Breaking the Cycle: Trauma, ACEs, and Intergenerational Healing in Families

Session Description

Many parents involved with child welfare have experienced adverse childhood experiences, grief, violence, poverty, discrimination, or other forms of trauma themselves. This session focuses on how trauma can shape stress responses, emotional regulation, relationships, discipline, and trust in helping systems. Participants will explore trauma-informed approaches that promote healing, reduce shame, strengthen parent-child relationships, and interrupt intergenerational cycles of abuse and neglect. View flyer.

Learning Objectives

• Describe long-term effects of ACEs and trauma.

• Explain how trauma histories affect parenting.

• Recognize ways to interrupt cycles of maltreatment.

• Apply trauma-informed principles that support healing.

  
  

This course has been approved for 1 General Social Work CEUs by Louisiana Child Welfare Training Academy as authorized by the Louisiana Board of Social Work Examiners.

Meet the Speaker

Laura Alderman Baxter serves as the Director of the Institute for Childhood Resilience for the LSU Health Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. Her responsibilities include implementation of the ICR mission to foster a safe and nurturing community for families in NW Louisiana by bringing research to practice.  Through its development of the Building Blocks of Lifetime Resilience model, the ICR aims to promote trauma-responsive services both regionally and statewide by providing training and research on resilience practices.  The ICR has served as a convener of the local Crisis Response Coalition and has contributed to policy reforms in local law enforcement, healthcare, non-profit, and education systems. 

Laura is also the founder and CEO of Educational Resources for Families, Inc., providing evidence-based mental health services for children and adults. She is also an organizational consultant supporting early childhood education, evidence-based mental health treatments, student mental health, community resilience and Results-Based Facilitation.

Laura previously served as the Executive Director of Step Forward, a cradle to career collective impact initiative working to ensure success for every child in Northwest Louisiana and consisting of more than 500 organizations and thousands of individuals aligning their resources. Under Laura’s leadership, Step Forward was the host platform for many action-oriented community convenings including the Early Childhood Policy Summit, The Teen Summit on Mental Wellness, and the Impact of Social Injustice on Children.

Laura has lengthy experience in the juvenile justice system, having served as the Mental Health Coordinator for Caddo Parish Juvenile Court and began the first juvenile mental health court in Louisiana. In this role, she also served as the principal investigator for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Models for Change grant in Caddo Parish. The Caddo Parish juvenile mental health court was one of only two nation-wide sites to be studied by the National Institute of Justice to determine the effectiveness of juvenile mental health courts.

Laura is a former early childhood educator and is a Fellow of the Tulane University Early Childhood Policy Leadership Institute. She serves as a trainer for the Juvenile Justice and Mental Health Curriculum, Adverse Childhood Experiences presentations, and Results-Based Facilitation. She co-authored a childcare training curriculum for the Louisiana Department of Education on Early Brain Development.

Laura holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from Louisiana Tech University, M.S. in Family Life Education, and M.A. in Counseling and Guidance.  She is certified in the areas of early childhood education and counseling guidance with the Louisiana Department of Education.  She is also a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and National Certified Counselor.

2026 - 2027 Louisiana CASA Webinar Series: Healthy Minds, Safe Children: Preventing Child Abuse Through Mental Health Awareness and Support

This eight-part webinar series explores how mental health awareness, early intervention, trauma-informed support, and strong community partnerships can help prevent child abuse and neglect. Participants will examine how caregiver wellness, childhood trauma, adolescent mental health, and family stress influence child safety while learning practical ways to recognize concerns early, strengthen protective factors, and connect families to support before crises occur.