Course Catalog

Building Wellness Routines

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (75 minutes)

High levels of stress are among the very top challenges that people identify in their lives. Although people are often familiar with ways they can engage in self and collective care, putting these techniques into practice can be much harder. We will review simple “tips and tricks” and daily habits that drive better sleep and daily routines. We will also discuss ways to create time, space, and build wellness practices into your daily life, especially if you find yourself feeling too busy for self-care and you are looking to find balance in your life.

Chronic Pain and Mental Health

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (1 hour)

Pain is a common and difficult challenge. It has emerged as an urgent global health issue that impacts physical, psychological, and emotional health. Chronic pain is the second most common reason for outpatient visits in the U.S. Fortunately, scientific understanding of pain is growing as well as ways to help provide emotional support for those suffering from chronic pain. This course includes information about chronic pain, ways chronic pain impacts mental health, and personal and professional resources for reducing pain-related distress.

Combatting Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

Brief Learning Series

Self-Paced (2 hours)

Burnout and compassion fatigue can diminish the way people feel about their work and contribute to things like turnover, especially for helping professionals. However, it is possible to combat these issues by building and promoting self-care and self-compassion. This course introduces definitions of burnout and compassion fatigue, helps learners recognize signs and symptoms in themselves and others, and offers proactive strategies to protect or improve wellness in the face of work-related stress.

Compassion-Based Resilience Training (CBRT)

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (16 hours)

Nalanda Institute’s Compassion-Based Resilience Training (CBRT) is a complete, evidence-based training in stress-reduction and self-healing developed and tested at the university hospitals of Columbia and Cornell, where it has been offered continuously since 1998. The Academy offers this course to help NYC non-profit social service providers strengthen mindfulness and compassion practices that can offer protection from the stress and trauma you may encounter in doing your jobs.

Connecting Through Art and Creative Expression

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (10 hours)

Connecting Through Art and Creative Expression equips learners to engage children and young people through art-based experiences. Participants will learn to use art to build rapport, trust, and psychological safety in relationships with young people who have been impacted by domestic or intimate partner violence. This course is centered in trauma-informed theory and practices, and is taught by licensed creative arts therapists. Each week, participants will explore a different kind of art material and experience the benefits they can offer. Participants will be guided to apply these techniques between course sessions and learn how to facilitate art activities within their own scope of practice at their organization. In the final week, each participant will present on their experience of using art and creative expression with children and young people impacted by DV/IPV.

Deep Roots: Tools for Healing Complex Trauma

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (8 hours)

This course explores the healing methods that have allowed communities to survive and thrive in the midst of intergenerational, complex, and mass trauma. Beginning with an exploration of how we ourselves can cultivate healing practices, we then tap into how our communities and lineages have cultivated wellness throughout time. Together, we share healing modalities and practices that have allowed our families and communities to thrive and overcome adversity.

Grief In Children

Conversation & Speaker Series

Single-Session (1.5 hours)

One of the challenging aspects of working with bereaved children is how different grief in children and adolescents looks from adult grief. We will discuss the hallmarks of grief in children, the grief experience through the lens of child development, and tools for supporting bereaved youth. Additionally, we will review how to identify the difference between typical grief experiences in children and those that may signal a need for further evaluation or support.

Grief: Let’s Talk

Conversation & Speaker Series

Single-Session (1.5 hours)

Gain a helpful foundation for understanding and addressing grief, loss, and healing. This course presents research-based information and addresses common myths about grief. We will start exploring ways grief and loss may impact our work and wellbeing, and steps we can take to support ourselves and others. This will be a helpful primer for those planning to participate in the multi-session course, Understanding Grief and Loss: Supporting Bereaved Community Members.

Healing in Nature

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (75 minutes)

A growing body of research is showing that spending time in nature, or even viewing scenes of nature, reduces anger, fear, and stress and increases pleasant feelings. Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it also contributes to your physical well-being, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. We will discuss the rationale, evidence, and benefits of spending time in nature for mental health and wellness.

Journaling to Manage Stress and Build Resilience

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (1 hour)

Feelings of anxiety and depression are very common during times of adversity and uncertainty. Although these feelings can seem overwhelming, simple practices can help reduce these emotions and give us a sense of perspective. One method that has been shown to be especially useful is journaling. This presentation will review the evidence around journaling to support wellbeing and ways that it can be used to turn distressing emotions into powerful stories.

