Foster Care Training

Mindfulness is a trending topic these days, but if not introduced skillfully, with an awareness of young people’s trauma history and nervous system state, it can be ineffective. In this training, we explore a trauma-informed approach to helping young people develop inner life skills- awareness of their inner worlds and the various dimensions of attention, self-awareness, body awareness, emotion regulation, and relational competence. This training provides a safe, sequential, step-by-step introduction to mindful awareness and its various applications. We’ll begin with exploring foundations of mindful awareness, including developing a felt sense of safety, the distinction between the inner world and the outer world, and the concept of basic goodness. Then we’ll explore developing basic mindfulness- in other words, how to pay attention in a way that is intentional, centered in the present moment, and non-judgmental. We’ll then look at applying this mindful awareness to the body (somatic awareness), to emotions (emotional awareness), and to relationships. This training is highly experiential, and will give participants the opportunity to practice various interventions for supporting young people, as well as key distinctions in how to use these tools with young people, where there is a trauma history.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Participants will discuss important foundations/ pre-requisites for introducing mindful awareness to young people
2. Participants will identify the benefits of working bottom-up, in addition to top-down, in the nervous system
3. Participants will be able to explain how to modify mindfulness for youth with trauma exposure
   • eyes open vs. closed
   • movement vs. stillness
   • attention outward vs. inward.