Building Trauma-Informed Skills

In the challenging environment of social services, nonprofits, and similar organizations that work with marginalized groups, staff must develop not only practical tools for managing the day-to-day needs of vulnerable clients but also deeper emotional skills that enable them to work compassionately and effectively. Trauma-informed care is essential for those working in settings such as housing support, health advocacy, and social stability programs. This training enables participants to deepen their skills in self-awareness, empathetic listening, managing difficult emotions, and fostering environments where clients feel safe, understood, and empowered.

Session 1: Understanding and Managing Feelings

Feelings drive human behavior, yet they often remain unspoken or misunderstood in high-stress contexts. It’s crucial to develop self-awareness regarding personal emotional triggers, particularly when working with clients who may exhibit strong emotional responses due to trauma. Recognizing the layers of feelings—both within oneself and in others—allows for more effective interactions that honour emotional realities. To be effective in this work, staff must learn how to remain present and self-aware without becoming overwhelmed or activated by the routine challenges of the work.

Session 2: Active Listening and Empathy

At the heart of trauma-informed care is the ability to listen empathetically. Empathy is one of the deepest and most challenging skills to learn. It involves much more than just hearing the words of another—it’s about understanding the emotional weight behind those words, sensing and processing emotions internally, separating personal emotions from heard emotions, and articulating effective responses. Social service and nonprofit professionals often navigate emotionally complex conversations with clients (and peers) who may have difficulty articulating their needs or feelings. The deep skill of empathy fosters trust and connection, two cornerstones of effective social service and advocacy work. By developing active listening skills and overcoming common communication barriers, staff can create a safe space for clients to share their experiences openly.

Session 3: Self-awareness and Emotional Activation

Effective communicators must recognize and respond to their clients' emotional states while also remaining aware of their own emotional responses. Emotional triggers are common in environments where staff regularly encounter trauma and stress. The key to managing these triggers lies in self-awareness—understanding what activates one’s emotions and learning techniques to remain centered and grounded in difficult moments. By practicing mindful self-awareness, staff can navigate their work with the right balance of internal and external emotional processing.

Session 4: Strategic Empathy in Emotional Contexts

Empathy must be strategic when working with clients who have experienced trauma. This involves using body language, tone of voice, and non-verbal cues to communicate care and support without crossing personal or professional boundaries. Staff need to be able to recognize when a client is in distress and to respond in ways that both validate the client’s feelings and provide emotional containment. This might involve offering a calm presence, helping clients articulate their emotions, or guiding them toward resources for additional support. Strategic empathy ensures that staff can help without becoming emotionally over-involved or experiencing compassion fatigue.

Session 5: Navigating Self-disclosure and Cultural Sensitivity

Personal stories are the core of client conversations. However, when staff make the decision to self-disclose their own personal stories, this must be carefully managed. Sharing too much can blur boundaries and shift the focus away from the client. Furthermore, every client comes from a unique background, with specific values and norms, and is on a unique path that can be shaped (and even harmed) by what staff members share of their own journeys. Each situation must be approached with an open mind and awareness that cultural lenses and personal values might not be in alignment. By practicing self-awareness and managing self-disclosure, staff can maintain professionalism while remaining compassionate and empathetic.

Session 6: Caring for Staff

The emotional demands of social service, nonprofit, and advocacy work can lead to burnout and secondary trauma if not managed carefully. It’s essential for organizations to provide training in emotional self-care and to cultivate environments where staff feel supported in their own mental health. Addressing compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout helps staff maintain the emotional resilience needed for this work. In fact, trauma-informed approaches to staff care determine the ability of staff to provide effective support to others over the long term.

Fees

The base fee for this training is $9000 (plus GST and travel, if required). This includes:

  • consultations to prepare for the sessions and set the groundwork for a positive experience for participants;
  • facilitation of the six sessions via Teams, Zoom, or in-person;
  • communication with participants between sessions (up to 3 hours in total), to answer questions or clarify practice instructions;
  • consultation (up to 3 hours) to ensure alignment between the training and organizational goals for staff.

Considerations

This type of training is more complex, and more dynamic, than typical professional development seminars involving presentations and content delivery. This is much more personal, and perhaps more challenging for some people. It’s important to be careful in doing this kind of training; you can make things worse while trying to make them better. These considerations entail an approach that is flexible as well as mindful.

This training is typically undertaken subsequent to the introductory module on trauma-informed mental health skills. That session provides a foundation for this deeper and more complex work.