Children's Aid Society of Alabama’s Post

Our webinar with Beth Syverson has concluded. Next month, APAC will host our Trained Therapist Network, (TTN) events. Brooke Wheeldon-Reece, MBA, and Ashley Hunt from the notable group, The Spark Initiative, will be our presenters. We'll learn how to effectively move Beyond Trauma: Restoring Hope for Youth and Families. We invite you to join us in-person in Birmingham, November 14th, or in Montgomery on November 16th. We'll also have a virtual option available. Learn more about these interactive and informative training sessions and register here: Sign up ✍️ www.childrensaid.org/ttn.   🎓📚 Objectives: 1) Engage in an accessible exploration of how the mind works and its impact on daily life. 2) Discover practical ways to connect more deeply with the youth we serve. 3) Learn to recognize the inherent resilience within ourselves and the youth we support. 4) Gain a deep understanding how recognizing this innate resilience helps in managing stress, especially in the face of trauma.

Join us for "Empowerment and Healing: A Journey through Gender-Based Violence" – a 2-day online training exclusively for counsellors, psychotherapists and frontline workers this November. Here's what's in store: Immerse yourself in the world of gender-based violence, guided by diverse therapeutic perspectives. Our seasoned facilitators will lead enlightening discussions, real-life cases and interactive activities, deepening your grasp of this crucial issue. Why Be There: 🔹Fresh Insights: Open new horizons in understanding gender-based violence with versatile therapeutic techniques. 🔹Empower Survivors: Equip yourself with essential skills to support survivors on their path to healing, nurturing resilience and growth. 🔹Network & Collaborate: Connect with like-minded professionals in the field. 🔹Stay Ahead: Keep abreast of the latest therapeutic trends and insights. Ready to create lasting change? Secure your spot today and discover more details: https://bit.ly/3Ezo5Hu

A change in perspective awaits.

Learning to value and shift perspectives is a key part of understanding how to decolonize systems. It starts with personal transformation and as a movement forms, organizational shifts emerge outside of a strategic definition. Conferences such as this create personal change that can bring about systemic change. It’s what helps me see beyond today to a hopeful tomorrow.

What would it look like if the places that were supposed to be the safest really were? How do we create communities where people are seen, heard, and valued in a way that healed the isolation of trauma and welcomed people into healthy relationships? If you are in a faith-based organization, have you discovered your TraumaWise role in healing and preventing trauma? Registration will open on May 1 for this no-cost event, but you can get on the VIP list now for early access and info - https://lnkd.in/gAxiwwDw We can't wait to see you together as we make shift happen! #traumainformed #traumawise #traumainformedministry #traumainformedchurch #compassion

CT neighbors and organizations, join this conversation about the power of social connections in our state! (I’ll be at the 2/28 West Hartford session.)

If you're free on any of these dates, For All Ages is part of a collaborative panel to end loneliness. I'll be speaking at the 2/28 panel discussion at the University of St. Joseph, along with Dr. Sowmya Kurtakoti (Chief of Geriatrics at Hartford Hospital), several of the university's students, and other wonderful panelists. The panel will be moderated by Deb Bibbins, JD, MBA. If you're interested in hearing more about the future of social connection in addressing loneliness, learn more about the panel at the link below!

Broadening our understanding of the effects of trauma is important for the development of practice. New Research in Practice resources explore how we can make trauma-informed practice a reality. https://lnkd.in/ezy35Jd4

NADD’s 41st Annual Conference in Tempe, AZ, October 7-9, 2024 will include Intersect of Trauma, Equity, and Person-Centered Planning. This session is designed to take a deep dive into the relational part of the person-centered planning process for people with IDD and identify how trauma can impact relationship building, trust development, and “ceding control,” which are critical components to constructive person-centered planning. Presenters will describe how trauma, poorly developed relationships, lack of trust, and power differentials can prevent teams from realizing “person centered planning-equity in action.” Presented by Nicholas Burton, N. Burton Consulting and Karyn Harvey, Myoho Supports. Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/e7MyDnpV

Thank you Lauren Thomas for advocating so strongly and passionately for participation. I loved the emphasis on children and younger people's rights, the critique of deficit discourses that position children and younger people as less than and the insight that participation is fostered and takes place within relationships. Even better if the paper could address the contradiction inherent in 'trauma' discursive practice, that is, the way that trauma discourse, aided and abetted by neuroscience, also positions children and younger people as 'less than' with 'harmed-damaged' brains. To address this contradiction would seem to require extending the critique of deficit discourses so compellingly prosecuted in the essay, to expose the underlying principle that, as Bourdieu points out, dominant cultural power relations shape dominant discourses in social work and human services, and all other fields - including the dominant discourse of 'therapeutic' practice. The fact that 'therapeutic practice' is the dominant discourse in human services should therefore give us cause for skeptical pause based on critical reflexivity. This could then precipitate a reflection on the way that as practitioners we, despite every convincing 'unthought thought' to the contrary, are not magically self-created, but, objectively, constructed by those same power relations - as is the dynamics of the field of human services that we work within. Power relations whose underlying dynamic is to produce and reproduce the set of existing power relations, including the oppressive power relations between older and younger people. This in turn suggests that if we wish to truly foster participation we need to first place ourselves and our own ways of thinking, being, acting and judging, our own discursive practices, including developmental theory and trauma theory, under a critical microscope that seeks to expose how cultural power relations have shaped our thinking, theorising and practice, and how that objectively perpetrates dominant power relations, and in so doing, presents non-conscious obstacles to participation. This is not just a depressing indulgence because this kind of reflexive practice simultaneously exposes the full set of knowledge construction and implementation practices objectively necessary to foster participation - discursive practices that do not position younger people who have experienced abuse as having undeveloped or damaged brains. Thank you for continuing to raise the critical issue of participation. Marc Gregory Jessica Stonier Barry Lenihan Mark Brough Barbara Adkins #socialjustice #inclusion #youthparticipation #youngpeopleparticipation #inclusion_diversity