Dreamers
in Limbo
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVI • Number 41
Wyden and
Merkley hear
plea to take
action
Unusual Ally
Police leader
in Portland
defends NFL
protests
See Local News, page 3
See story, page 6
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • October 11, 2017
October is
Breast Cancer
Awareness Month
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Keith Murphy (right) and Kate Desmond discuss how they are implementing trauma-informed practices at the Multnomah County Department of Community Justice.
Murphy, a parole and probationary caseworker for the county, says that the new practices allow him to slow down and be more empathetic with his justice-involved clients.
Offender
rehabilitation
takes mental
health into
account
by Z achary S enn
T he P orTland o bServer
A new type of parole and probation-
ary care is being exercised in Multnomah
County. Called trauma-informed practices,
it seeks to rehabilitate people based on how
their personal experiences and brain devel-
opment have shaped them, with the aim of
Trauma
and
Justice
helping the county reduce its reliance on
the jail system.
The Smart Supervision Project is a pilot
program that has incorporated trauma-in-
formed practices into the supervision of
offenders who are between 15 and 25 years
of age. Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, a psy-
chiatrist from Portland’s African American
community and who specializes in trau-
ma-informed practices, says that it is nec-
essary to recognize the role trauma plays
in people facing the consequences of their
behavior.
“If you were to take a look at persons
who have been entangled with the law, one
consistent thing that you will find is trau-
ma,” Moreland-Capuia told the Portland
Observer.
Trauma from long-term stresses, like
racism and poverty, can adversely affect
the development of the brain, she said,
describing people who have experienced
significant amounts of trauma as having
difficulty accessing their cortex, which
is the portion of the brain responsible for
c onTinued on P age 4