OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - An Omaha organization that supports child abuse victims has launched a website to help people find resources to manage childhood trauma.
Project Harmony’s Trauma Matters Omaha website offers a survey that will give users points for adverse childhood experiences, the Omaha World-Herald reported . Higher scores indicate an increased chance of risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions and early death.
More than 80 people have taken the survey since Tuesday and had an average score of 2.33 adverse childhood experiences. Experiences include physical injuries, neglect, parental divorce and witnessing a violent crime.
“We hope that this starts to remove any sort of biases that (traumatic experiences) don’t happen in Omaha or don’t happen to me,” said Angela Roeber, Project Harmony’s director of communications. “We want people to see that they aren’t alone.”
Officials hope the information collected from the survey will help local social service agencies better understand the types of childhood trauma area residents are dealing with.
Mayor Jean Stothert started an effort to make the city a trauma-informed community last year. The goal is to have 22,000 Omaha residents - about 5 percent of the city’s population - attend trauma-informed training sessions by 2020. More than 4,500 people have completed the training so far.
The site also features a list of upcoming trauma-informed training opportunities and resources for those who’ve experienced trauma.
“This site really shows that Omaha is embracing this,” Roeber said. “We have a lot to be proud of for the work we are doing.”
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
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