Trauma-Informed Care: The 6 Principles Towards Building Resilience
Presenter: Tashina Reeder, PhD, LSW
Description: Consequently, trauma has been and continues to be a common phenomenon that affects individuals, families, communities, and generations. Despite professional status and lack thereof, it is safe to assume that we may all have experienced some form of trauma. In light of all the tragedy in our day to day environments (i.e. work, home, neighborhood, etc.), it is important for professionals to create a safe environment free from stigmatizing language and potentially harmful interactions with each other and with those seeking services and care.
Using the lens of Systems Theory and The Sanctuary Model, this interactive workshop will engage participants in a series of activities and group discussions of trauma-informed practices grounded in the six principles of trauma-informed care as a means to cultivate an environment of empathy and resilience.
Learning Objective: After this workshop, participants will:
- Understand the definition of Trauma-Informed Care
- Understand the 6 principles of Trauma-Informed Care
- Adopt the Sanctuary Model perspective of “What Happen to Them” in their interactions with co-workers and consumers to assist in building empathy and resilience
- Understand how internal systems and practices perpetuate trauma and what can be done to resolve such practices.
Fostering Cultural Sensitivity and Addressing Microaggressions in the Workplace
Presenter: Jennifer C. Jones, PhD, LCSW
Description: Workplaces are becoming more and more culturally diverse, and so are the people seeking services and care in Philadelphia. In order to create healthy work environments that are conducive to providing high quality, trauma-informed care, and services, staff and patients/clients/consumers/participants need to feel respected and understood. One of the ways that staff can help to create inclusive work environments is by enhancing their ability to be culturally sensitive. This workshop will not focus on providing lists of generalizations about specific cultures (which can be found easily on the internet). Instead, the focus of this workshop will be to help staff foster a cultural curiosity about their coworkers and the people that they serve/treat/provide care for at work. Through both discussion and hands-on exercises, staff will have the opportunity to practice asking questions that pay attention to culture in a manner that is sensitive and respectful.
One of the challenges of working in diverse environments is the increased chances of saying or doing something that may feel offensive or disrespectful to another person due to biases and assumptions that people make about one another. Therefore, the likelihood of people experiencing and engaging in microaggressions is very high despite people’s attempts to be culturally sensitive. Therefore, staff needs to know how to address these moments of conflict in a manner that is professional, respectful, and supportive of the individual who feels disrespected or offended. This workshop will give staff the opportunity to practice having such crucial, and at times, difficult conversations.
Learning Objectives: After attending this workshop, participants will:
- Understand what it means to use a culturally curious framework when engaging with coworkers and the people being served;
- Learn how to ask questions that demonstrate cultural curiosity, respect, and sensitivity;
- Understand the impact of unaddressed microaggressions on themselves, coworkers and the people being served; and
- Learn techniques for addressing microaggressions directly in the workplace.
The Impact of Compassion Fatigue on the Quality of Direct Care Services
Presenter: Tashina Reeder, PhD, LSW
Description: Many professionals enter into the profession of social services to be a change agent in the lives of others, whether it is through direct practice or administration. Consequently, the seemingly broken system of social services has overwhelmed our ability to produce quality services and meaningful interactions with co-workers and consumers. Instead, high stress, turnover, and burnout are on the rise, and compassion fatigue has become the new normal by default impacting our work and working relationships.
Using the lens of Systems Theory and The Sanctuary Model, this interactive workshop will engage participants to examine their consequential apathetic behaviors through experiential activities and videos. Such activities will increase participants’ awareness of compassion fatigue in the workplace and its impact on service delivery and the work environment. But more importantly, this workshop will offer steps towards changing such behaviors.
Learning Objective: After this workshop, participants will:
- Understand compassion fatigue and its negative impact on services.
- Demonstrate an awareness of how compassion fatigue impacts our work ethic, personal behaviors, and working relationships.
- Understand the systemic influences that perpetuate compassion fatigue among professionals and the work environment.
- Adopt the Sanctuary Model perspective of “What Happen to Them” in their interactions with co-workers and consumers to assist in building empathy.
- Develop a self-care routine to manage emotions in the workplace.
- Create team-building activities to generate a supportive work environment.
