A Social Worker's Mission To Heal Childhood Trauma With Beth Light

Jan:
Hi, first of all, welcome to Beth Light. Thank you so much for joining us, Beth Light. I thank you and Brooke, your sister-in-law, who is the photographer that we interviewed recently about her amazing pictures with letting kids be themselves and how she's getting these really just inner beauty of these kids to shine through on her camera. And when she told me about you, her sister-in-law, Beth. I was so excited because you have been working with, you know, child trauma and as a social worker since 2005, then a master's degree that came along a few years later and have been in social services and in also other therapeutic forms of counseling and, you know, clinical-based things like you are certified in EMDR, which is something

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
I'm a real believer in. You are also... certified in a couple of other things that I want to talk about with you today. So first of all, thank you so much for joining us. 100%.

Beth Light:
Thank you. Thank you very much for having me.

Jan:
Absolutely. We really love it when we have an expert. And usually an expert has some kind of a personal reason for being in the mental health field and care. So I'm just wondering if there's a way that you would tell us, you don't have to go into any personal experiences. You don't need to do that. But I would love for you to actually tell us why. at least a little bit you are in this particular line of work and how you got here.

Beth Light:
Yeah, yeah. It's funny how I came to social work. I, growing up, I always felt very strongly that it was my purpose to work with kids. And I thought that I was gonna be a pediatrician. And then I discovered that you have to go to med school and do some things that I didn't really wanna do. So I decided in high school, well, that's not gonna be the path for me. But I remember in the sixth grade, whenever we were in one of those health class experiences where they're doing some education and prevention work, that's the first time I heard a friend disclose anything about sexual abuse was in the sixth grade. And then later on in life, I found out that was something that had impacted my family of origin as well. And I didn't know a whole lot about that. And then... I came to college and told my mom I didn't know what I wanted to do at that point. And so she said, well, you need to go do some aptitude testing and you need to talk to somebody and you need to figure out what is it that you're going to do. And so I went to, I did some aptitude testing and I went to a psychology seminar where they talked about what psychology is and they mentioned social work in the psychology seminar. And I had never heard of social work at that point. And it sounded... like something I would really be geared toward. And so I met with an advisor and the rest is history. I declared social work and then I was all hands on deck, both feet and ready to go, yeah.

Jan:
Wow. So it just resonated with you because you

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
have some, you know, effects from the family aspect

Beth Light:
You see?

Jan:
that

Beth Light:
It's

Jan:
you didn't even know about. And then

Beth Light:
a...

Jan:
also sixth grade is pretty young to go, oh my gosh, what's happening? And this is happening. And then to realize as you grow and become an adult and you're in the field, how common this abuse has become almost to the point where I think people have become numb

Beth Light:
Hmm.

Jan:
to actually being. upset about it. And that really bothers me because I'm like, oh my gosh, we seem to want to solve all the other, you know, really traumatic issues of the world. But what about this that's more common than cancer, that's more

Beth Light:
I'm sorry.

Jan:
common than, you know, any kind of combination of physical ailments? It's just like to me almost always the origin of where so many other things stem from.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
Is that something that you would say I'm right about? Is that true? Because I see it over and over when I have a hands-on experience, you know, with a group of, you know, people in a, maybe they're in rehab and I've spoken to groups there. And when we go back far enough before the alcohol or before the addiction or before the cutting or before the anorexia or the bulimia or the rage or the mental, you know, breakdowns that they're having

Beth Light:
I agree.

Jan:
was abuse, sexual abuse in their childhood. Tell me what your thoughts are on that.

Beth Light:
I would agree that there's generally some history of trauma in early childhood that impacts the lifespan. I didn't find the Adverse Childhood Experience Study until around 2014. I had begun working at the Child Safety Center at that point and was doing some research to try and figure out, you know, what all is connected here? What all do I need to know? And I found the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. It blew my mind. And I thought, well, I'm late to the game. Everybody else must already know this. And over the last decade, I've seen, no, a lot of people don't know this. And so some of the work that we do is education and prevention. And that's a big part of it, talking about adverse childhood experiences and what that means and what that can lead to. Yeah.

Jan:
So when you talk about this study, can you tell us more about that? Because it seems to me that that's what the work is based on now. So you

Beth Light:
Bye.

Jan:
as a mental health therapist and the clinical director at the Child Safety Center in your county,

Beth Light:
I see.

Jan:
what was that study and that paperwork, what did it mean to this? Well, it meant something to you personally, but what did it mean to the field? of what you're doing in the work of healing and helping children, tweens, teens, young people come out of or get through what's happened to them.

