A Trauma-Informed Approach to Community Service with Neyda Rios
By Dasie Cardona
“Sometimes you might try to help someone, but they won’t take it [the first time]”
Several years ago, Neyda Rios (PACDC’s 2023 Community Leader awardee) worked with Impact Services, New Kensington CDC, and others on what was supposed to be a six-month cohort to create Trauma Training. Those six months quickly turned into a year-long journey. At the end of that year, the group developed a Trauma Informed Regimen. This regimen has been used nationwide, many not knowing it was created by seven ladies from the infamous Kensington, Philadelphia neighborhood.
Even now, years later, they take what they learned and the regimen they put together into their community service work every day. Rios says what makes her approach and the approach of the other “Trauma Ladies” different is the equal levels of decency.
“I think the things that work in my approach might be definitely [that] it gives everybody respect,” Rios says. “Sometimes people accept when you're on their level, and sometimes they don't. I mean, it can go either way at any given point in time, just know where you're standing.”
Rios specifically models her own approach after her late mentor, Awilda Ocasio, a woman who treated everyone with kindness and respect but wasn’t afraid to go where she needed to go to help her community.
Like her predecessor, Rios is very much “boots on the ground” and is well-known in her community. She even easily goes to parts of the neighborhood that are considered dangerous, where most others are afraid to go. That ‘give respect to all’ approach has allowed her to help many who otherwise may have refused the assistance. It has even changed the lives of the people she’s helped. Her block, which was a drug corner before, now has no one dealing and the people who were selling there before now have jobs and are productive members of society.
Along with treating all members of the community respectfully, Rios has also helped with resumes, rides to job interviews, and even just moral support. Rios believes this is something other organizations can add to their own approach, treating people with respect and taking the time to earn trust.
For anyone looking to get into community service, Rios has this to say, “Be patient. Know that not everything works, not everybody wants to get help and it is kind of disappointing. Sometimes you might try to help someone, but they won’t take it [the first time].”
