Applying Trauma Principles
This 12-session course, for which Enhancing Trauma Awareness and Deepening Trauma Awareness are pre-requisites, provides opportunities for participants to continue the journey of becoming more aware, sensitive and competent as family professionals with extensive trauma training. In addition to continuing to add to each person’s knowledge and skills base, participants are given opportunities to apply the research and principles of trauma to real-life situations as they share their own case studies with their colleagues, focusing on ways they are applying trauma principles. Groups then discuss and process the assessments, choices, and ways of applying principles each participant shares, further advancing each participant’s awareness, sensitivity, and abilities to intentionally apply trauma principles in real-life situations. Successful completion of all three IFP trauma courses and fulfillment of additional requirements can lead to certification as an IFP Trauma-Competent Professional.
Deepening Trauma Awareness
12-session workshop. Prerequisites: Enhancing Trauma Awareness.
The goals for this 12 session course are to continue the process of enhancing and enriching participants’ awareness, understanding and appreciation of the nature of trauma, essential concepts, facts and principles they can apply and present to parents and caregivers and discussions around the skills that allow for trauma-sensitive responses to children and adults who might be trauma-impacted.
Participants are encouraged to become more aware of the connections and impact trauma can have with regard to a myriad of related dynamics including attachment, fear, anger, trust, grieving, relationships, recovery, and healing.
Participants are invited to share in discussions around specific ways they can apply information in their personal and professional lives as a way to promote the transfer of training and encourage the intentional application of the information, principles and skills in real-life situations.
Enhancing Trauma Awareness
6-session workshop. Prerequisites: None.
The new research on trauma provides us with startling statistics and critical information about the devastating effects of both simple and complex trauma. Because of the profound effects and implications of trauma, especially in childhood, and the fact that trauma often is trans-generational, it is essential for all family educators to be highly trauma aware and equipped to educate families about the nature of trauma.
Because information in this course is presented in clear, easily understood and translated segments, family professionals can more easily share vital trauma information, principles and practical applications of this information and these principles with their parents/caregivers. This can empower parents and caregivers to greatly lessen or eliminate trauma on their families and to learn ways to intentionally avoid inadvertently re-traumatizing children.
Professionals can become clear and confident that they are providing family environments that are sanctuaries and can effectively employ interactive skills that promote health and healing from trauma.
Group Facilitation
6-session workshop. Prerequisites: None.
Content includes:
– Principles and properties of groups
– Ways to intentionally promote healthy group processes
– Key interactive skills in which all group facilitators need to be proficient
– Design approaches to maximize effective group dynamics
– Ways to identify and respond effectively to group members who are disruptive, distracting or detached
Using role-plays and feedback processes, participants will have opportunities to practice new skills and refine existing leadership techniques. Participants will be able to:
– Clearly and confidently describe typical parenting group processes and dynamics that can maximize the effectiveness of group experiences for parents and caregivers
– Demonstrate specific skills and approaches to effective group management
– Apply principles of effective group management in vivo
Understanding Anger Part 1
6-session workshop. Prerequisites: None.
Content includes:
– Anger management options that promote self-awareness and self-control
– Traits of chronic versus episodic anger
– Differences between constructive and destructive anger
– How the brain is involved in the feeling and expression of anger and the impact of hormones and biochemistry
– Children’s anger and ways to help children be more self-aware and have greater self-control, as well as healthy ways for adults to respond to children’s anger
Enhancing Capacity for Applying Trauma Principles
12 sessions. Prerequisites: Enhancing Trauma Awareness, Deepening Trauma Awareness AND Applying Trauma Principles OR Enhancing Trauma Awareness, Deepening Trauma Awareness, AND Essential Communication Skills.
We are excited to share a journey with professionals in which we merge the information, concepts, approaches, principles and skills of essential communication with those of trauma and review and renew abilities to apply many trauma-sensitive concepts, approaches, principles, and skills in real-life situations.
Overall we hope to enhance and enrich individual and collective abilities to respond, interact, nurture, facilitate growth and new awareness and, in some cases, facilitate healing processes when unresolved trauma and its aftermath are factors impacting an infant, child or adult’s life.
We believe that in large part enhancing capacity for applying trauma principles involves integrating the information, concepts, approaches, principles and skills we have already learned about the subject of trauma with the skills of reflective processing. In this course professionals will be invited to learn more about general reflective processing and then how to merge it with the trauma information, concepts, approaches, principles and skills previously explored, plus the additional information we can glean from the reading and presentations.
As a result of merging these two main concepts, trauma-sensitivity, and reflective processing, we will frequently refer to processes of enhancing capacity in applying trauma principles as focusing on becoming more aware, sensitive and competent trauma-focused reflective processors. Much of the practicum work in this course will focus on this combination of being trauma-focused and applying the information, concepts, approaches, principles and skills of reflective processing along with adapting other information, concepts, approaches, principles and skills previously explored.
We believe as a result of attending and participating in this and the succeeding course (Enhancing Capacity for Applying Trauma Principles, Part Two) professionals become clearer, more confident and more competent to:
- Advocate for systems becoming trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive
- Ensure to whatever degree is possible that traumatizing events are prevented from occurring in the first place
- Ensure that adults who interact with children who have probably or definite trauma-related issues and needs do not exacerbate those children’s or adult’s issues and needs
- Promote processes around recovery and healing of trauma-related issues and needs
Participants are invited to explore their own trauma-related issues and needs, should they have had any such experiences, and practice facilitating trauma-focused Reflective Processing with classmates.
