Self-Care in Trauma Work

Welcome:

Welcome to Self-Care in Trauma Work. This course is your time to reflect and soothe yourself from the stress of your work and life, which impacts your physical, emotional and psychological well-being. Do not rush; take time to work through the course in a manner that meets your needs. If you find yourself growing impatient as you move through the course, take a break as you are moving too quickly. You need the spaciousness of time to process, reflect on, and practice the activities. This is your self-care time. Be gentle and patient with yourself.

Description:

In our desire to be fully competent clinicians and human service professionals, we often lose sight of the most important element- ourselves. This training focuses on theory, assessment and techniques of self-care for helping professionals.   Our activities will help you reduce the negative impact of stress on your well-being by helping you understand and effect  your own neurobiology through breathwork, mindfulness exercises, meditation and other self-care activities. Whether you are currently feeling stuck, bored, overwhelmed, tired or triggered by your work with trauma survivors, or you want to prevent burnout, vicarious traumatization, and compassion fatigue from happening, this course supports you in this journey as you increase your self-awareness and self-care, enhancing all areas of your life.  You will start with a self-care assessment and move through the presentation and activities to address the body, mind, and spirit. At the end of this course, you will have increased your ability to nurture yourself and others.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize how trauma work may uniquely affect clinicians and the issues related to compassion fatigue, burnout ,and vicarious traumatization;
• Identify the requirements for a trauma-informed work environment for practitioners: safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment;
• Recognize the neurobiological effects of stress and traumatic stress on mind, body, and spirit and how select techniques can mitigate these negative effects;
• Examine how your self-care and lifestyle choices  influences your  effectiveness as a clinician, your health, and your quality of life;
• Use mindfulness, breathwork, and meditation to improve self-care;
• Identify how to reach a better balance between your personal and professional life through improved self-care.

 Resources and highly recommended book:

• Peace Is Every Breath: A Practice for Our Busy Lives by Thich Nhat Hanh

Approx. $11-$15 depending on where you purchase it.

Available at Amazon in paperback and Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Every-Breath-Practice-Lives/dp/0062005820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345046413&sr=1-1&keywords=peace+with+every+breath

• Additional self-care resources are on the School’s website. Content is for students as well as established professionals looking for resource information. http://socialwork.buffalo.edu/resources/self-care-starter-kit.html 

Course Outline:

Introduction to Self-Care (51 minutes)

Part 1: (1 hr. 52 min)

Trauma-informed environment for practitioners

• Self-care assessment
• The Five Pillars of Trauma-Informed Praxis
• Mindfulness exercise

 Part 2: (2 hrs. 28 min)

Body 

• Mind-Body-Spirit connection
• Discussion of the physical section of the self-care assessment
• The neurobiology of trauma and stress
• “Is Your Lifestyle Causing You Stress” handout activity
• Body Basics- caring for your body
• Closed Focus Meditation

Part 3: (1 hr. 22 min.)

Mind

• What is the “mind”?
• Information processing and the brain: the relationship with the breath
• Discussion of the psychological and emotional section of the self-care assessment
• Compassion
• A Loving Kindness Exercise

 Part 4: (41 min)

Spirit

• Impact of psychological trauma on the spirit
• Discussion of the spiritual and relationship section of the self-care assessment
• Tree Meditation

Postscript

• Self-care assessment reflection
• Wrap-up

Handouts: We recommend you print your handouts and assessment tools from the Materials section and have them available as watch the video modules.

Trauma-Informed Certificate Programs, University at Buffalo School of Social Work Office of Continuing Education: This course fulfills 7.5 FOUNDATION hours (will be counted as 7.5 hours or one FOUNDATION course)

Target Audience

This course is appropriate for any human service professional (social workers, psychologists, nurses, criminal justice professionals, case managers, and others).

 ADA Accommodations

 If you require any supports for your ADA needs in the United States, please contact us by email at least 3 weeks prior to the event by email at  sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at  716-829-5841.

Customer Service

 We are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us at by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.

Course Availability: You have 60 days to complete the course from the date you purchase it.

Course Completion: Completion of an online quiz is required in order to complete the course and receive a certificate. An 80% passing score is required. If you do not achieve 80%, you may retake the quiz again.

About the Instructor:

Elaine Hammond, LMSW, has been employed in the field of social work for just shy of thirty-five years, working with a wide variety of client systems. She is dedicated to praxis models that integrate the best in evidence-based practice, authentic relationship and creativity in support of the body, mind and spirit of client systems and practitioners, alike. She has had the opportunity to study with teachers as varied as Herbert Benson, Bessel van der Kolk, Carolyn Myss, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thich Nhat Hanh in academic, retreat and online settings. In the past ten years Elaine has helped to develop courses in Trauma & Human Rights, Social Context & Human Biology, and Spirituality at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, and in Mindfulness and Professional Development at the School of Law. In addition to teaching, she trains and consults and presents in trauma theory, self-care and mindfulness-based interventions. Elaine has a small private practice where she works with very young children and their families as well as with adults whose traumatizing event occurred in early childhood. She mentors practitioners of many disciplines who are looking to integrate mindfulness in their practices, as well as working with practitioners experiencing their own life challenges.  Elaine can be reached at ehammond@buffalo.edu.