Beth Light:
Yeah. So there's an overlap, I think, in the Child Advocacy Center model and then the outcomes that we learned from the Adverse Childhood Experiences study. So that study began in mid-90s or so in San Diego, and it really was sparked kind of as an accident. Dr. Vincent an obesity clinic and wasn't getting the results that he wanted and expected. And so then he asked a question, he misspoke a question and the answer that he received really kind of illuminated his awareness of, okay, there's something else going on here. And so then that kind of sparked the study and the trial. And what they found is that there's a dose response in terms of adverse early adverse childhood experiences. So if that's witness to violence in the home, if that's a parent with mental illness, if that's physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, if that's the incarceration of a parent, those early experiences kind of stack in our system in terms

Jan:
Mm-hmm.

Beth Light:
of how our brain responds in that fight-flight mode. And then that increase in cortisol and that stress response over the lifespan brings about... medical diagnoses that impact a person. So health disease, heart disease, cancer, other forms of disease. And so that's a medical model that's really understanding or looking to understand how those early adverse experiences impact our bodies physically. And so then from the mental health point of view, taking that and saying, okay, but there's also work that we can do on the mental health side that maybe can stem some of those outcomes. So can we do early intervention? If we know about this event early and we intervene early, does that offset long-term consequences? So that's kind of been, the last decade has been a constant state of learning for me.

Jan:
Wow. So what you're saying is that there is an absolute relationship, that there's an absolute connection between mental health, childhood trauma, and physical health.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
So this really is so important that if we're going to have better physical health or not develop some of these outcomes that are life threatening, we have to deal with or we hope to deal with the mental health and the trauma sooner and earlier so that we can mitigate those physical things that will also manifest because of them. And there is science-based proof connection to that. to that and I think mental health had such a hard time getting off the ground as a, you know, people would sort of go, yeah, well, whatever, everybody has bad days, everybody's depressed, everybody's this, everybody's that. I've heard that a lot of times where people are just

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
so

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
kind of like, it's not a real thing and I'm like, it's a real thing. When you're

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
a person who has survived an actual, you know, long-term exposure to stress and to abuse and any of those things. even if you don't have, like you're not a mess right after. Like I just went back to school and became, you know, as perfect and as smart and as, you know, straight A's as I could become. It

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
wasn't until years later that I started to experience the manifestation of what had happened to me in my world. Now, I had been through multiple marriages and divorces.

Beth Light:
If you believe.

Jan:
That was connected, but

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
I didn't. even know that was connected. And so

Beth Light:
Thank you.

Jan:
I think it's such an important thing. So your training in TF-CBT,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
or the treatment of complex trauma and problematic sexual behaviors, that's what that stands for if I'm saying

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm. Yes,

Jan:
it right.

Beth Light:
that's right.

Jan:
Okay. Tell us about being nationally certified in that training.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
Complex trauma for problematic sexual behaviors. TFCBT. Can you tell us why that has become something that is such an important piece of this conversation

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
in health and healing?

Beth Light:
So TFCBT is trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy. And then they have applications for complex trauma and applications for problematic sexual behaviors. And that is a model that was developed in the 90s as well. And really a lot of research has been done and replicated again and again and again over the last 30 years that demonstrates its effectiveness. So it's a short term limited CBT based treatment. And it really approaches trauma in a way that offers skills. At the beginning, it's offering a lot of skills, education, relaxation, effective modulation. So learning, what are my feelings? How do I feel them? How do they show up in my body? And then what do I do with those feelings whenever they're present? And then cognitive coping. So how do I retrain my brain to think differently about the experiences that I've had and about experiences that I will have? How do I learn healthy coping skills? How do I learn to manage the stress that exists in my life? And then there's a trauma processing portion where you're able to discuss the event that occurred and talk about how that impacted you, what you thought, what you felt. how that shows up today, you share that with a supportive caregiver to increase support and resilience. And then safety is a component throughout that process as well, so talking about body safety, future safety, and then also talking about what do I want to be when I grow up, what I want to do when I move forward from this, and so trauma treatment early on, especially with young kids and adolescents, it's shifting. the narrative essentially away from this happened to me and this defines me to this happened to me and I still get to define who I am. And

Jan:
I love that.

Beth Light:
I love being a part of that work. Yeah.

Jan:
Yeah. Boy, I can see that as being like... one of the most important things that happened for me, and I was about 30 years old when it came, that realization came through a weekend program, sort of a self-help program that I did over a weekend, and at the end of it, it was like, oh my gosh, I am free? You mean this that happened to me? I am not a victim? This doesn't have to define the rest of my life. I get to make all the choices, I get to call the shots, I get to sit in the driver's seat of my life.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
It really didn't. dawn on me because I'd had so many problems with my confidence and with so many different relationships and all of the things that I just felt like I kept failing at, you know,

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
jobs

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
and keeping a job and all the things that make, I guess, in my mind would have made me a successful person at that time. And it wasn't until I did that program that it really came to me very powerfully that I was... holding on to something I could let go of. And

Beth Light:
Mm.

