ATTENDANCE POLICY

Learners who complete this course will receive a certificate of completion from the Academy.

DESCRIPTION

This workshop will introduce the history of Indigenous Focusing Oriented Therapy, and various tools it offers for working with complex and vicarious trauma. We will begin with an introduction to the focusing steps and Indigenous philosophy around trauma and healing. Participants will also learn about vicarious trauma, or how one picks up and carries trauma from others’ experiences, and how to release it.

Participants will walk away with tools for protecting themselves from vicarious and complex trauma, including methods for identifying when they are carrying it, and processes for sitting beside it, working with it, healing, and letting go.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Participants will learn to:

• Describe vicarious trauma and intergenerational trauma, and ways to set it down
• Identify the six steps of focusing
• Differentiate between feelings, reactions, and a felt sense of an experience
• Explore ways to create a protected land-based space for hearing and sharing trauma
• Strengthen skills to hear trauma without being traumatized by it
• Define a flashback and triggers, and identify ways to attend to them quickly

LEARNING PATH

This course is part of a Series: Introduction to Indigenous Tools for Living (ITFL)

• Tools for Complex and Vicarious Trauma
• Building a Relationship with the Inner Critic
• Land-Based Healing Practices for Working with Grief

WHAT TO EXPECT

This is a highly interactive course. We ask all participants to join on-camera, where possible, and participate fully in course activities. Instructors will guide participants through a range of exercises, including how to talk about your own experiences from an embodied place. This course will include time for questions and discussion, and may include breakout rooms.

ELIGIBILITY

This course is open to staff of any non-profit community organization or government agency that delivers social services in NYC.

This course is part of a series, Introduction to Indigenous Tools for Living. Learners are invited to register for one or more courses in the series.