Co-Founder and Executive Director, Trauma Resource Institute
Elaine Miller-Karas, LCSW, is the Executive Director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute and author of the book, Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models.® Elaine has co-created the Community Resiliency Model and the Trauma Resiliency Model. She is a licensed clinical social worker and trauma therapist and has traveled internationally, bringing her models to underserved communities. The goal of both models is to help to create “resiliency-informed and focused” communities that share a common understanding of the impact of trauma and chronic stress on the nervous system and how resiliency can be restored or increased using this skills-based approach. The Community Resiliency Model© is a peer-to-peer model that trains the natural leaders of a community to be teachers of the wellness skills. Teachers are encouraged to interweave their cultural lens into the teachings. Research is demonstrating statistically significant reductions in depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms and hostility indicators. The models have been used in the aftermath of human made and natural disasters globally, including Nepal, the Philippines, Haiti, China, Sierra Leone, St. Vincent, St. Martin, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Turkey, the United States, Germany, Ukraine, and Israel. The models are adaptable, affordable, transportable and accessible.
