ABOUT
Trauma has been identified as an epidemic in our society. Studies indicate that a significant portion of the population have experienced harmful or life-threatening events which have impacted their everyday functioning or well-being. Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership is here to help you implement practices to avoid retraumatization and enhance resilience throughout your organization and beyond.
COTIP
What Is Trauma?
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA) individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.
What Is Resilience?
Resilience is a person's ability to overcome serious hardship. Two people may experience the same thing, and it may be traumatic to one, but not the other. Genetics has something to do with this, but very frequently, the difference is found in the quality of the person's relationships. There is good news: resilience can be grown over time.
Equity Imperative
The science is clear: when a person experiences inequities, it can have the same negative impact on their long-term health outcomes as other traumas. We also see the same "dose response" as we do for other traumas, and the impact can be compounded over generations, or when a person is a member of more than one marginalized group. For this reason, our founder, Christine Cowart is often heard saying, "You can't be trauma-informed unless you are actively working to identify and dismantle inequities."
The work of Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership is grounded in this understanding and fundamental belief. We actively seek to empower individuals to be change-makers in their organizations, and to lead community and societal transformations.
Christine Cowart, MA, CTP
Founder
Christine is dually certified as a trauma professional by Florida State University and the International Association of Trauma Professionals, and is and a member of the PACEs Connection's Speakers and
Trainers Bureau. She has built a career in the human services field, with a focus on criminal legal systems and family services policy. Through this work, she developed an in-depth understanding of trauma, its possible effects, and what can be done to change the story.
After earning her Master of Criminal Justice degree from the State University of New York at Albany, Christine served as a state legislative analyst in both New York and New Jersey, including 10 years in the Law and Public Safety section of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. She has also worked as a policy analyst for the New York State Division of Parole and a contract and grant specialist for the Vermont Department for Children and Families, where she doubled as the co-chair for the Family Services Division’s racial equity workgroup. She is currently employed as the policy director for the Vermont Department of Corrections, where she is helping to implement a Department-wide trauma-informed approach.
In her spare time, Christine volunteers in a variety of capacities. She served as a member of her local school’s community-based diversity, equity, and inclusion committee, which works towards ensuring a safe environment for all students and families. In addition, she has served as a certified adaptive sports instructor and child specialist for more than 20 years with Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, a year-round program that offers holistic, sports and recreation opportunities to people with disabilities.
Christine was raised in the United States by two immigrant parents, one from North Africa, the other from Western Europe, who merged the best of their vastly different cultures. After she married, she joyfully welcomed two Indigenous sons from South America, each with their own personalities, stories, gifts, and traumatic histories. Her personal and professional experiences led her to a clear recognition of trauma and its effects throughout our society. Committed to researching and addressing this phenomenon as a specialty, and driven to share this information with the general public, Christine founded Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership, and dedicates much of her time helping individuals and organizations implement trauma-informed practices.
Recognizing that the physical spaces in which we spend time can impact our perceptions, stress levels, and ability to regulate our emotional responses and behaviors, Christine cofounded the Trauma-informed Design Society (TiDS), with Janet E. Roche, MDS CAPS, and J. Davis Harte, PhD, WELL AP. The Trauma-informed Design Society is a transdisciplinary team with a focus on turning research into practice, and back into research. Located across the United States, the Society merges the co-founders’ extensive experience in human services and interior design with an understanding of trauma science, to help organizations implement a trauma-informed approach in their services and create stress-reducing physical spaces. It focuses on ensuring that TiD practitioners have access to the latest research and resources so they can apply TiD to their projects with fidelity. In 2023, Christine and Janet formed Trauma-informed Design Consultants, in response to increasing requests for consultation services on architectural and design projects.