Developing 1 Million Trauma-Informed Leaders | Dawn Emerick | TEDxJacksonville

The American workplace is in the midst of a mental health crisis, one exacerbated by COVID-19, race and social justice, and political division which has impacted each member of the workforce in unique ways. As the former health department director of the country’s seventh largest public health system, Dawn Emerick has witnessed this trauma firsthand. She believes we need a mental health revolution, one that starts with all of us demanding trauma-free leadership and a psychologically safe workplace culture that focuses on each employee’s fundamental human needs. Dr. Dawn Emerick delivers trauma-informed leadership and change management training to small and medium-sized, public and private organizations. Over a span of 25 years, she has crafted her leadership, organizational development and engagement skills at various private, government, and non-profit organizations in Florida, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, and Texas. She is a former nonprofit CEO and county/city government executive who has successfully planned, managed and executed several enterprise-wide, complex organizational restructuring efforts using organizational design and change management theory, employee engagement, and qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

Additionally, she is the host of the “Leadership Uncensored” podcast, a public policy researcher for the Jacksonville Civic Council, a founding member of the AttaGirl Giving Circle, a national speaker on organizational design and change management, and a proven transformational leader who works to find innovative solutions to problems, placing people at the center of the process.

Originally from the D.C. / Maryland metropolitan area, Dawn Emerick is a graduate of Frostburg State University and holds a degree in Health Education; she also is a two-time alumnus of the University of North Florida where she received her Masters in Public Administration and Doctor of Education Leadership. In 2018, she was accepted into the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Population Health Management graduate program. More recently, she became a Prosci® Certified Change Management Practitioner and certified in Mental Health First Aid. She is a member of the Association of Change Management Professionals, Association of Consultants to Nonprofits, International City/County Managers Association, and Engaging Local Government Leaders. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx