Introduction

Welcome all! 

We invite you to share a little about yourself in a discussion post. This is the primary method of communication within the course (besides the weekly live sessions) and we want you to be comfortable with the technology (and each other) before we get started. You can include your name, where you are from, and anything else you want to share. We love to hear about aha moments, pets, passions, and hobbies.

We will see you on Wednesday at 10am PST on Zoom. You will receive the zoom room information and a calendar invite to the email registered on the site. If you don’t receive it by Tuesday, please email info@originstraining.org

Focusing on an Action Plan

Key Takeaways:

• The focus for this final section is on creating an action plan by identifying specific activities to meet the goals you defined in Week 5. Remember the distinction between a goal and an activity.  
• Structured brainstorming will help identify activities to help achieve your goals. Key considerations for your brainstorming:
  • In addition to brainstorming ideas for new activities, consider what activities you want to you CONTINUE to help achieve the goals you defined (and anything you may want to STOP!) 
  • Keep an open mind. Don’t dismiss anything (yet!) because of a perceived lack of resources or other challenges
  • Thing big (and think small!)
  • Be as inclusive as possible in this step in order to get ideas and solutions from other colleagues, community members, and clients
  • Brainstorming is a team sport. Look at the table you have set for your team. Is anyone missing? Whose voices are not included? How might you include them?

• As you select specific activities from this larger brainstorming list, focus on ideas that are realistic within your setting. (But keep that bigger list—you may want to come back to those other ideas in the future!)
• You may want to provide additional structure to your team to help you implement your efforts. How frequently will you meet? Will you develop subcommittees within your larger group to focus on specific initiatives?
• Don’t forget–getting started is often half the battle! Don’t let the fear of making mistakes keep you from taking action.

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Defining Your Goals

In this section, you’ll build off the findings of your assessment to define concrete goals for integrating a trauma-informed approach into your setting, using a strengths-based method to identify resources that can support you in your process.

Key Takeaways:

• This section focused on using the information from the assessment to help define concrete goals for your setting.
• Your goals describe specific objectives that you would like to accomplish and help translate your overall vision into concrete next steps to help achieve that vision.
  • Your goals are different from the activities to meet those goals. (We will talk more about activities next week!)
  • Some of the goals that you create will be short-term and some will require more time to execute.
• Considerations as you define your goals:
  • First, be specific.  Think about the findings from your assessment—what is your specific area for improvement?
  • Second, how are you going to know if you are making progress against your goals? Measurement can be tricky when you are talking about integrating a resilience-building approach–how will you know if you are succeeding?
  • Third, remember that this is a team approach. Think about your allies for this work (both within and outside of your setting) and who can help. You cannot do this alone. A strong team is essential to prioritize and problem-solve.
  • Fourth, make sure your goals are realistic. Think about your setting, your sphere of influence within that setting, and create goals that you think you can achieve.  Early success with smaller goals will more likely lead to buy-in from others than grand plans that sound great but don’t go anywhere. Remember the mantra…keep it simple!

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Assessing your Setting

Key Takeaways:

• In the first three sections of the course, the focus was on setting your table for the sustainable application of a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach. In section 4, we shift to focus on assessing your setting using a trauma-informed https://originstraining.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=342&action=edit#saveassessment. 
• The intent behind a trauma-informed assessment is to use a systematic systematic approach to evaluate different areas of your setting–both the things that are working well and the areas that could be improved. The information you gather in the assessment will help guide the development of specific goals. 
• There are a number of different trauma-informed assessment tools that exist, most of which are based on the Trauma-Informed Program Self-Assessment Scale developed by Drs. Roger Fallot and Maxine Harris.  All of these tools encourage you to look at a variety of domains in your setting. Five domains that are common across these tools are: 
  • Leadership and staff
  • Clients and consumers
  • Services
  • Policies and procedures
  • Physical environment
• Redesigning our systems and structures requires us to consider the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in ALL of these domains.

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Developing Your Culture

Key Takeaways:

• One definition of culture is a “set of shared attitudes, values, goals, or practices that characterize an institution or organization.”  
• The culture you nurture is going to help sustain your resilience-building efforts. As said by management guru Peter Drucker, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
• Culture works on multiple levels. Some of these levels are explicit, but many of them are implicit
• All organizations, communities, and families have a culture, whether it has been created intentionally or not. Part of being intentional is articulating a set of values for setting. Those values will help guide your implementation.
• As an example, we shared four values we defined for Origins. We chose these values because they are rooted in many of the key concepts behind a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach.

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Exploring Your Why?

In this section, we will invite you to take a step back and explore “why you do what you do” and your overall vision for integrating this approach into your setting.

Key Takeaways:

• Each of us has a ‘why,’ a reason we do what we do. As said by Michael Jr., “When you know your ‘why”, your ‘what’ has more impact because you are walking in or toward your purpose.”
• A vision is “an aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve in the mid or long term.” It describes a clear outcome of what we would like to achieve. It should dare us to dream and to think big. It should evoke emotion and inspire us. 
• A mission statement describes what you do and who or what you do it for. A good mission statement supports your vision. The following summarizes Origins’ vision and mission.

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What is a Resilience Champion?

Key Takeaways:

• The focus for the first three sections of the course is on building a strong foundation so you can sustain your approach over time. For those of you who are ready to dive into implementation, don’t worry–we promise we will get there! 
• We all wear many hats in the various settings of our personal and professional lives. We all have influence in each of those roles, whether at the individual, organizational, systems, or community level.
• At Origins, we define a resilience champion as someone who is using  a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach to lead change. Change can happen in a variety of settings—a healthcare clinic, a school, a government agency, your community group, even your own home.
• As said by Brené Brown “Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.” A leader can be CEO or an executive director, but it certainly does not have to be.
• Teamwork is critical for integrating this approach. You can not do this alone.
• Remember the idea of “nothing about us without us.” How will you ensure that the voice of the clients you are serving is incorporated into the services you design? 

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Welcome, Resilience Champions!

Greetings and welcome to the Resilience Champion Certificate program! This self-paced course will guide you as you move from trauma-aware to trauma-informed and trauma-responsive. You and/or your team will work through one section each week (or faster or slower, if you prefer) to help you establish a foundation, create goals, and identify concrete steps you can take to sustain a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach in your specific setting. You’ll also see cross-sector examples of Resilience Champions and specific strategies that have worked for them, providing inspiration for clear steps to help you get started.

Here we go!

Course Guide

Many of the answers to your questions can be found in the course guide. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Don’t forget to share your experiences on social media throughout the course using @originstc and #resiliencechampion.

Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your journey!

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Introduction & Welcome

Welcome to The Basics!  If you have gotten this far, congratulations! You’re logged into the course! The training is only 90 minutes total but we encourage you to take each section in and make any comments in the discussion section as you go. This course is meant to be an overview and answer the question, “What is a trauma-informed approach?”

In this section:

• Comment below with an introduction of yourself if you’d like. We aim to create a community of learners through this training.
• Download the lesson resources.

Throughout the course, we invite you to provide comments and feedback in the surveys provided so that we can make sure that this training is doing its job. We are also naturally curious and love to hear from you all about your experience! We also encourage you to share your learning on social media using #otcbasics and @originstc.

You’re on your way…

Introduction Video

This introduction to The Basics will answer questions about why we should care about being trauma-informed if we want to build resilience. No discussion questions or survey here.

Enjoy the show!

Part 1- ACEs, Toxic Stress, and Intergenerational Trauma

In week 1, you’ll explore the science behind the ACEs framework, including the link between toxic stress and health, behavioral, and societal issues. In addition to reviewing the findings of the original ACEs study, you’ll see related research that applies the study’s framework to identify additional risk factors, including Adverse Community Experiences and other sources of individual, social, and systems adversity. You’ll also learn the key principles of historical trauma and how adversity can impact individuals, groups, and communities across generations. 

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Discussion post: Post your answer to these questions on the discussion section:

1) Reflect on goals

• What do you want to achieve in this course?

2) Design your team

• Choose a hat: Think about the different roles you play within the various settings of your professional
  and professional life. What are some of those hats (ie. parent, employee, coach, etc)? Which hat are
  you going to choose to focus on in the Resilience Champion course?
• Identify your team: As you create your team, consider structural inequities that may influence the
  make-up of who has a seat at the table and whose table it is. Remember the inequities discussed in the
  Social & Historical Trauma section in The Basics and how they can influence the power structure of
  your setting. This is about more than just inclusivity; it’s about redesigning our systems and structures.

3) Apply concepts

• How can the information from week 1 be applied personally and professionally?

The Basics Pre-Course Survey

To get started, please complete the pre-course survey (don’t worry, it’s only one question). There will be a post-course survey at the end of the training (it’s also very short). We appreciate your feedback as we go through this learning together.

Part 1- The Adverse Childhood Experiences Framework

In this section, we will explore the link between toxic stress and health outcomes and behavior. In addition to reviewing the findings of the original ACE study, related research that utilizes the study’s framework will also be shared.

