Trauma Aware Training
What is Trauma Aware Training
Connected Self is a preferred provider for the Department for Education, Trauma Aware Schools Initiative (TASi) training.
Our whole of school approach is designed to build the capacity of teachers, and other school staff, to respond more effectively to children and young people’s needs in the school community. It incorporates a range of evidence based information to explore the neuroscience of brain development, especially as it applies to lived experiences of relational trauma, with practical strategies and approaches that form each participants trauma aware toolkit. Our experienced and engaging facilitators use a customised blend of training, workshops and reflective practice sessions to assist school communities to build their capacity for effective trauma aware practice.
Elements and Aims of the Approach
Connected Self are passionate about building capacity for insightful practice for all those who work with children and young people. We have been successfully partnering with schools in South Australia since our inception in 2007. We draw on evidence from implementation science, as well as many years’ experience in the educational and community services sectors. This informs our unique approach to building the capacity of individuals and communities to effectively respond to children and young people with lived experiences of trauma.
Our intent is to build capacity of teachers, and other school staff, in a dynamic way that is tailored to individual children and young people, classrooms and communities. We do this by customising our approach to each community in a manner that acknowledges the expertise of those who work within those communities. In broad terms this starts with a discussion with school leadership, and other key personnel, to understand your school community and co-design the delivery methodology. The next step is the delivery of content (tailored to the needs and strengths of each community) to enhance participants’ knowledge and understanding of trauma informed approaches. This understanding is used to:
- Shape a trauma informed approach particular to your community; and,
- Provide practical strategies to implement within the school context.
The next phase is to facilitate a series of reflective practice workshops that assist participants to share their experience of implementing strategies shaping their practice. This step is critical in assisting participants to [1]:
- Refine the trauma informed approach;
- Develop their practice skills; and,
- Foster the practice wisdom of participants.
Having facilitated these reflective practice workshops we then work with the school community to inform the next round of training content which builds onto the previous round and the information that has emerged from the reflective practice workshops. This new ‘layer’ of knowledge and understanding contributes to the implementation of more sophisticated strategies and engaging in another round of reflective practice workshops. In this way we meet you where you are at on your journey and partner with you to scaffold the learning so that is translates into the development of skills and practice wisdom that contribute to practical outcomes.
[1] Please see the Figure 1 for Connected Self’s Scaffolding Learning Model for more information
How to access Trauma Aware Training
To speak to someone at Connected Self please phone 08 8232 2438 or email at info@connectedself.com.au