Trauma and Healing
Trauma-Informed, Family-Centered Practices Training Series
From 2018-2022, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg sponsored a multi-agency initiative designed to help begin transforming St. Petersburg’s Infant and Early Childhood service landscape to become more responsive to the needs of families through trauma-informed, family-centered services and supports. The initiative was planned and guided by leadership from multiple child- and family-serving agencies collectively providing direct services to most of St. Petersburg’s infants and toddlers. One important arm of the work was dedicated to development of content workshops addressing trauma-informed care, family-centered approaches and supports, and reflective practices for agencies. Over 300 individuals from six partner agencies participated in the workshop series, offered by the Family Study Center’s Dr. LaDonna Butler. Studio versions of the trainings were created to capture essential components of the trauma-informed, family-centered framework that guided the initiative.
Those studio versions can be found on this website, along with other resources and information for human services professionals and agencies serving children birth to age 3 from families that have experienced trauma or early adversity. The studio series is comprised of four core modules, ranging from 30-60 minutes. Each is accompanied by a User’s Guide of workbook-style pages that assist the viewer in taking notes and reflecting on the material.
MODULE 1. WHAT IS TRAUMA? examines the causes and consequences of trauma, particularly childhood trauma, in the context of a family-centered practice.
MODULE 2. BASIC TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE discusses the intentions and characteristics of trauma-informed care and how to achieve it in the context of a family-centered practice.
MODULE 3. ENGAGING FATHERS & OTHER COPARENTS IN SERVICES summarizes the infant-family mental health benefits of a family-centered approach and proposes steps agencies can take to meaningfully transform their current practice.
MODULE 4. REFLECTIVE SUPERVISION outlines models of reflective supervision and providesguidance for successful reflective supervision sessions and supervisors.
According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, trauma-informed child and family service systems are those in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with the system -- including children, caregivers, and service providers. Trauma-informed systems also acknowledge the compounding impact of structural inequity and are responsive to the unique needs of diverse communities. Recognizing the importance of cultural responsiveness in trauma-informed, family-centered care, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg sponsored a sister initiative, Reckoning with Race and COVID in Infant-Family Mental Health, to provide additional resources for agencies and other community providers. The products from that initiative can be found here. Additional resources from the NCTSN can be found here.