Learning Questions:

• What are ACEs?
• What are the key findings from the original ACE study and how are trauma,
  health, and behavior linked?
• What are some examples of related research that apply the ACE framework?

Tasks for this section: 

• Download the lesson resources below
• Click the “Comment here” button and share your answers to the learning questions (or ask any questions)
• Share any “Aha” moments you have on social media. (Don’t forget to tag us @originstc #otcbasics)

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Part 2: The Brain, Body, and Resilience

In week 2, you’ll examine how the body and brain are affected by toxic stress, define different types of stress, and understand toxic stress physiology. You’ll also learn what resilience is, identify how protective factors can help heal the impact of trauma, and discuss how resilience can be built and sustained in individuals, organizations, and communities.

Join the Discussion:

Discussion post: Post your answer to these questions on the discussion section:

1) Reflect on integrating this approach in your setting:

• What are some of the potential barriers?
• What are some of the strengths/facilitating factors?

Part 2- Social and Historical Trauma

In this section, we will cover the key principles of social, historical, and systemic adversity. We will also review the role of epigenetics and how individuals, groups, and societies can be affected by adverse community experiences across generations.

Learning Questions:

• What are social, historical, and systemic trauma?
• How do social, historical, and systemic trauma affect health and behavior?
• What is the role of biology in the intergenerational transmission
  of health outcomes for individuals and communities?

Tasks for this section:

• Download the lesson resources below
• Click the “Comment here” button and share your answers to the learning questions (or ask any questions)
• Share any “Aha” moments you have on social media. (Don’t forget to tag us @originstc #otcbasics)

Join the Discussion

Part 6 – Creating an Action Plan

In week 6, you will build off the findings from your assessment to define concrete goals for integrating a trauma-informed approach into your setting. You will then translate those goals into a concrete action plan through the process of brainstorming and prioritizing potential solutions.

Join the Discussion

Discussion post: Post your answer to these questions on the discussion section:

1) Reflect on integrating this approach in your setting:

• For each goal you defined, what are the 1-3 activities you will focus on to help you achieve it? Are any
  of these activities things you are already doing (or things you plan to stop?)
• How will your action team be organized to help you implement these activities?

Part 5 – Assessing Your Setting

In week 5, you’ll use a systematic approach to assess and examine the different domains of your setting, such as leadership capacity, services, clients, policies and procedures, and physical environment. The goal of this workshop is to define a process to gather information about strengths, assets, what’s working well, and where you would like to do more.  

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Part 4 – Developing Your Culture

In week 4, you’ll learn about the role of culture in sustaining a trauma-informed approach and define the values that will help promote a resilience-building culture in your setting. As part of this, you will explore how your organizational culture developed and how it does (or does not) reflect those values. 

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Discussion post: Post your answer to these questions on the discussion section:

Reflect & Refine:

• What are the values that are important in your setting?
• What are some specific ways that your your values show up in your setting?
• What are some specific ways that your your values show up in your setting?

Part 3 – Building Your Vision

In week 3, you will strengthen your foundation for promoting sustainable change. You will explore the role of leadership and teamwork, “why you do what you do”, and your overall vision for integrating this approach into your setting.

Join the Discussion:

Discussion post: Post your answer to these questions on the discussion section:

Imagine your setting in five years….

• What does your ideal future look like?
• What does your ideal future feel like?

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Part 3 – The Body & Brain

In this section, we will examine how the body and brain are affected by toxic stress. We will define different types of stress and explain how it can become toxic. We will also explain the body’s response to positive and toxic stress.

Learning Questions:

• What are the different types of stress?
• How do the brain and body adapt to stress?
• What is the resilience zone?

Tasks for this section: 

• Download the lesson resources below
• Click the “Comment here” button and share your answers to the learning questions (or ask any questions)
• Share any “Aha” moments you have on social media. (Don’t forget to tag us @originstc #otcbasics)

Join the Discussion

Part 4 – Resilience

In this section, we will define resilience, identify how protective factors can help heal the impact of trauma, and discuss how resilience can be built and sustained in individuals, organizations, and communities.

Learning Questions:

• What is resilience?
• What is the impact of resilience on health and behavior?
• How can we build and sustain resilience in ourselves and others?
• What are the pillars of a trauma-informed approach?

Tasks for this section: 

• Download the lesson resources below
• Click the “Comment here” button and share your answers to the learning questions (or ask any questions)
• Share any “Aha” moments you have on social media. (Don’t forget to tag us @originstc #otcbasics)

Join the Discussion