Empowering Community Leaders: One Common Unity and NAARC’s Training on Vicarious Trauma
On May 28, 2024, One Common Unity’s Peace Together division, led by Luisa Marino (Program Manager), Johneé Wilson (Director of Training), and Hermione Rhones (OST Senior Program Facilitator), partnered with the National Association for the Advancement of Returning Citizens (NAARC) and their Cure the Streets team. The collaboration aimed to facilitate a day-long training on “The Cost of Caring and Vicarious Trauma.”
Derek Floyd, Cure The Streets Program Manager, emphasized the importance of self-care for his team members, who work tirelessly to mitigate the risks of gun violence in DC’s most vulnerable communities.
At this juncture, we want to focus on the staff as the work they do is mentally and emotionally taxing. We are always moving, so self-care is not top priority on the list. The reality of the work we do can be a barrier to self-care.
Derek Floyd, Cure The Streets Program Manager
NAARC aims to create a safe environment for the communities they serve while curating wellness opportunities for their team members.
One Common Unity offers a variety of training programs designed to empower educators, therapists, community leaders, and organizations working with youth and adults directly impacted by gun violence.
“Our goal as an organization is to provide viable, feasible, and desirable training modules that empower these trusted adults, who work with our DC community members, to understand how they may be interfacing with secondary trauma, offer self-care strategies to restore their confidence in caring for themselves, and to help navigate the challenges of the work they do so they may continue showing up as their healthiest and most authentic selves,” explained One Common Unity’s Director of Training, Johneé Wilson.
We are so full of gratitude that NAARC staff interacted fully with our curriculum and key facilitators.
Johneé Wilson, One Common Unity’s Director of Training
As Brené Brown suggests, they “chose courage over comfort” by leaning into vulnerability and sharing their unique stories and experiences that inform what they do.