Jan:
by doing that, I could be free to make my choices of who I was going to be when I grew up. And I was 30

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
when that happened to me. And so I love how you said that, if you could have that kind of training, that kind of counseling or therapeutic assistance to figure those things out. Earlier, as a teenager,

Beth Light:
You're free.

Jan:
suffered from child abuse, or an early adult who's brain is still developing who suffered from you know rape or abuse in their teenage years and find your way in this I can see why you're so excited about it because it makes all the difference when you

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
finally get back into the driver's seat of your life so again tell us again what it stands for TF CBT one more time

Beth Light:
Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy.

Jan:
Okay, beautiful. And now at this center where you're working, this is the model that you use at your center. And tell us the, you know, how it's going. I mean, how, what have you seen in these 10 years where all you're doing is learning and studying? Because honestly, this mental health, body connection, scientific-based neuroscience, you know, the parasympathetic nervous system and all of these things coming together that now has science behind it. for

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
healing, it's not just woo in the sky stuff. Tell

Beth Light:
Absolutely.

Jan:
me about what you're experiencing, what you're seeing at your

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
center.

Beth Light:
So our center is kind of a mid-size in terms of child advocacy centers. Last year, we were a center in a rural state and in a rural county,

Jan:
Okay.

Beth Light:
and we also serve three other counties that are nearby. And so last year, we saw over, well, right around 500 kids in the year. And so That's definitely grown over the last 10 years. Whenever we first started out, you know, two to 300 was average, so that's grown.

Jan:
Yeah.

Beth Light:
And my role has been from the beginning to establish a mental health program so that we're able to assess and screen each child that comes into our center and talk about as a team, you know, what are their needs in terms of mental health treatment? How are they doing? What do they need? How can we connect them to either a provider in their community or keep them here so that we're able to serve them here? And we've tried to build our skillset along the way too. So TFCBT is the training that I started with and then I added CPP, which is child parent psychotherapy. And then I added EMDR, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. And so I want to be equipped. as best as I can to serve as many kids as I can and meet the needs that they have where they are. I started out as the only mental health professional on our team 10 years ago, and now we have five licensed clinicians on site. And so

Jan:
Wow.

Beth Light:
I feel very proud of that for sure.

Jan:
That's really amazing. Honestly, Beth, you're doing something so important and so dear to my own heart, because I believe that if people can, children, tweens, teens, young adults, can access healing as soon as possible, and it will be ongoing, because

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
as I'm sure you know better than me, what you can process and... you know, heal to a degree when you're, you know, eight or nine years old is going to be different than when you're 13 or 14 or 18 or 19 or 22 or 23 and 30

Beth Light:
Absolutely.

Jan:
and 31 and on we go into our 40s, right?

Beth Light:
Yes,

Jan:
But

Beth Light:
yes.

Jan:
getting some of those basic tools in the toolbox as soon as possible is huge for people to go, uh-oh, I need another tool or I got to sharpen this one or I got to have some help. And not being the kind of that it stays away from the doctor because, oh, they might have bad news. And

Beth Light:
I'm sorry.

Jan:
for us, for those that are healing from trauma and that are on that journey to stay in the driver's seat of their life and to have, you know, freedom from what happened and be able to make their decisions of what will happen next in their life is really such a gift to be giving to mankind. And to do it in a rural area... I know the center is located somewhere in Arkansas, and I don't know how specific you want to be. I don't know if there's, you know, if you get like people, crazy people that are not happy with what you're doing, or, you know, it's an interesting thing how many, how many can't live with the idea that this is so common, and they almost want to shut it down or minimize it, like

Beth Light:
Maybe.

Jan:
I said before. And so hopefully you're getting great support. Where do you get the funding from? for your center to now go from one to five professionals. Where does

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
that come?

Beth Light:
So we are a nonprofit. Advocacy centers are nonprofit. They're independent organizations. They're third party. So they operate as a part of a multidisciplinary team in the coordination of investigations. But what that means is, you know, being a nonprofit means that you have to really search for funding.

Jan:
Yes,

Beth Light:
And so we are

Jan:
that's

Beth Light:
an

Jan:
for

Beth Light:
accredited

Jan:
sure.

