC, we are working to seed and support transformative change to integrate trauma-informed and resilient ways of working and awareness throughout the Greater Nashua Region.

Design Team

The design of this event was done in a participatory way with a design team of from our community, facilitated by Here This Now and New Directions Collaborative. The City of Nashua DPHCS would like to thank the team members listed below for their time, ideas, and contributions to making this year’s annual meeting a powerful foundation for growth of trauma-informed work in our community. The team helped us to design the unique interactive agenda, ensure that this meeting fits into work already underway, and connected us to the Greater Nashua community for invitations. For a full list of the design team, please see here.

Presenters

Emily Read Daniels, M.Ed., MBA, NCC - Founder, Here This Now

Emily has 20 years’ experience working with vulnerable youth. She holds a Master’s of Education in School Counseling as well as a Master’s of Business Administration in Organizational Sustainability. She is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Somatic Experiencing™ Practitioner (SEP) in training. In July 2017, Daniels left public education to launch her own boutique consulting firm, HERE this NOW, which provides training, consulting, and coaching to those seeking to become trauma-informed and trauma-responsive. Daniels also developed her own toolkit to trauma-informed teaching called, “The Regulated Classroom: ‘Bottom-Up’ Trauma-Informed Teaching” which is currently in product development. Daniels’ consults locally and nationally and has presented at numerous conferences around the country. She has provided training and/or consultation to more than 20 school districts in New Hampshire and numerous non-profit and state entities such as NH NAEYC, NH NEA, MADAC, YMCA Keene, Families First, NAMI NH, NH Public Defender’s Office, etc.

Beth Tener, BA, MS - Principal, New Directions Collaborative

Beth Tener of New Directions Collaborative is a facilitator and strategy coach who helps organizations collaborate and work in networked ways to tackle complex challenges in ways that help the whole ’ecosystem’ be more effective. She is passionate about participatory process and how to facilitate every phase of the work in ways that offer opportunities for participation, co-creation, equity, and experiences of how diversity can be a strength. Her clients include many cross-sector initiatives in New England including NH Farm to School, MA Smart Growth Alliance, VT Farm to Plate Network, Boston Green Ribbon Commission, and public health initiatives. She is on the faculty of the MBA Program at Marlboro College in Vermont. Previously, Beth was Executive Director of Sustainable Step New England, where she trained hundreds of people in principles of sustainability and systems thinking and how to apply this in their work. For more info and her blog see: www.ndcollaborative.com.