Managing Perceptions of Control

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (1 hour)

Among the many challenges that people face now are a sense of ongoing uncertainty and lack of control. Although we may never fully be able to anticipate challenges that lie ahead, there is growing research suggesting that how we perceive our ability to cope with stress and adapt to challenges can make a difference in our mental health. We will review recent work highlighting the importance of proactive coping and self-efficacy, as well as easy to use techniques that provide a sense of control and reduce worrying during times of uncertainty.

Motivational Interviewing Certificate for Organizations or Teams

Skills-Based Certificate Program

7 months

The Motivational Interviewing (MI) Certificate program for organizations or teams provides comprehensive training, coaching, and implementation support that help organizations implement MI to improve services and outcomes. More than individual training, this unique program was designed to support the transfer of MI skills into practice in community settings. Selected organizations will identify at least 15 organizational leaders, supervisors, and direct care staff to participate in the program’s three tracks: MI Implementation Teams, MI Practitioners, and MI Supervisors.

Preventing and Managing Posttraumatic Stress

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (1 hour)

Stressful events and exposure to trauma are common experiences that bring significant challenges. The process of recovering from stress or trauma can look different for everyone. For some people, these events may lead to ongoing fears, unsettling dreams and memories, feeling jumpy or agitated, or other symptoms. Many of us will temporarily experience some of these feelings, whereas others might feel them longer, reflecting a type of posttraumatic stress reaction. We will share an overview of what posttraumatic stress is and how we can care for ourselves if we experience these challenges.

Principles of Grief Support

Skills-Based Certificate Program

Multi-Session (10.5 hours)

This advanced course helps learners develop skills to attend to the emotional needs of people who are grieving. Drawing on current research and clinical practices, learners will deepen their understanding of what grief is and its emotional, physiological, and social impacts. This is an experiential course where learners gain concrete skills to help people process the pain of loss in 1:1 conversations and bereavement support groups. You will strengthen skills to cultivate presence with clients, validate others’ experiences, and support meaning-making and rituals, among others. This highly interactive course involves self-reflection, active listening, experiential learning, and skills practice in small groups.

Prerequisite: Understanding Grief and Loss: Supporting Bereaved Community Members

Seeding Change: Interconnected Healing for Complex Trauma

Single-Session

Single-Session (2 hours)

We will explore the impacts of intergenerational, complex, and mass trauma. We will also learn about healing tools from our own lineages, and build strategies to connect to ongoing learning and practice. Together we will create a safe space to practice tools to identify and process our own strong emotions, including grounding, cleansing breath, progressive muscle relaxation, and discharging energy. With ongoing practice in a supportive environment, these tools allow inner exploration towards healing from trauma, by cultivating growth and healing.

This Too is Grief

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (1.5 hours)

While grief is often associated with the death of a loved one, we know that grief can accompany all sorts of loss experiences, including the loss of a job, the loss of health or functioning, and even the loss of a dream. This course draws on current research, contemporary grief and loss theory, and clinical experience to discuss strategies for coping with non-death losses and supporting community members who are grieving non-death losses.

Trauma-Informed Organizational Practice

Skills-Based Certificate Program

7 Months

The trauma-informed organizational practice certificate program equips leaders and supervisors to create environments that protect staff from the impacts of primary and secondary traumas and help them deliver compassionate, healing-centered care. It includes training, interactive coaching, and implementation support in two tracks: trauma-informed supervision and trauma-informed leadership. This program is designed for organizations or teams who participate in both tracks.

Understanding Grief and Loss: Supporting Bereaved Community Members

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (7.5 hours)

This course introduces current research about grief, loss, attachment, and resilience, along with helpful strategies for supporting bereaved people. Participants will learn culturally responsive and person-centered ways to support community members, employees, and co-workers who are impacted by grief, including when someone may benefit from therapeutic support. We will also explore how our personal experiences of loss can impact our work with bereaved community members. This is an interactive course that involves presentations, film, discussion, and role plays.

This course satisfies the prerequisite for the Skills-Based Certificate Program, Principles of Grief Support.

Working Toward Goals: Strategies to Maintain Motivation

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (75 minutes)

During times of uncertainty it is often hard to define and stick with goals, both personal and professional. This can be especially hard during times of stress and upheavals. However, goals are critical for helping to maintaining a sense of self-esteem and positive mental health. We will review very simple strategies to help identity and maintain motivation for goals even when confronted with unexpected challenges and high levels of stress.

Acknowledging, Addressing, and Intervening in Harms Related to Racism

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (8 hours)

This applied workshop series develops skills to invite community members to talk about experiences of racism, and address the pain and other impacts of those experiences. In this highly interactive course, learners practice self-reflection, active listening, and counseling skills in small groups guided by expert facilitators. Learners can expect to develop their own racial self-awareness and strengthen communication skills for having helpful conversations about race and experiences of racism.