Beth Light:
center through National Children's Alliance. So we get some funding from the federal funds that are available. So Victims of Crimes Act, the VOCA Act, TANF right now has increased their funding since COVID. So we get some federal funding through grants, but the majority of our funding comes through like local, local support grants and local grants, state funding and local community support. And so that's. an area of our center that we have really been working to increase over the last two years so that we can continue to function. Yeah.

Jan:
Yeah, it's really something, isn't it? I wonder sometimes about, you know, there's certain trauma centers that are funded more from a federal perspective, like you know, the VA hospitals for veterans, you know, they've suffered, you know, PTSD and have all these same outcomes. But it has been said and has been proven that the same kinds of things that a combat veteran could experience in the mental health and all of the other things that come with having been in combat are the same things that a child, a tween, a teen, a young adult, could also be suffering from because of their PTSD from sexual assault and violence, abuse, rape, incest, all of those things. Do you have hopes that at some point this kind of work can be legislated for and have funding come from not only good people who want to support good things, which is what I hope for, as well as, you know, I have a foundation, the Jam Broberg Foundation that's a nonprofit and depends on people donating to that, healing, you know. They want to see... survivors heal. They also know that legislation needs to change to

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
be more in favor of those who are victimized and

Beth Light:
We

Jan:
harmed

Beth Light:
should.

Jan:
instead of perpetrators and predators, which is how the system seems to be currently. So those are two of the things that I work on very hard. And then awareness is the third thing, which is what we're doing right now.

Beth Light:
Now...

Jan:
This podcast is about awareness. So those are my three pillars of the foundation. if we don't have that local support, if we don't have support from our, you know, some of the grants that we can find, there are some, but it's much harder, I think, than people realize for us to be able to actually do this work. So what do you think? How do we proceed there? Because it needs

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
to be funded.

Beth Light:
So the Child Advocacy Center model began in like the late 80s in Huntsville, Alabama. And it was a local prosecutor who actually said like, we are doing more harm to children in this process than we are benefiting them. And so the model has kind of spread from that point. So his name was Bud Kramer, and he was a prosecuting attorney in Madison County, Huntsville, Alabama. in the 80s, but he went on to be a congressman. And so there is some awareness at the federal level, the National Children's Alliance, which is the accrediting body for advocacy centers has a lobbying arm. And so they are able to push for some funding, but there has been a decrease in funds available at the federal level over the last couple of years. And so that is definitely something that needs to be addressed. They were able to do some work on the VOCA. We called it the VOCA fix, kind of internally is what National Children's Alliance referred to it as, but we're hoping that will increase the funds available to us from a federal level, but always there's more work to do, I think always.

Jan:
And I think that it's been underfunded for all of these many, many years just in general because public outcry has to match what we say to our, you know, those that we elect and in our local and our, you know, state government and then those that go

Beth Light:
this

Jan:
forward

Beth Light:
week.

Jan:
into the federal spectrum in Washington. And I think it's really important that we. that we tell our stories and that we have the voices, the many voices that can make even our own families and our neighborhoods,

Beth Light:
Thank you.

Jan:
our community centers, our congregations aware of how

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
rampant this abuse is and that it is worthy of being funded by our voices and by dollars and cents.

Beth Light:
This is... this is...

Jan:
And I think we're starting to see an opening where people are speaking out more, they're talking more, but I don't know that people have made the connection that in order for us to have professionals who have a healing center, basically, is what

Beth Light:
I'm

Jan:
you're doing,

Beth Light:
trying

Jan:
it

Beth Light:
to...

Jan:
has to be funded. It's

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
like saying that... you know, if you can sing, that's a natural gift and talent that you don't get paid for. And I'm like, well, if that's how you make your living, you still have to get paid

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
for

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
that, you know, when it's, when it's on a professional level. And yet you have people that don't make the connection like,

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
oh,

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
kids are resilient. Oh, it'll be okay. Oh, that perpetrators just did it that one time. They'll stop. They don't even go to jail. You know, they just

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
figured out they'll that's one and done. And it's not that at all. That is absolutely not what happens. Right? Not at all.

Beth Light:
Not at all. Yeah.

Jan:
There is a lot of work to be done.

Beth Light:
There it is. Yeah.

Jan:
Let me get off my soapbox and back to you. Okay. So when you were a case manager for a residential treatment center that was focused more on drug and alcohol addiction

Beth Light:
It

Jan:
in

Beth Light:
is.

Jan:
teens and young adults, tell me what that experience was like. Do you have any certain, in a general sense, of course, not sharing any names or anything, disclosing anything, but at the same time that you would say… This is what led to this drug and alcohol addiction in these teens and young adults. And so let's solve the genesis, the point of the problem. So can you talk about any of that? In

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
your experience, I think that's a really interesting thing, where I've had some experience in just speaking to groups or being there to

Beth Light:
Thank you.

