Foster Care Training

The Tree of Life (TOL) was created as a way to safely engage young people around the trauma they have experienced. The exercise is designed to invite youth to share multiple facets of themselves allowing youth care workers to hear/witness many stories about what the youth give value to. Further explorations into how these young people have responded to difficult times in their lives helps to situate them in a territory of identity that is connected to personal agency and not merely victimhood. From this position, the risk of re-traumatizing youth when they talk about traumatic experiences is reduced.