Yesterday, Governor Josh Green signed Executive Order 24-01 declaring Hawai‘i a trauma-informed state.

The executive order directs all state departments to collaborate with the Office of Wellness and Resilience to integrate trauma-informed care principles, such as safety, transparency and peer support, into state workplaces and services.

Becoming a trauma-informed state will help mitigate the impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma, and build resilience in our families, communities and state workforce.  

As the first step to becoming a trauma-informed state, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH-Mānoa) researchers, in partnership with the Office of Wellness and Resilience, are conducting a series of surveys on health and quality of life.  

One survey, for all community members, aims to assess the well-being and quality of life in adults living in Hawaiʻi while the other focuses on worker well-being in state government, while assessing similar topics. 

In a statement Governor Green said, “This executive order and survey are just our first actions to become a trauma-informed state. With the results, we will develop better services and programs that support the wellness and resilience of our people, including addressing community traumas we’ve lived through in the past several years, like the pandemic and Maui fires.”  

Both surveys, which can be accessed at https://www.health-study.com/, will be open until the end of March.  

The project is funded by and conducted in partnership with the Office of Wellness and Resilience, housed in the Office of the Governor. Both research survey studies have been approved by the UH Institutional Review Board, and are part of a larger partnership between the Health Policy Initiative housed in CSS and the Office of Wellness and Resilience.