Foster Care Training

The effects of trauma on the nervous system are pervasive. This is complicated when stressors that commonly effect foster youth act as repeated reminders of the trauma(s). This is always the case when the trauma(s) in question contributed to the home removal of the youth. Further complicating this, many biological parents of foster youth are themselves victims of trauma. When not properly understood and addressed, these issues may affect the adults’ efforts in furthering the overall success of the youth.

This introduction to the ways that trauma effects the nervous systems of children, youth and adults will offer useful insights to those helping clients recover from trauma. As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to (1) understand the effect of trauma on the developing brain (2) understand the relationship between trauma and dissociation (3) recognize signs of dissociation (4) talk about the Window of Tolerance, Hyper arousal and Hypo arousal (5) increase their sense of competence and confidence in helping regulate children/youth/adults and bring them back into the window of tolerance.