Voce Executive Director Rick Azzaro and musician/trainer Jim Donovan could be described as kindred spirits. When they first met a few years ago, they immediately connected around shared interests in music and healing from trauma. “The first time we met, we talked for three straight hours,” Rick, who is a musician himself, shared. “What I see in Jim is a sincere desire to use what he knows to help people.”

Jesse Kohler, Executive Director of the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), will provide the keynote at Voce’s second Forum on Pennsylvania’s Children to be held November 14, 2023 at the Penn Stater Conference Center, State College. Jesse has years of experience building community and systems capacity and educating coalitions on emerging innovative practices to implement trauma-informed values.

In November, Voce will be presenting the second Forum on Pennsylvania’s Children (FPaC), a one-day event singularly focused on learning and collaborating to heal childhood trauma. Last year’s event provided a space for participants from different service systems to explore and innovate, but our work is just beginning.

“I have engaged Voce representatives on multiple opportunities to provide workshops on race equity and trauma to a variety of audiences. Their presentations are consistently based on thorough research and are delivered in an innovative manner."

Training for Adoption Competency impacted me, both professionally and personally, in numerous ways. I was initially drawn to the accredited program because as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I wanted to serve families with the best clinical practice possible. Imagine my surprise when it really hit home for my most important job, being a mom of two siblings adopted from the Pennsylvania foster care system.

Adoption professionals have long recognized the need for a comprehensive, multi-layered continuum of support to ensure stability and well-being for children who have been adopted and their families. Now, an online learning community from our colleagues at Identity has launched to provide accessible, diverse, and ethical education to adoptive families.