ACES Connection, The Relentless School Nurse, and the Center For Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) has joined forces to create a trauma-informed virtual film festival! Our program will run quarterly through June of 2021. We will feature a documentary that will be available to view on ACES Connection over a weekend and then a follow-up discussion on an evening during the week. The first film we will be viewing is:
Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, Their Pain
- Watch Weekend on Sept. 12 & 13, 2020
- Streaming on ACEs Connection from the Transform Trauma with ACEs Science community
- Zoom Follow-Up Discussion Sept. 16th / 8 p.m. EST with Vic Compher & Rodney Whittenberg
The documentary film based on interviews with nurses, social workers, clinical psychologists, doctors, firefighters, first responders who rescue, assist, and help to heal the injured and traumatized—and also tell their own remarkable and often painful stories. The film takes us on a journey into a world the public rarely sees, depicting emotional costs experienced by professional care providers and probing the emotional consequences of professional public service.
The film asks the question: How are professional caregivers and first responders affected emotionally and physically? Who helps them? Viewers discover that engaged, empathic caregiving can sometimes be an occupational hazard; we explore the painful and human sides of these professions and vulnerable responses to trauma — Compassion Fatigue — also known as Secondary Traumatic Stress or Vicarious Trauma. The film also addresses high levels of career satisfaction and professional meaning that caregivers experience. Ultimately, the film provides ways to cope and recover from toxic stress in the workplace
Here is a link to the full schedule of our film festival:
Transform Trauma with ACEs Science Film Festival & Follow-Up Discussions
Special appreciation to Cissy White and ACES Connection for hosting this important opportunity to view these powerful documentaries. We are looking forward to robust discussions with the generous documentarians who will be joining our live discussions.
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 20th year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. She serves on several national boards including The American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine (AFFIRM), a gun violence prevention research non-profit organization and the National Board of Certification for School Nurses (NBCSN). Robin is the Legislative Chair for the New Jersey State School Nurses Association (NJSSNA). She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor.
She has been recognized in her home state of New Jersey and nationally for her community-based initiative called “The Community Café: A Conversation That Matters.” Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. These awards include 2019 National Association of School Nurses (NASN) President’s Award; 2018 NCSN School Nurse of the Year; 2017 Johnson & Johnson School Nurse of the Year; and the New Jersey Department of Health 2017 Population Health Hero Award. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. She was presented the 2018 Rutgers University – Camden Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award for Part-time Faculty.
Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. You can also follow her on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