Jan:
hear their stories and to realize that almost all the women that I've ever had in a group like that today were they were all sexually assaulted or abused as

Beth Light:
This

Jan:
young

Beth Light:
is it.

Jan:
people. They're teens, you know, they're teens and young adults, so it was prior to that.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm. Yes, my time there was, again, a great learning experience. I came there after working in, you know, child welfare front lines, and that was, I describe that time of my life as a brick to the forehead, in terms of reality, smacking me in the face. So I saw a lot that I wasn't really prepared to see and didn't feel very well equipped to manage in my own personal life or respond to. And so I left Child Welfare and went to be a case manager at this residential treatment center and learned about trauma. And that's really where I got kind of an introduction to trauma work and how important that is, how critical that is, and the impact that it can have on outcomes.

Jan:
Okay, sorry, I was having a little problem with my mic. Now I'm back. Okay, so it was like, you know, smacked you in the face,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm,

Jan:
basically.

Beth Light:
mm-hmm.

Jan:
So what you saw was the direct connection between where they were now in

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
a, you know, drug, alcohol, alcohol addiction.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
That's where they're at now. But

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
what happened before was... something that seriously compromised their development

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
as a person and that they were self-medicating.

Beth Light:
And for some, yeah, for some it was sexual abuse. For some it was, you know, inner family, inner family dynamics that were not healthy or significant loss and grief at an early stage in life. But very often, trauma was at the root of the reason that they were at the, at that treatment center. Yeah.

Jan:
Okay, well that's really interesting. So when, okay I know that you went back to graduate school to get your higher education and degree and that internship that you had with the Child Safety Center in the first year it opened, is

Beth Light:
time.

Jan:
that what your job, that has continued on, that's where you are

Beth Light:
That's where

Jan:
still.

Beth Light:
I am now, yes. So I, yes, that was, they were opening, they were developing the Child Safety Center during that time. And I have been very fortunate in my career to have been mentored by people who are doing incredible work. And so because I had these connections, our founding director was a foster parent that I had worked with when I was at, when I was working in child welfare. And so I knew her and... Another one of the founding people was a professor and is still my mentor today. And so they were collaborating with also people that I had worked with in the child welfare office that I had been in. And so I was kind of brought in with these people that I already had a good working relationship with and they understood my skillset and they believed in me and supported me and said, okay, this is what we want, this is what we need. and we want you to be a part of it. And so being able to see that very early on, and then of course, because it was a nonprofit that was just beginning, I didn't have a position funded, you know, at the very beginning. And so they helped me get the training that I needed to be able to serve kids who were coming through here. So as I was working at an outpatient agency, I was able to take referrals from the center during that time and kind of began working with children who had been seen at the center. And then whenever funding became available for a position, I was asked to come on. And so that's been 10 years now, which is wild. How quickly that's gone.

Jan:
Wow, that's

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
amazing. That shows what good relationships, being a good student and a good person,

Beth Light:
I'm sorry.

Jan:
get you into something that you're passionate about and you just keep at it until the funds come. And that's sort of where I tell people all the time, you just got to keep at it until he, you know, if that's your passion and that's what you know you're kind of called to do, you're

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
going to do it or you're going to be miserable. So you just

Beth Light:
Hahaha!

Jan:
keep going. You know, I know the money makes the world go around, but it doesn't make you happy.

Beth Light:
No, it doesn't. Yeah.

Jan:
So that's really impressive that you stuck with that and that you are there still today. And that was in 2008 or 9, you said,

Beth Light:
Yes, yeah.

Jan:
in your bio?

Beth Light:
Right,

Jan:
Okay.

Beth Light:
yeah.

Jan:
So

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
that's

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
quite a long time. So you really have some proficiency now in this whole thing that I am so fascinated by, because I'm hopeful that what we can do is help take these, like this particular, program that you're talking about and be able to replicate it, you know, into many health centers like what you're doing across the country so that there's access to this kind of healing and this kind of therapeutic, you know, and all the different areas. Like you said, you continue to get, you know, certified and in many different modalities of healing that are science-based to we actually know they work. So

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
I love it. I just love that. So how... You know, as you look back at your career so far, and you're still young, but I look at that as, that's a long time, even though, you know, to be in one place at one thing, building that after, you know, almost 15 years, really, how has that affected you personally? What has that brought to you on a personal level? I'd really like to hear a little bit about that, because sometimes it can be overwhelming to work in this field. I've been... sharing my story and hearing other people's stories and sharing their stories and trying to make change and awareness happen for a long time. And it can be difficult, but how about you? How has it affected you personally?

