Key Points: This webinar is based on a full day workshop that was developed by us at the Families Affected by Sexual Assault [FASA] Program at New Directions for Children, Youth, Adults and Families in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The workshop was developed in 2011 in consultation with; supervisors and the Joint Training Team from the four […]
Making Sense of Trauma
Our webinar has been updated. Please see below for important information on how to register and access the new content.
Trauma is pervasive and impacts all of us, children, and adults. Becoming trauma-informed helps us when working with children to shift from saying “what is wrong with you” to “what has happened to you”. The webinar will help you to understand the patterns of children’s behavior and to learn some practical tools to begin helping children to manage those behaviors. Topics include:
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Principles of being trauma-informed
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Impacts of unresolved trauma
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Understanding the nervous system and parts of the brain
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Trauma responses (fight, flight & freeze)
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Self- and co-regulation strategies
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Tools for supporting children and youth
This webinar will take approximately 2.5 hours to complete. A certificate of completion is available once you have completed the webinar and evaluation.
To register and complete the Making Sense of Trauma Webinar, please use the following link:
https://courses.newdirections.mb.ca/product?catalog=Making-Sense-of-Trauma
(Please note, the above link will take you to Insight, a third-party learning management system website, where our webinar is now hosted).
Lessons
Getting Started
Length: 2 minutes
Objectives
Length: 1 minutes
To identify what participants will learn during the webinar and to identify what we will not be talking about. Key Points: We had staff in the FASD (Family Support, Education and Counselling) program review our materials and they agreed that these strategies work with children on the Fetal Alcohol Disorder Spectrum. We have worked with developmentally delayed children […]
Being Trauma-Informed
Length: 1 minutes
Introducing the concept of being-trauma informed. Key Points: Provide the foundation for a basic understanding of the psychological, neurological, biological, social and spiritual impact that trauma and violence have on the individuals we serve. Shift awareness from what is wrong with you to what has happened to you Principles of being trauma-informed: acknowledgement, safety, trust, […]
Principles of Being Trauma-Informed
Length: 1 minutes
To introduce the principles of being trauma-informed Key Points Co-create safety Offer real choices – working collaboratively Recognize historical trauma such as the impact of residential schools on multiple generations Be open to the healing value of traditional cultural practices Move past cultural or gender stereotypes and biases and be responsive to needs of the […]
Defining Trauma
Length: 3 minutes
To define trauma and expand view of what can be traumatic Key Points: It is impossible to avoid trauma There is a difference between experiencing a traumatic event and being traumatized Importance of development in relation to response to trauma If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform […]
Trauma
Length: 1 minutes
Participants can begin to understand the possible responses to trauma. Key Point: Not all trauma is traumatizing If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
When a Child or Adult’s Trauma is Unresolved
Length: 6 minutes
Overview of different effects of trauma on an individual: Introduction of the concept of the Nervous system as a container. Key Points: Dysregulation of affect Trauma is disconnecting – from self and others Brain doesn’t know traumatic event is over Nervous system as a container Affect influences perception If you are using the Facilitator’s […]
History: How we have Thought about Trauma
Length: 5 minutes
To put into context our understanding of trauma as of 2014 from a Western European dominant story. To give people a very brief history of how we’ve thought of and understood how trauma’s been previously understood. Key Points: Influence of feminist movement, Vietnam war, post 9/11 Talking about what happened (the trauma) doesn’t resolve symptoms […]
Making Sense of Trauma
Length: 6 minutes
To have people understand that trauma is the pattern of nervous system responses to perceived or real threat. Key Points: Dealing with symptoms is in fact trauma work Trauma resolution includes not just a retelling of the trauma (will discuss later) Symptoms are the nervous system responding as if the trauma is still occurring […]
Keeping your balance
Length: 1 minutes
To give you a way to help keep yourself regulated while completing the webinar. If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
The Nervous System
Length: 8 minutes
To introduce in an easy to understand way of how the nervous system works, giving brief examples of para/sympathetic nervous system. Key Points: Autonomic Nervous system is made up of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches Use a car analogy – parasympathetic is brakes and gas is sympathetic If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide […]
Window of Tolerance – Capacity to Cope
Length: 3 minutes
Develop an understanding of people’s capacity to tolerate stress and taking in the good. Key Points: Capacity to self-regulate is known as the window of tolerance How it is supposed to work: baseline to activation to discharge and back to baseline Going above or below the green line is a survival response Constricted window of tolerance also […]
Healthy Ways that You Can Regulate
Length: 1 minutes
Help participants begin to identify what they already do to help regulate their nervous system. Key Points: Everyone engages in habitual activities to help them self-regulate. The more aware we are of these habits, and how our nervous system works, the better we will be at staying regulated and assisting others to find a way […]
