Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services

TEC: Addressing Trauma, Achieving Equity, Engaging Community

DBHIDS is committed to TEC, the lens we use to prioritize our work:

  • Addressing Trauma – transform operations to be trauma-responsive and trauma-mitigating
  • Achieving Equity – transform systems to reduce behavioral health disparities and promote racial equity among Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) by intentionally addressing structural and systemic racism
  • Engaging Community – shift services to become increasingly community based which will ensure long-term and sustained impacts of programs

Trauma is an emotional experience to a single or collection of distressing events that results in challenges managing spiritual, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Trauma poses a significant threat to the overall health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities.

The goal of DBHIDS is to transform our operations to be trauma-responsive and trauma-mitigating by reducing traumatic experiences within systems. DBHIDS maintains and develops partnerships, administers programming, and implements evidence-based practices and innovative approaches to address the effects of trauma in the City of Philadelphia.

DBHIDS Trauma Initiatives and Resources

Equity involves the centering of opportunities and changes to a system so marginalization doesn’t unjustly predict one’s success. DBHIDS believes in a shared understanding and awareness of structural and institutional racism with the end goal of its work being to transform systems to reduce behavioral health disparities and promote racial equity among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), ultimately improving outcomes for all.

Meaningful, inclusive community engagement is vital to overall wellbeing. By incorporating diverse voices, community members are empowered to participate in the programs and services that impact their daily lives.

At DBHIDS, we believe that an engaged community is an informed community. With an emphasis on collaboration and partnerships that create bidirectional opportunities for learning, our goal is to increase access, remove barriers, and develop outcomes that ensure individuals and communities thrive.

DBHIDS engages with community in a variety of ways in order to fully address the Social Determinants and Drivers of Health and ensure access to health-related resources for all Philadelphia residents.

Learn more about what DBHIDS does to engage with the community, including the work of the  DBHIDS Division of Planning Innovation.

Last modified: Apr 8, 2026 @ 2:57 pm