Beth Light:
Yes, that's a good question. It's a tough question.

Jan:
Yeah.

Beth Light:
Yeah, I think whenever I whenever I stop and sit and think about that, there is a lot of good and there is a lot of hard. And both are true. Two things can be true. I love the work that I do. children and families in what's often, you know, the worst times of their life. And I feel like it's a real privilege to be, to walk alongside people during that time, which is sustaining for this work. It helps me feel like there's purpose and it's important and so I am fulfilled in that way. It's also really difficult and has definitely impacted the way I parent, the way I respond to my own kids, the precautions that we take in our life around our kids and their peers and who they spend time with and where they go. And there are nights when I can't sleep. And that's true. Those are all true. And so it's definitely taking... It has taken a toll and it's not all negative, but it also has required me to do my own work and to recognize when I am depleted or when I need to take a pause to take a step back and tend to my own business. So it's both, there's good and there's hard.

Jan:
Well, and that's a good reminder, I think, for all of us that self-care is really necessary. That as we build resilience in our lives and as we heal, as we try to help others, because we know what it's like, we've been there, we still have to take some time to care for our own mental health, our own physical health, our emotional health, our spiritual health, all of those things that are really truly. They work interconnectedly.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
I've got an iron coming by.

Beth Light:
Ha ha ha.

Jan:
I don't know if the mic picked up on that, but I'm going to just clap so that you know there was a siren going by. Anyway, back into it. What challenges do you see, Beth, in the child welfare system in general? What challenges?

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
Where do we have the holes? What do we need to work on a better solution to remedy? Just a few things there would be really nice if you have any solution to those challenges and could you speak a little bit about those challenges?

Beth Light:
Yeah, that's another big question. Yeah. So I'm gonna maybe take a long and winding path to get to the answer. And I don't know if I have solutions, but I have a lot of thoughts, so we'll see where those land. So

Jan:
Perfect.

Beth Light:
the Child Advocacy Center model is MDT-based, and so multidisciplinary teams are formed from... law enforcement, other investigating agencies, prosecuting attorneys, child welfare. There's a medical component to it and a mental health component to it. And so the idea behind that MDT approach is that all facets of a child's needs are being considered whenever they are, whenever they come to a center like this. So on site, there is forensic interviewing. Then there's child and family advocacy, a person that follows that family until they no longer need them. There's medical onsite, so any exams that need to be done can be done here in-house. And then there's mental health onsite as well. So the center functions as a hub, essentially, where all of the people who need to be involved in an investigation involving a child can come rather than that child having to go to all of those other places. individually. So that's the beauty of this model. And, you know, it's meant to be trauma-informed, child-friendly, and child-centered. And I think it is a huge piece in addressing some of the challenges in the system as a whole. But there are also a lot of challenges that remain. So thinking about, you know, child protective services or child welfare workers, those agencies are generally underfunded, under-resourced. And it is, you know, I had that job as a 22-year-old out of college, and I was not prepared for, I was prepared in terms of education. I was not prepared in terms of understanding real-world impact or what to do about it. And so I think there's a lot of work to be done in terms of equipping people who are on the front lines, not just education-wise, but how do we connect to resources? How do we increase prevention? How do we approach families in a way that they're not defensive right away so that we can make headway with them? How do we teach kids what it looks like to be a part of a healthy family? How do we teach families what it looks like to be a healthy family? I think there's just a lot of areas where we can do more, when we can do better. But I think it also takes a multidisciplinary approach. I don't think there's one right answer. I think it's sitting down and coming to, you know, what is good and how do we share what's good and how do we respond in a way. that builds families and doesn't continue to tear families apart? And how do we move toward restoration for people across the board?

Jan:
You know, I think that's really well said because in my experience, I believe that people are almost to me doing their best, but without enough, again, resources of time, energy, mental care for themselves. When you deal with this subject, you know, day in and day out and you see, you know, one child or teenager or... you know, person, a young adult of full-grown women that are, and men who are trying to heal but didn't even get started till their 40s and 50s have just started to tell their stories and let the secret out of the bag because they know it's going to hurt their family because for the most part, it was a family member.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
I mean, that's, when you talk about healthy families,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
you're talking about the fact that something is not healthy in the family and how much shame comes with that, which is why it's kept a secret so

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
often.

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
Instead of protecting the child, it's the family name, you know,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
because we're going to be the, you know, people are going to think there's something wrong with all of us. And it's just such an interesting dynamic. And yet if we would fund and get the help and get enough people working at this and helping. with this multidisciplinary model as you're talking about, which I totally believe in as well, because something is going to have more traction for a person in their healing and something else might be good, but it may not have as much traction as something else does.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
But all of them together combined is what synergistically heals.

