Recognizing and Responding to Trauma in Children and Families in Child Welfare Using a Healing-Centered Approach

This course is designed to deepen and further integrate our understanding of the impact of trauma, traumatic stress reactions and/or the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children, youth,and families involved in the child welfare system. Given the prevalence of trauma and traumatic stress responses among child welfare system-involved children, youth, birth families, and resource families as well as helping professionals and others, it is paramount child welfare professionals be able to recognize and respond in a trauma-sensitive manner while linking them to trauma-informed interventions. Child Welfare professionals will gain a greater appreciation for the value of learning and modeling co-regulation with children, youth, birth families and caregivers who demonstrate trauma responses.

• Increasing understanding of the elements of traumatic stress responses and behavioral presentations in children, youth, and families.
• Expanding understanding of how trauma can cause clinically significant emotional, behavioral, and relational impairment.
• Creating an opportunity to shift the paradigm of trauma to understand its impact on development through a culturally humble lens
• Enhancing knowledge of how the brain and body respond when under threat and the longitudinal changes experienced under chronic stress and traumatic exposure.
• Recognizing behavioral and physiological dysregulation in children, youth, families, caregivers, and helping professionals.
• Forming a shared meaning of trauma resiliency and identifying elements that support and build resiliency and fill one’s resiliency reservoir.
• Identifying short-term/in-the-moment and long-term interventions when working with children, youth, and families triggered by and experiencing trauma.
• Building understanding of the importance of advocating for a multi-modal approach to trauma-informed interventions while focusing on culturally and linguistically supports.
• Gaining self-awareness to identify dysregulation and strategies to address compassion fatigue and secondary trauma.