Parts of the Brain
Length: 4 minutes
Introduce the brain, and a hand model for the brainstem, limbic region (amygdala and hippocampus), and cerebral cortex. To describe the function of the amygdala and hippocampus. Key Points: The Brain can be divided into three regions, brainstem, limbic region, cerebral cortex Role and function of the amygdala and hippocampus If you are using the […]
The Downstairs and Upstairs Brain
Length: 3 minutes
Introduce house analogy for understanding the brain and how it functions. Understanding that in many houses the downstairs has the infrastructure to support the rest of the house (you don’t build a house from the top down). Further describe the amygdala (alarm system), and fight, flight, freeze responses. Key Points: Brain divided into 2 parts; […]
The Downstairs and Upstairs Brain and Self-Regulation
Length: 4 minutes
Understand development and that the rational decision making (executive functioning) part of the brain may be inaccessible when the stairs are blocked (when the alarm system is activated). Key Points: Ability to self-regulate depends on a developed upstairs brain Amygdala can block access to the upstairs brain If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide […]
Trauma and Development
Length: 5 minutes
Highlight the different perspective that children have from that of adults and the importance of having a thorough understanding of healthy child development (seeing events/experiences through the child’s eyes and their developmental stage). Key Points: PTSD in the current edition of the DSM-5 takes into account the impact of different experiences which may be traumatic […]
Keeping your Balance
Length: 1 minutes
To give you a way to help keep yourself regulated while completing the webinar. If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Importance of Co-Regulation
Length: 3 minutes
To understand that the relationship you have with your clients is the most important intervention. Key Points: Why settling your body first is the most effective intervention We can sense the intentions and emotions of each other Stable, predictable, consistent relationships are healing We understand that this is difficult to do Requires support from your […]
Working Towards Trauma Resolution
Length: 3 minutes
To identify the current accepted perspective of addressing trauma, emphasizing safety and stabilization. Linking this to what it looks like in children. Key Points: Best intervention is a stable long-term placement Length of time varies in each stage Stabilization is key For some people, stabilization is the work of a lifetime If you are […]
Trauma Begins to be Resolved by
Length: 2 minutes
Identify the benchmarks of a path of healing. Overview of the themes already mentioned. Key Points: Focus on what we are working towards as healing is not simply reviewing a trauma Resilience is being connected to self, others, resources, community and spirituality If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking […]
Keeping your balance.
Length: 1 minutes
To give you a way to help keep yourself regulated while completing the webinar. If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Why Focus on Freeze, Flight and Fight?
Length: 1 minutes
Contextualize the importance of fight, flight and freeze response in understanding the impacts of trauma, as it is the hardwired primary survival response in our brain. Key Points: Foundation of being trauma-informed Introduce fight, flight and freeze as evolutionary survival responses of the brain Settling the body and the downstairs brain allows us to access […]
Examples of Freeze
Length: 1 minutes
Describe what freeze looks like in children, youth and adults. Key Points: How to identify freeze in children, youth and adults How people describe freeze (words and experiences) How to identify freeze in yourself If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Dissociation Continuum
Length: 3 minutes
Understand that dissociation is an adaptive response and exists on a continuum. Key Points: Dissociation exists on a continuum. Outside of traumatic response we can control daydreaming – we cannot control shock People do not understand what is happening to their body when they dissociate Children do not have the knowledge or language to describe […]
Tools for Responding to Freeze
Length: 4 minutes
Introduce interventions that can be used with a child or adolescent who is dissociated/in freeze. Key Points: You first need to be connected to your own body and connected to the present to assist another in freeze. Freeze is a normal and adaptive response to distress. You assist the child or youth by connecting them […]
Flashbacks – Connecting to the Present
Length: 1 minutes
Explain what flashbacks are. Introduce tools to use in response to someone having a flashback. Key Points: Flashbacks are memories that do not know they are memories Connect to the present Flashback Protocol If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Keeping your balance
Length: 1 minutes
To give you an experience of self-regulation. Key Points: Using and noticing our body helps us to be connected in the present moment Playing catch requires that we attune to the other person If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Readiness – Try This
Length: 2 minutes
To give participants a felt experience of holding the readiness position. Key Points: Readiness for flight exercise If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Examples of Flight
Length: 2 minutes
Describe what flight looks like in children, youth and adults. Key Points: Highlight that flight is often difficult for children, youth and adults to describe The words on the slide are what we hear people say or behaviours they engage in that tell us they are about to engage in flight We have the ability […]
Tools for Flight
Length: 2 minutes
Introduce interventions that can be used with a child or youth who is in flight. Key Points: Interventions can only occur when our nervous system is regulated and we can engage in co-regulation with the child or youth. Acknowledging the experience of the child or youth is the first step to show that we are […]
Tools for Flight (continued)
Length: 6 minutes
