Foster Care Training

In social justice circles we often talk often about structural inequities (economic, access to resources, justice, etc) but rarely about inequities of safety. In the US, large groups of people suffer daily from the effects of structural inequity: living below the poverty line, without access to basic services, in areas high in crime and violence. This compromises their ability to feel safe in their daily lives. When we allow groups of people to live without a sense of safety, we are denying them the ability to fully access their connection system, and this has catastrophic effects on their health and well-being. People from less marginalized groups, who have not lived with chronic levels of stress, often have a hard time comprehending the mental health needs of these groups and connecting those needs with the greater problem of social inequity. White women of privilege make up 70% of the providers working in children’s welfare – in which most children of color. (1) There is a pressing need for these workers to educate themselves so that they do not perpetuate the social inequities that they are trying to help their clients overcome. In this training we will identify the inequities of safety that underlie the mental and physical health issues of youth and young adults of color in the mental health and healthcare services. We will conceptualize the Polyvagal Theory for bringing the connection system back online in in order to improve their long term mental and physical health outcomes, and we will experientially learn multiple restorative practices that providers can use in order to foster a deep sense of safety and connection in their clients.