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
It's not just one thing or one idea. It's

Beth Light:
Thank you.

Jan:
many things. And A lot of times those that are trying to access that kind of care can't afford it.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
So many times the person who has gone through abuse also has a problem in marriage relationships, in work relationships, in holding a job, in getting an education, getting an education, having a career and balancing their own issues that are there with being productive. I heard it stated that a woman who has been through abuse, a severe or severe trauma in childhood will lose out on about a million dollars over the course of her career life

Beth Light:
Wow.

Jan:
because of these very things. So it's like even economically, it would make sense if that's just one person. And if we have 25 million children right now who are being abused in some way, shape or form, and I think that number is low.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
but they say, oh, it's about 10% of the population. And I'm like, who just turns a blind eye to 10% of the population?

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
I don't understand.

Beth Light:
Yeah,

Jan:
That's

Beth Light:
that's

Jan:
a lot of

Beth Light:
a lot.

Jan:
young people, a lot. And I think that's a low number.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
And then you're still dealing with everybody that is now an adult trying to deal with what happened to them as a young person.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
Now at your center, do you primarily, what's your age? Do you have an age range that you deal with? Tell me what is that?

Beth Light:
We do. We see from birth to 18.

Jan:
birth to eight.

Beth Light:
So the full range of childhood is the population that we serve. And

Jan:
Okay.

Beth Light:
any services that we offer here on site are free of charge to the families that come.

Jan:
Oh, that's so amazing. These are the models we need everywhere. So, and then, so for me in the work that I'm trying to do, my thing is to open up that healing to adult survivors

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
of childhood trauma

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
and abuse, because that is also where that trauma is passed on, that abuse is passed on, even

Beth Light:
Thank

Jan:
if

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
it's not directly that you are sexually or physically abusing. your own children or somebody else's,

Beth Light:
I feel.

Jan:
you pass the trauma on when you yourself are not healed and go through multiple relationships or you have a drug or alcohol problem or you are, you know, you have one of these many things that we've listed

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
in your own life because you're still mitigating what happened to you.

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
You're still not in a healed, you know, space and that does pass on the trauma. So it could be directly or it could be just by the fact that you are. also easily outraged or easily

Beth Light:
You're free.

Jan:
crying or always depressed and anxious or overly stressed all the time because those are the outcomes of combat.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
And our combat just happened to be in the home or by a trusted friend or coach or school teacher or you know a clergy. I mean there's so many that are close to home that we don't have to go outside of that. hardly ever to find that the root of the problem is somebody that should have been nurturing and caring for, but instead harmed that young person. And it is so disruptive to their development. And so when you have adults who haven't healed, then they're in that place of passing it on.

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
And so for me, it's like, okay, I want this opened up to adults.

Beth Light:
Mmm.

Jan:
I want them to be able to find services. So

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
anyway. I don't know. I just am. I don't know.

Jan:
So as I was thinking about how important this same kind of healing, you know, example or the way that you are doing it in your center is the way that I think it should be done for adults as well because it is a comprehensive look at all these various ways of healing. And if you were to be able to identify maybe one or two things for our listeners, what has- been the most successful maybe in your own adult life or with your own trauma because you've been associated with trauma, you know, on your end, what has been one of the most or two of the most, I don't know, successful things for you as an adult or your adult friends or family members who have healed from trauma

Beth Light:
Hmm.

Jan:
or are in the process of doing that?

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
Could you mention something for our listeners that are trying to... keep on the healing path or they would like to know something new. I mean, we described a few things, but

Beth Light:
Yeah.

Jan:
tell us for you what you think has been the most helpful.

Beth Light:
Yeah, I think it's a combination of things for me in my life, honestly. I think connection to faith and a faith community for me is restorative and helpful in healing. Having strong supports in my life in terms of strong friendships, I have an excellent partner. And so just knowing that I have people in my corner that are rooting for me and that are there for me makes a huge difference. I think community is a huge part of healing. And just learning to recognize, learning to recognize what it looks like for me when I'm not at my best. And then being able to lean on those supports that I have in my life and say like, I'm not okay right now and I need some help. And just having the support and the safe place to do that, I think makes a huge difference. And then seeking my own therapy has been a big part of it as well along the way.

Jan:
Yeah. So the therapist needs the therapist.

Beth Light:
Absolutely.

Jan:
That's really good to hear and I think it's really important so that those of us that are not therapists don't avoid therapy,

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
you know. And of course, I mean, talk therapy, psychotherapy of any kind. I know for me reading certain things,

Beth Light:
Thank you.

