Release date: April 18, 2022
In this episode, I talk with Iya Affo. Iya is a Culturalist, a Historical Trauma Specialist, and the founder of Heal Historical Trauma. When many of us were still gaining an understanding of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), Iya was pushing past early childhood and calling attention to the consequences of intergenerational trauma. She and I discuss this and how understanding discrimination can help all kids succeed. We also answer a listener's question about critical race theory (CRT).
Biography of Iya Affo
Iya Affo is a Culturalist and Historical Trauma Specialist. She earned Western Certification as a Trauma Specialist and is a descendant of a long line of traditional healers from West Africa. She is a Chief in the Village of Ouidah, and a High Priestess in the Yoruba tradition.
Iya is Certified to facilitate Dr. Bruce Perry's Neurosequential Model for Caregiving, and Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). She is a Certified Trauma & Resilience Life Coach, a Certified Adverse Childhood Experiences Trainer and has completed Certification for the Native American based Fatherhood is Sacred/Motherhood is Sacred program.
After living abroad for several years, Iya returned to the United States and in December 2018, Native American elders invited her to Toronto, Canada to participate in forming the first Canadian/American collaboration to heal ACEs and Historical Trauma. She debuted her presentation, "The Symphony of Traditional Medicine and Western Medicine to Heal ACEs and Historical Trauma" at the 2018 National ACEs Conference in San Francisco, California. In collaboration with Governor Ducey’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family, Iya created and presented the Historical Trauma session at the 5th Annual ACEs Summit of Arizona. She has also presented at the Trauma-Informed Resilient Church conference, the Franciscan Renewal Center, the Native American Disability Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Igniting the Warrior Spirit Conference in the Four Corners area. Iya was a storyteller at the 25th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Conference in Phoenix, where she also presented a break-out session on Historical Trauma. Most recently, she presented at the Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention Coalition, appeared at the 31st Annual ATTACh Conference in Phoenix, First Things First's 2021 Summit and for the ACLU's Demand to Learn and Smart Justice's campaigns.
Iya is the Project Manager for the AZ ACEs Consortium and Chair for the Historical Trauma Committee. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Arizona Trauma Institute\Trauma Institute International, the founder of Phoenix Rising to Resilience virtual community on the ACEs Connection platform and was recently appointed to the Gilbert Community Engagement Task Force.
Resources
Heal Historic Trauma
Arizona Adverse Childhood Experiences Consortium
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