Training & Services

Connecting Paradigms: A Trauma-Informed & Neurobiological Framework for Motivational Interviewing Implementation

Connecting Paradigms provides an innovative approach to helping those struggling with past trauma to make critical life changes and heal from their pain and suffering. Scientific understanding of the brain, the impact of trauma, and research on behavioral change have grown exponentially over the last several decades. This knowledge is challenging and transforming thinking about how we provide mental health and substance abuse education, medical care, criminal justice, and social work. Connecting Paradigms presents an integrated model combining research in neurobiology, trauma, behavioral change, harm reduction, and Motivational Interviewing into a practical skill set easily implemented across various settings and professions.

Trauma-Informed Care

Recent research on the brain and trauma offers those working in the helping professions a new paradigm for conceptualizing and working with clients.  Understanding how trauma impacts brain development puts harmful behaviors and destructive thinking patterns in context and gives helpers a roadmap for building relationships and promoting healing and growth.  This training presents the Trauma-Informed Paradigm in a practical context, providing learners with both a theoretical basis and tools they can apply immediately in their work with clients.  Through applying this Trauma-Informed Paradigm, workers can minimize re-traumatization while creating an environment for the traumatized individual to regain control of their lives.

From Neurobiology to Heart Rate Variability: The foundations and future of Trauma-Informed Care

In the 1990s, two events challenged many long-held assumptions in psychology, health care, education, and social services. The first was the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, which clearly demonstrated the correlation between trauma and mental health, cognitive functioning, social functioning, and cognitive development. The second was brain-scanning technology which revealed that the brains of people struggling with trauma functioned differently than those without trauma. These innovations spurred the trauma movement, which is transforming services and our understanding of a range of social problems.

Unfortunately, the cost and nature of the technology required to measure nervous system health made it difficult to use as a measure of intervention and treatment effectiveness. Thanks to new, inexpensive technology, one of the best methods for measuring a person’s mental, cognitive, and medical health has become a practical tool for those working with individuals struggling with trauma. Heart rate variability helps the trauma movement take its next huge step forward. This training will explore the science behind trauma and how to position heart rate variability as a complement to treatment and a vast improvement in our ability to quantify the impact of our interventions.

Staff Resiliency & Wellness

Helping professionals risk experiencing issues that mirror those of the trauma of the clients they serve. Research demonstrates that the dangerous impact on physical and emotional health when exposed to trauma is combined with a stressful work environment. Knowledge is the best defense against burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. This training goes beyond other self-care training by addressing the critical elements of health to enhance productivity and the quality of work at both the individual and organizational levels. Drawing on research in neurobiology, psychology, and business, this training equips those in direct care to work more effectively and efficiently, enabling the highest level of service possible.

Trauma-Informed Leadership

Trauma-Informed Leadership equips leaders with the skills and knowledge necessary to propel their communities and organizations towards excellence.  This training provides a practical model designed to enhance staff health while maximizing system and organizational outcomes. Learners will leave this presentation with a new leadership paradigm, along with a set of skills to apply in supervising staff and managing programs.

Designed in an interactive and experiential format, this training challenges leaders to examine job responsibilities, staff, systems, and the agency through the Trauma-Informed Paradigm. This powerful experience provides approaches and strategies that can transform individuals, systems, and the overall approach to helping others heal and grow.  Whether you are an aspiring or experienced leader, you’ll see your role and work in a whole new light.

Motivational Interviewing

“Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion (Miller & Rollnick, 2012).”

MI provides a strategic framework for building relationships through active communication approaches and strategies, known as the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing. These approaches and strategies serve as a guide for how we structure our interactions with clients and set up programming. Using the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing as a foundation, the second part of this training will explore how people move through the stages of change and how MI implementation helps people move from contemplating a change to finding motivation for action.

Building on these foundational skills, the focus will shift to the heart of MI. Change happens when people feel a type of stress called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person realizes that their actions and behaviors do not align with their values or how they want to live their lives. While cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable, it motivates people to make changes to eliminate it.

Trauma-Sensitive Schools Series

Trauma, Behavior, and Academic Success

Our rapidly evolving understanding of trauma and neurobiological development challenges schools to rethink educational strategies so that all students reach their academic potential. In this training, we will explore how trauma affects students’ abilities to succeed academically, exploring trauma’s impact on cognitive functioning, memory, delaying gratification, and executive functioning. Often, the behaviors of students with trauma prevent them from achieving educational success. Trauma affects emotional regulation, understanding of cause and effect, and behavior, setting students up for failure in traditional educational settings.

Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms and Schools

What is a trauma-sensitive school? What makes a classroom trauma-sensitive? This training will explore best practices and strategies to help students affected by trauma achieve academic success. Schools are ideally positioned in our community to identify that a child experienced trauma and help connect the student and family to the resources they need to heal and prevent future pain and suffering. The trauma-sensitive school movement is gaining force; this training will provide a roadmap to realize this ambitious goal.

Staff Resiliency, Leadership, and School Culture

Current models of teacher and school staff wellness and performance pose a significant barrier to creating trauma-sensitive schools. The journey towards becoming a trauma-sensitive school requires helping staff rethink how they educate and manage behaviors. It also requires a new approach to school culture.

Trauma-sensitive schools must view staff well-being as a strategic priority. Stress and burnout are not the only risk factors, as vicarious and secondary trauma result from exposure to students’ traumatic experiences.  Burned-out and traumatized staff will struggle to bring the emotional and cognitive capacity needed for delivering quality education and support services our students need to thrive. This workshop presents a practical model to enhance staff well-being, integrate trauma-sensitive principles, and maximize academic outcomes.