Achieving zero health disparities by promoting equity-centered, trauma-informed health care across Missouri.
Learn How to Make a Difference in Southeast Missouri
Breaking Through Trauma in Southeast Missouri
The Community Health Commission of Missouri (CHCM), formerly Alive & Well Communities, leads equity-centered, trauma-informed care training across the Southeast Missouri (Bootheel) region in Dunklin, Scott, Stoddard, New Madrid, Cape Girardeau, Pemiscot, and Mississippi counties.
Our goal is to educate communities on the profound impacts of trauma while fostering a cultural shift toward healing, well-being, and equality. We are committed to transforming systems and creating lasting pathways to resilience and recovery.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma happens when an event produces a lasting, negative emotional response that scars an individual. Experiencing a traumatic event can harm a person’s sense of safety, self, and ability to regulate emotions and navigate relationships. Trauma and toxic stress can affect our health and well-being long-term.
Missouri’s communities face many challenges that cause trauma, such as racial inequality, gun violence, poverty, health disparities, and easy access to illegal substances. Our local team understands the importance of working collectively and providing tools that will enable scars to heal.
Programs
We partner with school districts, health systems, and organizations to address the impact of trauma and toxic stress on individuals and communities in Southeast Missouri. Through our Community Empowerment Workshops, Healing Circles, and Professional Development Series, we provide spaces for learning, reflection, and healing.
Community Empowerment Workshops
- Community Empowerment Workshops help people understand how trauma affects communities. These workshops give individuals, organizations, and neighborhoods the knowledge and skills to take care of their well-being and work together to create positive change.
Healing Circles
- Healing circles offer a supportive space to process personal and community trauma, heal together, and restore balance. Through discussions and activities, participants build resilience and learn ways to care for themselves while supporting others.
Professional Development and Leadership Coaching Series for Service Providers
- Service providers in Southeast Missouri are able to participate in trauma-informed education. This program seeks to foster cross-sector collaboration, build education about racial equity and community trauma, and establish sustainable strategies through coaching, workshops, and long-term integration into professional development initiatives.
For information about our additional trainings and offerings for your community group or organization, check out our Training and Technical Assistance page, linked at the button below. We offer evidence-based training and tailored consulting ranging from one-time professional development to intensive multiyear partnerships.
Take the Next Step
No matter where you are on the journey to addressing trauma and toxic stress, we are here to create pathways to healing. As a community, we can build a common understanding of the effects of trauma and work together to create a better community. Take the next step to disrupt persistent racial and communal disparities and cycles of trauma.
Complete this short form, and a training coordinator will contact you.
Programs: Heal Bootheel
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Meet the Southeast Missouri Team
The Southeast Missouri team is committed to providing solutions for healing all types of trauma, excelling at:
- Creating a shared understanding of the impact of trauma
- Identifying and addressing barriers to employee wellness
- Building trauma-informed organizational cultures
- Equipping leaders with skills to supervise and manage thriving, well-being-focused teams
Sean Ivory
Director of Implementation in Southeast Missouri
Lester Gillespie
Trauma Awareness Consultant