Introduce interventions that can be used with a child or youth who is in flight and may actually run away. Key Points: Help adults working with youth understand that the impulse to flee is a survival response. Help them learn to respond vs. react to threats or actual AWOLs Remember that using your nervous system […]
Examples of Fight
Length: 2 minutes
Describe what fight looks like in children, youth and adults. Key Points: How to identify fight in children and youth Acknowledge the invitation to engage in fight The fight response is an attempt to regulate the nervous system Revisit ready for flight exercise If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s […]
Tools for Fight
Length: 6 minutes
Introduce interventions that can be used with a child or youth who is in fight. Key Points: Fight is usually easy to recognize, difficult to handle and invites a reaction Introduce different interventions people can try when they or another is in fight If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s […]
We’re Stuck – Adults and Kids Caught in Fight
Length: 3 minutes
To recognize and understand when both adults and children/youth are caught in a fight cycle and how to help them to move out of the cycle. Key Points: The phrase “we’re stuck” helps us have a shared conversation with the child/youth It shows that we are in this with them Models asking for help and […]
How to Talk to Children about Freeze, Flight and Fight
Length: 1 minutes
To identify that there is a resource with scripts to help people begin to talk to children about freeze, flight and fight. Key Points: We want children to be trauma-informed and better able to understand what happens to them. Freeze, Flight, and Fight are non-voluntary responses that continue to exist because they work. People do […]
What is Mindfulness
Length: 2 minutes
Introduce mindfulness and offer the participants a different way of experiencing of self-regulation. Key Points: Mindfulness is an ancient practice that has been gaining momentum in the field of mental health Mindfulness practices can support people’s learning to self-regulate Not be confused with relaxation techniques If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use […]
Keeping Your Balance – Guided Meditation
Length: 4 minutes
Introduce mindfulness and offer the participants a different way of experiencing self-regulation. Key Points: Mindfulness is an ancient practice that has been gaining momentum in the field of mental health. Mindfulness practices can support people’s learning to self-regulate. Mindfulness practices should not be confused with relaxation techniques. If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please […]
Compassion
Length: 1 minutes
To introduce the idea of mindful compassion Key Points: We are all practicing self-regulation We need compassion for ourselves and the children with whom we live and work Compassion helps us to heal and is trauma informed If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
When More Bad Things Happen
Length: 3 minutes
To identify how to respond when more bad things happen in either the foster parent’s family, the child’s family/community or in the world. Key Points: More things will occur in your own life as a foster parent or a social worker, or the extended family or community of the child– it important to be prepared […]
How to Listen to Trauma Stories
Length: 3 minutes
How to create a new pattern to promote healing from a trauma-informed perspective. Key Points: Your ability to self-regulate is an intervention tool Interruptions help to regulate their arousal If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Creating New Pathways
Length: 2 minutes
To explain strategies for how to create new pathways. Key Points: We work to create new pathways by imagining the missing resource that the child or youth did not have when the trauma occurred We often begin with helping children and youth settle at bed. Restful sleep helps them be better able to learn to […]
Grief and Sadness
Length: 2 minutes
To develop an initial understanding of grief experienced by children in care and their parents and how to respond. Key Points: Children often begin to process their grief when they begin to feel safe Children in care and their families have already lost a great deal by the child coming into care Grieving occurs at […]
How We Heal is in Relationship
Length: 4 minutes
To understand and recognize ruptures (disconnections) in relationship, and the therapeutic value of repair. Key Points: Ruptures occur in all relationships The repair of ruptures is therapeutic If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
When My Nervous System Is Regulated
Length: 1 minutes
To focus participants on how they know their nervous system is regulated (or not). Key Points: Our well-regulated nervous systems are the best intervention Self-care is taking care of your tool, your body If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this Facilitator’s Feedback/Tracking Form https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/facilitatorsfeedbackandtrackingform
Laughing Baby
Length: 4 minutes
To provide visual example of what it looks like when our nervous system responds and adapts. Key Points: Laughter, like tears helps discharge the energy of putting on the gas Increasing development of his window of tolerance Mother’s response Name it to tame it If you are using the Facilitator’s Guide please use this […]
Principles of Being Trauma-Informed
Length: 1 minutes
Ways of being trauma-informed in your home or in the larger system. Key Points: Trauma-informed is the shift from “what is wrong with you” to “what happened to you” Becoming trauma-informed in your workplace or home
Becoming Trauma-Informed
Length: 2 minutes
To integrate and consolidate material from the webinar, highlighting what they can do to regulate themselves. Key Points: Thinking about or writing down who are their key supports Do they know to check in with you or do they wait for you to contact them Do you know when to ask for help Using consultation […]
Making Sense of Trauma for Children and Youth
Length: 2 minutesComplexity: Standard
To review the learning objectives Key Points: Self-regulation is ongoing learning throughout life. Assist children and youth to write an ending to the story. Emphasize the importance of tracking healthy development.