Jan:
books that I've read over and over and having a strong support system and having community has been. hugely important in my own healing as well. So Thriveivers, our online community that is part of our foundation and our work in bringing people together so that they have that peer to peer support,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
that sometimes a family member that doesn't understand or a partner that has a hard time hearing about the abuse or understanding certain things. When you have a peer that understands because they've been through the same things that you have been, it really is... I'm finding that it's incredibly helpful and healing. So I encourage people to find a community like that, even if it's not in your immediate physical, maybe you live in a rural area, or you just can't find it in your big city. Come join an online community like ours or something else, where you have people that get it. And we do live events and things like that so that you get to actually see each other and ask questions and you... become friends and it really has been amazing how much it's even been such a positive in my own healing journey. And I thought, you know, I've done a ton of healing,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
lots of different things, but man, just having that community is really amazing. So I'm really with you on that. Find your tribe, you know,

Beth Light:
Absolutely.

Jan:
get your community in place. And it may not be those that are in your immediate family circle and many people. because of the abuse being in their family, it's definitely not in their family circle. So I think that's really wise to concentrate on. If I haven't found that group of people or that,

Beth Light:
Mm-hmm.

Jan:
you know, those special people, I need to seek it out. It may not come just naturally, you know, I have to actually seek it out. So,

Beth Light:
Absolutely.

Jan:
oh, that's really good. Thank you so much. Will you tell us if there's something that I've missed about the healing? the healing center that you could point us to where we could get more information online about the model that you are working with, the study that you mentioned that this is all based on. It would be really interesting if we could let our listeners know how to find more information.

Beth Light:
Yeah, absolutely. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, the CDC website online has a vast amount of information about that. And Center on the Developing Child from Harvard University also has some fantastic resources available that connect to that work and also supporting children in early development to offset the impact of ACEs. National Children's Advocacy Center, the NCAC online is the original center and they do a massive amount of training and education and they have so many resources available to learn more about advocacy centers and then National Children's Alliance also online is the accrediting body for advocacy centers and they have a wealth of information there as well.

Jan:
Okay, so we're going to go back through those. Maybe we'll have you send those websites or those things to us so

Beth Light:
Yeah,

Jan:
we can put them in our show notes

Beth Light:
absolutely.

Jan:
as well. Because that's a lot of wonderful, wonderful things to go to as at least a first step in is there something in my area? And we've been trying to put together. some of those, you know, like we know these things exist and these, these are national, these are state,

Beth Light:
I'm sorry.

Jan:
these are maybe in certain counties, but what we want is to take what you're doing and figure out how we can make that happen in communities across the country

Beth Light:
Yes.

Jan:
because it is a comprehensive approach.

Beth Light:
I'm sorry.

Jan:
I have so loved our interview. I want you to know that I just have such admiration for you, Beth, in what you're doing. And I know it takes a toll when you work day in and day out with survivors, especially hard to see children

Beth Light:
That's cool.

Jan:
who are surviving such difficult traumas and to have all that empathy and the heart involved as well as trying to get the science and the medical and all of those things to come together. It's a real... intricate nut that you're trying to crack there

Beth Light:
It is, yes,

Jan:
and

Beth Light:
thank

Jan:
when you

Beth Light:
you.

Jan:
have children of your own you know your big heart just you know you're like can it keep expanding and loving this people and it can that's the beauty

Beth Light:
Yes,

Jan:
of it

Beth Light:
they can.

Jan:
but it can take an emotional toll if you don't know how to let it kind of work through you

Beth Light:
That's

Jan:
and

Beth Light:
it.

Jan:
not take it all on

Beth Light:
We're through.

Jan:
you have to be the vessel right

Beth Light:
That's

Jan:
and

Beth Light:
right.

Jan:
not the that's really important for our own self-care. So thank you for mentioning that. Parting words, anything that was left out that you were like, oh, I wanted to talk about this. One last parting gift for us.

Beth Light:
No, I don't know. Nothing that stands out that I really wanted to, you know, say and feel like I didn't have a chance to. But I do want to just say thank you to you for the opportunity to be here and share my experience with you. And also thank you for the work that you're doing. It takes a lot of bravery and courage to share your own story and to be a person that's willing to be the face of a movement. It takes a lot, so thank you for what you're doing.

Jan:
Thank you, Beth. I appreciate that. And with that said, everyone, I always like to end by saying I know there is another side after trauma. And so that, with that, with Beth Light being our guest today, thank you so much for your generosity, your wisdom, your time. And I will see you and everyone listening on the other side of trauma.