The Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Care Education Program at Grossmont College (El Cajon, CA) is hosting me for a live three-hour workshop for resource parents and other caregivers on trauma-informed parenting and support.

You can sign up here: part 1 and part 2.

I have the honor of attending a live and live-streamed service commemorating Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) at Temple Shaaray Tefila on the Upper East Side. As part of the commemoration, Rabbi Mosbacher and I will have a conversation about healing from trauma through creating presence and beauty. The livestream is open to the public… I hope you can join.

This is another virtual training I will be doing for Chestnut Farm in Jersey. I bet people could sign up to watch virtually if you ask them nicely.

Workshop Summary

Mike Tyson famously quipped, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This pearl of wisdom applies to life far beyond the ring. In clinical practice, it shows up when the practitioner is working at the edge of their competence with a client who presents with the most challenging issues. While there truly is no easy solution to this dilemma, this presentation discusses trauma-informed strategies that help increase the odds of a successful outcome. We will discuss the neurobiological ways in which stress and trauma impact our ability to think clearly versus reactively and then review the following resilience factors: safety, support, acceptance, awareness, purpose and deliberate practice.

I’ll be doing the keynote and morning training for all of the wonderful school staff of Carle Place Union Free School District in Long Island. Their motto is “The C stands for compassion; the P stands for passion.” What a great match!

I will be doing a remote training for mental health providers and other stakeholders for Chestnut Wellbeing Centre in the Parish of St Brelade Jersey (not New Jersey, the original Jersey across the pond). They offer care for adults with developmental disabilities and also offer outpatient services and residential therapy using compassion focused, trauma informed therapies.

This panel discussion is hosted by the Robertson Center at Success Academy. Below is info from their website:

Join us for a discussion on spotting signs of kids in crisis, strategies for supporting them, and how to build a happier, healthier classrooms for you and each of your students.

Doors open at 5:15pm
Refreshments at 5:30pm
Program Begins at 5:40pm

FREE | Open To All | Adults Only

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

JACOB HAM

Dr. Ham is a clinical psychologist, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He receives federal and local funding to create and advance trauma-informed practices throughout multiple child serving systems. He is a highly sought trainer and consultant on trauma-informed engagement and maintains an active clinical practice at Mount Sinai Beth Israel for children, families and adults with a particular focus on using moment-to-moment relationship-based interventions that enhance attachment to overcome trauma and improve mental health. He received his PhD at UMass Boston and finished clinical training at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston.

MEET THE PANEL

BONNIE LOUGHNER

Bonnie Loughner is a bilingual, English/Spanish, licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with expertise in evidence-based family treatment, criminal justice policy and practice, and school based mental health treatment. She is trained in several evidence-based models including Functional Family Therapy (FFT), Incredible Years, and the Blues Program. Bonnie’s interests lie in the intersectionality of poverty, race, mental health, and the criminal justice system. Bonnie currently works as the Assistant Vice President of the School and Community Impact Program at the New York Foundling. In this role she is focused on understanding the school-to-prison pipeline and trauma/complex trauma in low-income neighborhoods throughout New York City. She also oversees all clinical, administrative, and managerial aspects of the program. Prior to this role, Bonnie spent several years providing direct FFT treatment to youth at risk of placement within the criminal justice system, and then later supervised a team of five clinicians providing FFT treatment to families involved with the child welfare system. Bonnie is a Certified Field Instructor supervising MSW students and has a Post-Master’s Certificate in Child and Family Therapy.

STEPHEN POWELL

Stephen Powell is the chief programs and partnerships officer of the National CARES Mentoring Movement, founded by Essence Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Susan L. Taylor. Previously, Stephen served as the executive director of Mentoring USA. He was a founding board member of the NYC Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) and the Newark My Brother’s Keeper Initiative; and led a Campaign for Black Male Achievement initiative to train and recruit hundreds of mentors. Stephen was named a White House “Champion of Change” under President Obama, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Nth Dimensions, Inc. and Cinnamon Girl, Inc., and on the Chicago Beyond Trauma Advisory Council. Stephen is an alumnus of Columbia University's Graduate Business School and Howard University, where he was initiated into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, Beta Chapter. He resides in NJ with his wife, Marlaina and two daughters, Sinclair Adina and Simone Alexandra.

PETER BROWN

Peter Brown leads the Crisis Support and Prevention team at Success Academy, dedicated to providing mental health services and social-emotional learning to SA scholars. He is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP), and graduate of Columbia University (Educational Psychology) and University of Michigan (Sociology). He was a founding staff member of SA Cobble Hill and SA Williamsburg. Proud father of two beautiful, brilliant, and sometimes (often) challenging children.

THE ROBERTSON CENTER

Something happens in a room full of educators. Ideas get bigger, barriers shrink, defy-the-odds notions feel downright within reach. We believe in these rooms — in the power of bringing together our country’s fiercest believers in the capacity of kids to help them set it free. At the Robertson Center, makers of magical classrooms find the content, conversation and community they need to accelerate their inspiring work.

Click here to register

I will be part of the first annual conference for the NYC Department of Education’s Students in Temporary Housing program.

A training for staff of the Hillcrest High School.

This is a follow-up training on trauma-informed courtrooms for Judges presiding over the Youth Parts of the NY criminal courts.

This will be an internal training on trauma-informed approaches for wonderful JCCA staff who work in their residential programs.

Going off to Fargo, ND, to train up staff working in their Juvenile drug court on adolescent trauma.

Training on trauma-informed approaches for staff who work with catholic schools in NYC through the Archdiocese of New York Drug Abuse Prevention Program.

