The First National Summit on Trauma and the Courts: Creating a Community of Healing was held on August 5-6, 2015 at the Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, a research center in the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.The summit brought together both experts and judicial leaders from across the country to examine and focus on moving from research to practice in a court setting in the context of trauma, the impact of adversity and trauma on human development, evidence-based practice, environmental stress, creating communities of healing and building strong collaboration. Participants included experts from the fields of medicine, psychology, juvenile and family court, animal welfare, social justice advocates as well as experts in the field of family violence and facility design. The Summit was chaired by the Honorable Michael Howard (Ohio) and the Honorable Denise Cubbon (Ohio), and graciously hosted by Patrick Kanary and staff of the Begun Center.
Over 20 trauma consultations have been conducted at the time of this report. The Summit described below served, in part, as a “validity check” for the consultation protocol and findings, as well as a forum to strategize moving from research to practice.