Training

Since its beginning, Compassionate Reach has placed an emphasis on “competency based” skills, also understanding that all the training in the world cannot teach empathy or nurturing.

However, in the middle of a dealing with traumatic responses, the only difference in the empathetic person’s ability to correctly and effectively respond is training!

Our trauma training, education, and trafficking prevention courses, are designed to promote self-efficacy in trauma competency within your non-profit, ministry, people groups, church, or community. You can be confident in understanding trauma reactions in yourself, in others, and in the children entrusted to your care.

Competent trauma care is especially necessary for the healing of wounded orphaned and vulnerable children, to enable them to learn how to regulate their traumatic responses.

Caregivers learn how to be pro-active instead of reactive…

…proactive in learning techniques that promote healing, self-soothing, and coping strategies, instead of reacting to the child’s difficult behaviors, which only results in increasing their stress levels and corresponding behavioral problems.

List of Available Trauma Education Courses

Becoming a Trauma Competent Caregiver
Emotional First Aid for Traumatized Children
Foundations of Compassion: Ministry of Presence
Intercultural Compassion: Trading the Illusions of Competency for Cultural Humility
Self-Care: Avoiding Compassion Fatigue and Burnout
Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Prevention and Intervention Following a Natural Disaster
Spiritual and Psychological First Aid

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Becoming a Trauma Competent Caregiver

Written by Jayne Schooler of Back2Back Ministries, this three day course will increase competency and sensitivity in caring for children with a traumatic history. Perfect for orphanage caregivers, foster parents, social workers, school teachers, and other who are in direct relationship with children who have a trauma history.

This training will give you tools to help children in your care heal from past trauma while providing insight into the meaning behind the behavior of traumatized children.

You will learn:

Understand the goals of child welfare.
Understand the essential skills of trauma competent care.
Understand the potential lifetime impact of trauma on development.
Recognize how childhood traumatic stress is exacerbated by ongoing stressors in a child’s life.
Identify coping responses, strengths and protective factors that promote positive adjustment among traumatized children.
Identify new strategies, techniques and skills to manage children with a traumatic history.
Identify strategies to promote their own self-care.

Emotional First Aid for Traumatized Children (2 Hrs. to Half day as requested)

Children who experiencing ongoing trauma or have suffered a traumatic incident are best helped with immediate intervention. This introductory course will give you a basic understanding of the effects of trauma on a child’s developing brain, as well as ways to help them overcome difficult emotions and develop coping skills. Perfect for post-disaster introduction to psycho-social support for children.

What you will learn:

Understand changes in the brain that cause behavioral “problems”
Identify current and pro-longed stressors in a child’s life
Develop self-coping mechanisms to respond to traumatized children
Learn simple techniques to help children process trauma

Compassionate Reach Curriculum

Foundations of Compassion: Ministry of Presence (Customized from 2.5 to 4 hours)

This introductory level course is designed to enable anyone to effectively and confidently help an individual’s through times of grief, loss, and trauma at any time, in any location.

What you will learn:

Introduction to the Ministry of Presence
An overview of theories of grief and how they impact an individual
Demonstrate Active and Reflective listening skills
Appropriate spiritual care during times of loss
Identify necessary resources for victims of loss and trauma.

Compassionate Reach Curriculum

Intercultural Compassion: Trading the Illusions of Competency for Cultural Humility

There are increasing numbers of missions groups traveling to other countries. Often unaware of the simple nuances of various cultures, unintentional mistakes are made that can hurt newly developing relationships. Unless we are born into it, it is nearly impossible to be competent in another culture. However we can be compassionately humble and develop the deep friendships necessary to empower others in self-efficacy and asset based resources.

Learn resources available for cultural education
Learn how to respond to different belief systems
Learn to view yourself as a “cultural” being
Learn self-awareness about reactions to people whose cultures are different and reflecting upon your responses to those cultures
Learn how to participate in meaningful interactions with people of differing cultural backgrounds
Self-awareness exercises

Self-Care: Avoiding Compassion Fatigue and Burnout (4 hours)

Caring for children and adults who have experienced trauma, are in a crisis, or after man-made or natural disasters, is emotionally and spiritually draining. This also creates the potential to negatively impact a person’s long-term health and wellbeing. This course will help you develop a self-care plan to avoid compassion fatigue and burn out.

You will learn

Signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue and burnout
How to develop personal boundaries
Self-care assessment tests
Evaluate personal resistance and resilience to fatigue and burn out
Spiritual formation as it relates to self-care
Develop a workable self-care plan

Compassionate Reach Curriculum

Caregiver support and the prevention of secondary trauma is the first priority of trauma education. To prevent burnout, and to both identify and heal from past traumatic experiences, we encourage all caregivers to have a self-care plan firmly in place.

Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Prevention and Intervention Following a Natural Disaster: How to Recognize, Prevent, and Keep Vulnerable Children Safe (1/2 Day)

“Poverty, war, natural disasters, and the search for a better life” are listed at the top of the list for primary reasons for human trafficking (Simon 2016). People flee from their homes because of the dangers and poverty of disasters in search of employment and better opportunities.

You will learn:

What human trafficking is
Identify vulnerable populations
Identify potential locations for trafficking
Identify people who may be perpetrators of human trafficking
Learn the signs and symptoms of trafficking victims
Develop a safety plan for children who are separated from parental care

Compassionate Reach curriculum

Spiritual & Psychological First Aid (2 days / 13 hours)

As Offered by K-Love Radio and written by Kevin Ellers and Jennifer Cisney Ellers, this course will teach you to provide effective emotional and spiritual care to individuals, families, and communities following critical incidents and in times of crisis requires special training, skills and understanding of the unique role of the crisis responder. This course seeks to prepare front line helpers to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of survivors by providing a basic understanding of: the ministry of presence; connecting; basic assessment skills, appropriate intervention; and developing an ongoing care plan and referral.

What you will learn:

Articulate an understanding of the ministry of presence and companioning.
Define the essential elements of connecting and communicating with people in crisis
Demonstrate assessment skills for determining emotional and spiritual needs.
Demonstrate essential interventions to help stabilize people in crisis.
Link those served with existing community support services and develop a care plan.

Written by Kevin Ellers and Jennifer Cisney Ellers (The Institute for Compassionate Care)