This presentation will be part of a full-day conference hosted at Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and the Family PEACE Trauma Center entited “Creative Arts Therapies Conversations in Healthcare and Therapeutic Transformation.” I will be introducing a new talk on the healing aspects of relational engagement using new materials and excerpts from real therapeutic moments in my own work. The conference is FREE and there are CE credits for RN, PC, CCLS, SW. You must RSVP to CATCHATTs@nyp.org by March 11.

Location:

Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center, Riverview Terrace
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
173 Fort Washington Avenue
New York, NY 10032

Tentative Agenda:

8:30-9:00 am Registration and Coffee

9:00-9:30 am Welcoming Remarks and Introductions

9:30-11:00 am Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Zeynep Çatay

Embodied Trauma: Trauma's Impact on the Body and the Emotional Life

11:15-12:45 pm Jacob Ham, Ph.D.

Plumbing the Depths of Conversational Currents, A Lifeline for Trauma-Informed Transformation

12:45-1:45 pm lunch (on your own)

1:45-2:15 pm MSCH Creative Arts Therapy Poster Presentation

2:30-4:00pm Brian Harris, Ph.D., MT-BC, LCAT

Vocal Psychotherapy: How Traumatic Experiences Impact the Voice

Doing an in-house training for all clinical staff of the child psychiatry division at St. Luke’s. I may be able to sneak some people in if you are interested…

Just doing an in-house trauma training for staff who work at Advocates for Children.

This is a training for all charter schools who are part of the special education collaborative NYC Charter School Center.

I will provide a two-hour version of the engagement training for trainees in the HEARST Program to prevent child abuse through The New York Foundling.

I’m hosting a lunch and learn training for staff of Honorable Tandra Dawson and her NY Count Integrated Domestic Violence Court.

This training is part of the NYS Judicial Institute series of trainings for all family court judges and staff.

The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice estimates that the majority of youth involved with the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic events, with at least 75 percent having experienced traumatic victimization. If undetected and unaddressed, this trauma can have grave effects on a developing teenage brain. This session will provide a very brief overview of the neurobiology of trauma but focus more on the practical implications on behavior and decision-making and the benefits of creating a trauma-informed court room.
Learning Objectives:
• Understand the impact of trauma on the adolescent brain;
• Understand how trauma manifests itself in poor communities and particularly with youth of color;
• Explore how trauma reactions present themselves in court settings and best practices for responding to those reactions, including trauma-informed court rooms.

This training is part of the NYS Judicial Institute series of trainings for all family court judges and staff.

The National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice estimates that the majority of youth involved with the juvenile justice system have experienced traumatic events, with at least 75 percent having experienced traumatic victimization. If undetected and unaddressed, this trauma can have grave effects on a developing teenage brain. This session will provide a very brief overview of the neurobiology of trauma but focus more on the practical implications on behavior and decision-making and the benefits of creating a trauma-informed court room.
Learning Objectives:
• Understand the impact of trauma on the adolescent brain;
• Understand how trauma manifests itself in poor communities and particularly with youth of color;
• Explore how trauma reactions present themselves in court settings and best practices for responding to those reactions, including trauma-informed court rooms.

I will be part of a panel discussion entitled “Models for Change: Alternatives to Jails and Prisons to Address a Range of Violent Offenses” as part of a national two-day judicial leadership summit.

Another day-long training/discussion on racial trauma for staff working in programs funded by the Department of Youth and Community Development.

This is  part of three monthly intensive workshops on my Trauma-Informed Engagement Strategies (TIES) approach for school social workers serving schools with the highest rates of students in temporary housing.

Another day-long training/discussion on racial trauma for staff working in programs funded by the Department of Youth and Community Development.

The classic training. Let me know if you are interested in attending. 

Here is the Eventbrite registration.

Engaging Traumatized Youth: Understanding and Translating Bahavior as Communication

Target Audience:

This workshop is intended for supervisory and direct line staff working with DYCD-funded youth programs.

Description:

More than two-thirds of children report at least 1 traumatic event by age 16, and 26% of children in the United States will witness or experience a traumatic event before they turn 4. Whether you realize it or not you are working with youth who have experienced a traumatic event.

Have you ever wondered why a student is acting out, being aggressive, or shutting down? Crucial to working effectively with children and youth is an understanding of the impact that trauma has had in the life of a young person, and particularly how that trauma might be impacting behavior. You, as a youth development professional, need to understand that behavioral issues may be the result of ongoing, complex traumatic events that include poverty, violence in the community, domestic violence, or child abuse/neglect, among other sources. By understanding trauma as the potential source of behavior you will gain a greater sense of empathy and compassion, and will start to consider new methods to help youth cope and thrive. Interactive methods, including videos and role play will be used to apply these skills.

Learning Objectives

This in-depth and practical workshop will teach those who work with youth some fundamental concepts in how trauma can impact youth and how to work with traumatized youth. The ultimate goal is to leave participants feeling confident that the small lessons learned may be simple but doable and can have a significant impact on their quality of work and personal satisfaction in doing the work of serving traumatized youth.

• Understand how trauma impacts a child’s relationship to self, other and the world and potentially all aspects of development.
• Use knowledge of trauma to most effectively engage youth in productive and on-track behavior
• To acknowledge the impact of doing this work on helpers and how to care for oneself while caring for others.

This is  part of three monthly intensive workshops on my Trauma-Informed Engagement Strategies (TIES) approach for school social workers serving schools with the highest rates of students in temporary housing.