Training
All staff will benefit from an introduction to concepts in trauma and resilience. Consider how you could incorporate trauma-informed knowledge into your ongoing training and education program for new staff and as an ongoing refresher training.
As your community deepens its commitment to developing trauma-informed knowledge, skills, and competencies among the workforce, your training program might expand to include topics to benefit the workforce, such as:
- Reflective and Supportive Supervision
- Motivational Interviewing
- Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction
Credible institutions and organizations committed to building the national health and human services capacity to provide trauma-informed care offer many free, accessible training resources.
Trauma and Resilience 101
Training all staff in the basics of trauma and resilience and the trauma-informed care principles improves knowledge, skills, and competency. Three short introductory training videos were developed for this toolkit and tested with nursing homes nationwide. Among those testing the series, 96.4% were satisfied or very satisfied with it.
Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed Care
The Center for Holocaust Survivor Care Institute on Trauma and Aging at Jewish Federations of North America is devoted specifically to person-centered, trauma-informed care in long-term care. The Center offers no-cost training tools for providers, family caregivers, and medical professionals on topics related to person-centered, trauma-informed care.
Compassion Fatigue
Educating all staff on the signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue contributes to a trauma-informed culture by showing care and concern for staff wellbeing, removing stigma associated with asking for support, and increasing staff awareness of workplace stress. These brief videos from VCU Gerontology can be shared with staff via email, in team meetings, or employee wellness activities.
Psychological First Aid
Local, national, and global communities sometimes experience overwhelming crisis, distress, or disaster. Encourage employees to complete Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) training as part of organizational crisis and disaster planning. The National Center for PTSD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network have developed free online PFA and SPR training available to anyone in English and Spanish.