Integrate Trauma Informed Network

One of my favorite moments from the Signals & Systems Digital Health Summit came from Ellen Griley’s reflection on trauma-informed organizations.

She described trauma-informed care not as a single department or initiative, but as the *foundation* of the entire organization.

And then she said something I have not stopped thinking about:

Internal communication is like the carpet running through every room of the house.

Finance.
Operations.
HR.
Marketing.
Leadership.

Every system inside an organization is shaped by how communication moves through it.

In digital health and organizational design, we often focus on tools, workflows, and efficiency. But Ellen reminded us that communication itself is part of the nervous system of an organization.

People can feel the difference between:
being managed,
and being communicated with in ways that support safety, clarity, dignity, and capacity.

Trauma-informed principles are not only clinical principles.
They are operational principles.
Leadership principles.
Communication principles.

And as organizations continue to evolve, I think one of the most important questions we can ask is:

What does communication feel like inside the systems we are building?

Thank you, Ellen, for helping us think more deeply about trust, leadership, and the human experience inside organizational systems.

If your work is similar to Ellen's, we would love to have apply to our next Systems and Signals Digital Health and Leadership Summit November 5th and 6th of 2026

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVYqc0qRWKiybI9nrY-reexYJ8YdxQWIXno8l4lLPpkCdXTA/viewform?usp=header