All Scheduled Dates
Morning Cohort
The Morning Cohort will meet on Thursdays, September 18-October 9, from 10:00am-12:00pm.
Afternoon Cohort
The Afternoon Cohort will meet on Tuesdays, September 23-October 14, from 1:00pm-3:00pm.
Course Type
Multi-Session
Course Length
8 hours
QUESTIONS?
If you are having trouble opening the application link or have any other questions regarding this course, please email us at [email protected]
ATTENDANCE POLICY
We expect participants in the Academy's cohort-based courses to attend all course sessions. Each session builds on prior weeks. Attending and contributing consistently will enrich your experience and that of your peers.
To receive a certificate of completion, we ask that participants attend and engage in at least three of four sessions, submit reflective writing responses, and complete the post course survey.
Foundations of Care
Part of Racial Equity and Trauma-Informed Care
DESCRIPTION
Foundations of Care is the first in a series of courses to prepare you to advance racial equity and trauma-informed care within organizations. Through co-design with a cross-section of NYC social service providers, the Academy developed this course to help staff orient toward practices for acknowledging and mitigating the harms of persistent systemic inequalities - on yourselves, your organizations, and the communities you serve.
Foundations of Care equips staff to protect themselves from stress and trauma impacts. If you have ever felt exhaustion, a lack of motivation, or cynicism; if there is a passion for the work that you no longer feel present to; if you have felt hopeless or helpless as you navigate changes – you are not alone. These experiences are common among care providers who respond to pain and injustice in their communities, often with too few resources.
Through this 4-week course, you will gain tools to transform common reactions to stress; develop a personal praxis that supports your work; model healing practices for yourself and others; and connect to both small steps and broader visions for advancing racial equity and trauma-informed care. These skills will leave you better equipped to navigate changing conditions, respond to clients and staff in distress, and lead from a place of compassion. Those who complete Foundations of Care will be eligible for supervisor courses in this series, starting in Fall 2025.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Each week will include group discussion and practicing tools that support wellbeing. Some sessions incorporate multimedia, psychoeducation, short readings, and reflective writing. Participants will identify and practice tools to support their wellbeing between sessions, and discuss and reflect on these practices in the cohort.
To fully engage with course material and each other, participants are asked to:
- Join from a quiet, private space
- Use a desktop or laptop computer with updated Zoom. Participating from a mobile phone is not advisable
- Be on camera for the duration of the session
- Bring any needed supplies
- Take the lessons, leave the story. Respect the confidentiality of all participants by not sharing identifiable information
COURSE OUTLINE
Description
In Session 1, we uncover the unique stressors that social services providers face, including the systems of oppression that cause harm and exacerbate trauma in marginalized communities. We begin to build a foundation for acknowledging and working with these harms. We will practice nervous system centering tools that protect against the impacts of stress and increase a sense of calm. Participants will rethink self-care from a more empowering perspective and leave with accessible tools to support their wellbeing.
Objectives
- Create a shared sense of purpose for our time in this course
- Acknowledge unique stressors that supervisors in non-profit care settings face
- Explore physical, emotional and behavioral changes we experience under stress, along with our capacities for self and co-regulation
- Practice nervous system centering tools
- Investigate learned messages about care
- Plan to integrate one or two good-fit practices into your routine for the coming week
Description
Intense emotional experiences are a normal part of life, yet many people feel overwhelmed by intense emotions. In this session we learn how to identify the unmet needs behind intense emotions, and practice tools to discharge and care for the body's experience of intense emotions. We also explore systemic and historic harms that have impacted ourselves and our communities, and which often underpin intense emotional experiences. Through understanding the systemic harms that impact social service provision, participants explore where they may have internalized disempowering messages and move toward a more empowered approach to ongoing self-care.
Objectives
- Identify our own experiences of intense emotions
- Practice emotional discharge and tending to intense emotions with somatic, mindfulness, and DBT skills
- Reflect on systemic and historic harms and their impact to ourselves and communities
- Reflect on the experience of using 1-2 care practices over the past week
- Plan to practice at least one nervous system centering tool in the coming week
Description
In our third session, participants will explore the values we hold in our work and our shared purpose for being in a helping profession. In addition to cultivating physical care practices, deepening our connection to purpose and values decreases stress and protects against burnout. Building upon our values and purpose, we explore additional coping strategies and supports available in our workplaces and communities to reduce the negative impacts of workplace stress.
Objectives
- Reflect on personal and shared motivations and values in the helping professions
- Continue to practice nervous system centering tools
- Through a creative activity, map resources that support your personal and professional wellbeing
- Increase your ability to connect with available supports, including trusted colleagues and friends
- Reflect on the experience of integrating care practices into your life between sessions
- Plan to integrate good-fit care practices into your routine over the coming week
Description
In the final session, participants will reflect on the learning and practices from the course, while tapping into your capacity to imagine more just future states and next steps. Drawing on the work of social change leaders like Norma Wong, scholar activist of the Hawaii Sovereignty movement, we will use guided meditation to access our long-term vision for healed and healthy communities. Envisioning this future, we build our capacity for radical imagination and other ways of knowing – key components of building long term paths toward health and wellbeing for ourselves and our communities. On this foundation of future visions that inspire and move us, we close with affirming our commitment to ongoing wellbeing and care strategies to support ourselves and our communities. Participants will leave with a tangible action plan for ongoing care.
Objectives
- Practice radical imagination and other ways of knowing
- Identify how envisioning more just futures can support individual and communal wellbeing
- Reflect on the role of values in helping us thrive, personally and professionally
- Reflect on the lessons and practices that have been most helpful for you in this course
- Create an intentional plan for your ongoing self-care
ELIGIBILITY
This course is open to staff of non-profit community-based organizations, city agencies, or other non-profit settings that deliver social or behavioral health care in New York City.
HOW TO APPLY
Applications for the Morning Cohort can be found here. Applications for the Afternoon Cohort can be found here. Applications for both cohorts will close on Tuesday, 8/26.
If you are having trouble opening the application link, please email us at [email protected].
