Foster Care Training

The Tree of Life is an exercise created by Ncazelo Ncube and David Denborough that was initially designed to assist young people as they explored trauma that they had experienced.  It is grounded in Narrative Therapy practices and the assumption that people always respond in the face of trauma and these responses are in accordance to what they give value to. By engaging with people about response you assist them to stand in a territory of identity that is connected to personal agency and from this position you reduce the risk of re-traumatizing people as they tell their stories.  The exercise has been adapted for several different contexts (women survivors of sexual abuse, international adoption, family finding for foster youth, etc.).  The intended purpose of this particular training is to help professionals connect to their preferred “professional identity”, to trace the social and relational history of these identity claims, and to pay attention to how they stay connected to these values/purposes/commitments in the face of difficult situations at work.  By understanding what values/purposes/commitments our practices are based and how we live-into these, we can reduce the risk of burnout or secondary trauma.