Humboldt County Juvenile Services is hosting a free one-day workshop August 16, 2019, on Becoming Trauma Informed (BTI), taught by a representative of Dr. Stephanie Covington who developed this and other training material on trauma and various other social services related modalites.
The training will examine behaviors, attempt to understand the reasons for certain behaviors and work to identify appropriate responses to those behaviors with the goal to reduce behavior that is negative or destructive. The training will review various types of trauma that are experienced, the differences between males and females in terms of trauma response and other behavioral reasoning. The workshop will incorporate both large and small group exercises that will give participants an understanding of media influences, power differentials and cultural differences.
Humboldt County Juvenile Services Director Pauline Salla said that the juvenile curriculum currently utilizes another program developed by Stephanie Covington titled “Voices: A Program of Self-Discovery and Empowerment for Girls” and thought this would be complementary to that curriculum.
“The reason that we really thought about bringing Stephanie Covington’s company in here is because we already use the Voices curriculum because it focuses on adolescent girls and over half of the girls in our system can identify with some past trauma,” said Salla. “We all understand that past trauma and unresolved trauma affects everything we do, it affects our relationships and our ability to participate in prosocial relationships and increases the probability of using substances such as alcohol to numb the pain.”
Salla said that all juvenile justice agencies in the state are mandated to have training in trauma, and that all training and that all training and education be evidence-based.
“What we’re finding is that if kids don’t have the ability to heal from their traumas, it carries out in their lifetime and continues to show up,” said Salla. “Understanding how to identify past traumas and then provide the right services and respond correctly is going to be helpful to the client.”
The training is being held for the Humboldt County Juvenile Services staff, staff from other juvenile services agencies throughout the state and for individuals in the community interested in learning more about trauma informed care are invited to participate.
The training currently has 35 of 65 seats filled and individuals interested in registering for the training can contact Humboldt County Juvenile Services at (775) 623-6382. The training offers continuing education units to individuals who are interested. The workshop will be from 8:30 to 4 p.m. with breakfast provided in the East Hall of the Winnemucca Convention Center.
“I think that anybody could benefit from this training and the more people we have trained in our community, the earlier we can identify trauma needs and either provide a referral to the right services or support team,” said Salla.
