Transforming Trauma (Level 2): From Harm to Healing
Date:
May 1 All day
Price:
Instructor(s):
Dave Melnick, LICSW
Event Type:
Virtual
Graduate Credits:
3
Intended Audience:
All PK-12 educators, SU/school leaders, mental health professionals and support faculty with a bachelor’s degree who have prior learning in trauma and trauma-informed schools. Completion of any VT-HEC Level 1 graduate trauma course is highly recommended.
Participants must attend all events:
- Event Date
- Event Date
Visit any school or classroom and we quickly get a sense of its culture, including its values, expectations, discourse, and how belonging is navigated. One can also see perceptions of behavior and conflict, how problems are solved, what rituals are embedded, and who has and uses power. The culture of any community impacts how its members experience, hold, and metabolize pain (e.g. emotional, psychological, social, interpersonal), how they make meaning of events and interactions, and how they individually and collectively define their purpose. In this course, participants build on work from Level 1 and take a deeper look at both the culture of our schools and the ones we inherited from our own families and communities.
This course will also center on the critical importance of understanding and living the 5 Commitments to Transformation, with a particular focus on being reflective about our work. Schools place a premium on educators having content and curricular expertise, as well as deeply knowing their students. While these understandings are important, they should not replace the expertise we develop by examining our own beliefs, biases, assumptions, worldviews, and action patterns. Reflective Practice is a centerpiece of any trauma-informed and pro-equity work.
Relationships are the primary casualty of trauma, and relational health and wealth help us recover, grow, and heal. We will advance our work in the 5 Key Practices to Transform Trauma, while deepening our skills in developing and sustaining strong relationships with our colleagues, students, and families. Fundamental to these key practices is a comprehensive understanding of just how vital reframing is as both a mindset and a social justice practice. We will spend time rehearsing and role modeling reframing so it becomes a facile part of one’s regular approach with students and colleagues.
Participants will read, watch, listen, discuss, and reflect together in pursuit of innovative shifts. We will challenge one another’s pedagogy and ideology, examine the effects of white supremacy and sociocultural/racial trauma, and work to make meaningful improvements in our mindset, biases, and behaviors.
Start/End Dates: May 1 – July 20, 2025
Synchronous Online Learning Sessions:
5/7/2024: 9:00 – 3:00
5/23/25: 1:00 – 4:00
6/4/2025: 1:00 – 5:00
6/18/2025: 9:00 – 3:00
6/24/25: 9:00 – 12:00
7/9/2025: 9:00 – 3:00
