While trauma therapy is what TREC DC is most known for, we also know the importance of education when it comes to preventing and responding to trauma. We have always made education a part of our approach, so much so that it is the “E” in our name (Trauma Resilience and Education Center)! We are excited to further the “E” with a new position at TREC, Outreach Presenter and Educator, held for the first time by Catherine Corey, MA, MPA.
Catherine’s role at TREC DC is to help foster connections with our community where we can learn from each other. We offer a number of workshops and presentations appropriate for a variety of workplaces, schools, social service organizations, and community groups. Within these workshops, we take a “wisdom in the room approach,” meaning that in addition to information we share, we hope to spend our time helping to highlight the information already present in the group and work toward ways to help organizations grow from the strengths they already have.
For example, while providing information on the importance of self-care to help prevent burnout to a local community social services organization, members of this group were able to identify several examples of how peers and leadership have been supportive of care. This discussion facilitated additional ideas of how individuals can learn more about what their organization offered in terms of support, as well as ideas of how to identify when employees could benefit from making requests of additional support.
By providing education about the importance of self-care within community and facilitating discussions of how to prevent trauma-related experiences such as burnout, individuals were able to make a plan for how to better respond to their individual and community needs.
Current TREC DC Trauma Education Offerings
TREC DC currently offers educational workshops in:
Trauma-Informed Care: This workshop outlines the six principles of trauma-informed care, including understanding the impact of trauma and cultural considerations, to help groups and organizations apply the principles to their particular settings. Time is spent on discussion of ways to apply the principles using the wisdom of participants.
Provider Impact — indirect trauma and building compassion satisfaction: This workshop focuses on the impact of indirect trauma on those working with individuals who have experienced trauma, including secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and burnout. Time is also spent on learning how to address this impact and foster resilience and compassion satisfaction in one’s work.
Fostering culturally affirming and supportive relationships: While we integrate discussion of culture and identity into all of our workshops and presentations, this presentation specifically focuses on recognizing the impact of identity-based stress and trauma and approaches to fostering affirming relationships.
Building Skills — emotion and interpersonal regulation strategies: This workshop focuses on skills and strategies that can be used to help regulate emotions and increase effectiveness in relationships, two areas that are often impacted by trauma and chronic stress.
Stress Management and Building Resilience: Similar to the “Building Skills” presentation with a focus on identifying the impact of stress and burnout specifically. This workshop aims to help participants learn concrete skills to build helpful responses for challenging times.
Cognitive-behavioral strategies for Sleep and Insomnia: This workshop uses evidence-based principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia to learn facts about the sleep cycle and understand what behaviors and strategies can improve sleep and reduce distress about sleep.
How Can We Help You?
We are always looking to make new partnerships and welcome you to connect with any ideas to work together! If none of the workshops listed above meet the needs or interests of your group, please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss what we could create. We are happy to tailor a workshop or presentation to your group’s particular areas!