Prerequisite: Understanding the Mental Health Effects of Racial Discrimination

Best Practices in Virtual Learning Series

Various

During COVID-19, many providers had to shift not only service delivery, but also staff training and support, to virtual platforms. How can we best use virtual tools to help staff manage the emotional demands of their work, apply trauma-informed practices, or learn and use other new skills? Courses in this series share best practices for designing and delivering effective virtual learning programs from Academy instructors, community-based organizations, and others. They may be helpful to anyone who delivers training or coaching, facilitates meetings, or leads other learning activities in your organization.

Motivational Interviewing for Conversations About the COVID-19 Vaccine

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session (2 hours)

This course provides tools to have helpful conversations about the COVID-19 vaccine with community members. Based in Motivational Interviewing (MI), a person-centered counseling method, participants will learn a framework and specific strategies for collaborating with community members to strengthen their own reasons for and readiness to take the vaccine. These skills can also be used to address new challenges and opportunities around vaccine uptake, including engaging people about the booster dose and talking with parents or caregivers about the decision to vaccinate young children.

Paths to Mental Health Professions Series

Conversation & Speaker Series

Multiple events

In these one-hour conversations, mental and behavioral health practitioners will talk about their professional training and career paths to help others who may be considering further training or new kinds of work. We seek to show and encourage diversity in the field, including by sharing insights from practitioners with diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural identities; lived experiences; and motivations for doing this work, along with people who have different types of degrees, licenses, and jobs.

(Re)Imagining Trauma Recovery Among Black Youth: Healing From Historical Trauma and Social Injustice Through Action

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (4 hours)

This course explores how we can use alternative trauma-informed practice perspectives and theoretical frameworks to widen conversations about what trauma means and how to promote mental health and wellness, particularly by centering the experiences of Black Youth. We will explore organizing as a pathway to posttraumatic growth and action-oriented coping. Learners will be invited to share self-reflections and dream-cast ways we can improve the relevancy of mental health interventions.

Self-Care in the Workplace: Managing Race-Related Stressors

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (2 hours)

Workplace race-related stress can be described as the psychological or emotional distress that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) staff experience because of their identity. It can result from major experiences of racism, such as being overlooked for promotions or salary increases or harassed for hair texture, body type, or facial features. It can also result from an accumulation of many everyday microaggressions, such as belittling or bullying behavior, stereotyping, and having your experiences as a member of a racial minority group dismissed. When BIPOC staff have these racialized experiences, it negatively impacts quality of life, satisfaction at work, and overall physical and psychological health. This course helps learners identify and define workplace race-related stressors, explore the impact of these stressors on the workplace experience, and develop radical self-care strategies.

Understanding the Mental Health Effects of Racial Discrimination

Brief Learning Series

Multi-Session (8 hours)

This foundational course introduces key terms, concepts, and evidence for understanding the impacts of racism on mental health, including race-related stress and trauma. Grounded in Dr. Robert Carter’s 30 years of research, teaching, and action to confront racism and its effects – along with other relevant research - participants will learn how race and racism operate in our daily lives and the effects of racism on mental health and health outcomes.

This course satisfies the prerequisite for the advanced course, Acknowledging, Addressing, and Intervening in Harms Related to Racism.

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Conversation & Speaker Series

Conversation & Speaker Series

Conversation & Speaker Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Skills-Based Certificate Program

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Skills-Based Certificate Program

Brief Learning Series

Single-Session

Brief Learning Series

Skills-Based Certificate Program

Brief Learning Series

Brief Learning Series

Acknowledging, Addressing, and Intervening in Harms Related to Racism

Brief Learning Series

Best Practices in Virtual Learning Series

Building Emotional Intelligence Skills for Leadership

Brief Learning Series

Dream and Vision: Connecting to Purpose in the New Year

Conversation & Speaker Series

Motivational Interviewing for Conversations About the COVID-19 Vaccine

Brief Learning Series

Conversation & Speaker Series

(Re)Imagining Trauma Recovery Among Black Youth: Healing From Historical Trauma and Social Injustice Through Action

Brief Learning Series

Self-Care in the Workplace: Managing Race-Related Stressors

Brief Learning Series

Understanding the Mental Health Effects of Racial Discrimination

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Center

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Kitchen Wellness

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Release and Relax

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Relax, Release, Renew

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Rise and Energize

Brief Learning Series

Wellness Wednesday: Turning Inward

Brief Learning Series