The Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services (11th Street), which serves roughly 5,000 patients, is situated in one of Philadelphia’s most underserved neighborhoods.  When the clinic was established in 1998, its leadership was aware that its patient population was burdened with above average rates of conditions like diabetes and heart disease. They were shocked, however, by the ubiquity of patients’ exposure to traumatic experiences such as abuse and neglect. “We didn’t have the language for it back then,” says Gerrity, “but we knew things like adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) were impacting our patients’ health, and our ability to care for them.”

This profile highlights how 11th Street is cultivating a trauma-informed organizational culture by adopting an organization-wide mindfulness approach to improve care for patients and support staff wellness.