Pacific Southwest MHTTC

WEDNESDAY, April 24, 2024 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. PT [Find your local time zone here] Workshop 6 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series (view series page for full details) The Heart Work: Equity-Centered Coaching Practices for Trauma Informed Collegiality and Collective Healing Trauma Informed Principle to Practice: Cultural Humility As systemic inequities and trauma are often intertwined, addressing their connection becomes crucial in trauma-informed school communities. Centering equity in every student interaction and adult partnership supporting the school system is essential. The capacity for the adults responsible for implementing trauma-informed practices grounded in equity is nurtured through equity-centered coaching.   In this workshop, we will explore the principles of equity-centered coaching to cultivate trauma-informed school environments. Coaching conversations, grounded in active listening, cultural humility, and psychological safety, model the equitable interactions we hope administrators have with educators and providers so that educators and providers can offer the same experience with their students.   Together, we will examine our own identities, assumptions, patterns, and beliefs - creating space for new perspectives. This self-reflection enables us to recognize how inequities and trauma manifest in our schools. As we build self-awareness about our experiences and worldviews, we become better able to perceive concerning dynamics and interrupt cycles of harm.   This workshop invites us to envision the trauma-informed and healing-centered schools we desire – places where adults possess the tools to nurture their well-being and fully empower students. We will review evidence-based tools, rationale, and resources to foster cultural humility, mitigate systemic barriers, and build trusting partnerships across the school community.     Audience:  Educators, school site leaders, school mental health professionals, youth advocates, teacher educators, school mental health graduate school educators, higher education administrators, and anyone interested in equity centered coaching in school cultures.   Faculty Melissa Smith, M.S. (she/hers) is the newest member of the Pacific Southwest MHTTC team. As a licensed collegiate and postgraduate professional, Melissa comprehends the immense influence education can have on cultivating safe, inclusive, and engaging learning spaces that amplify voices which often go unheard. As a licensed collegiate and postgraduate professional, Melissa understands education's profound impact on ability to challenge existing norms and perceptions, amplifying the voices of those from marginalized communities.   As a Change Consultant with Change Matrix, Melissa crafts transformative learning experiences that foster personal and professional growth. Her commitment extends beyond conventions as she envisions landscapes where everyone feels valued, heard, and empowered to thrive. She uses her scholarly knowledge to create safe, inclusive, and engaging learning environments.  Her methodology empowers people and organizations to question the status quo, utilize data-driven insights, and take tangible actions to create more equitable and inclusive environments.   A passionate professional with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a Master of Science in Reading from Radford University, Melissa encourages us to move beyond comfort zones to dismantle systemic barriers hindering social, emotional and mental health.     Priming Materials   Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education (Equity and Social Justice in Education) (Paperback) | Phoenix Books Anchor Competencies Framework    

WEDNESDAY, April 24, 2024 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. PT Session 3 of 4 in the "Rooting Young Adult Mental Health Services in Culturally Sustaining Values & Practices" Series (view series main page for full details)   Uplifting Culturally Sustaining Practices in Substance Use Prevention April 24, 2024: Session 3   This session’s essential question is: How might we challenge the deficit model permeating prevention and recovery to make space for culturally sustaining perspectives and practices in the field?   Main Series Program Goals Counter the impacts of vicarious trauma and burn out by creating a safe and responsive learning community for the YYA workforce to be heard and seen in their efforts to support the holistic needs of their clientele. Build an understanding of healing centered engagement and approaches to youth development and case management that strengthens service provision for transition-aged youth. Expand our organizational and individual capacity to support young adult holistic wellness, critical consciousness development, and collective healing.     Audience All community-based organizations, institutions, and mental health professionals, including peer support specialists, therapists, psychologists, counselors, and others who support the mental health and wellness of transition-aged youth.     Meet the Co-Facilitators & Faculty   Oriana Ides, MA, APCC, PPS (she/hers) Oriana Ides is a School Mental Health Training Specialist at CARS (the Center for Applied Research Solutions) and approaches healing the wounds of trauma and oppression as core elements of social justice. She has worked with young people across the life course from elementary school to college, and has served as teacher-leader, school counselor, classroom educator and program director. She is committed to generating equity within school structures and policies by focusing on evidence-based mental health techniques and institutional design.   Falilah “Aisha” Bilal (she/her) Falilah “Aisha” Bilal has worked joyously for over 30 years creating innovative, relevant evidence-based strategies to transform, empower and develop individuals, systems, organizations and contemporary thought. Ms. Bilal’s work is centered in healing practices, empowering youth and families, and self-discovery.  Ms. Bilal specializes in the field of youth development, healing informed organizational development, and strategic fundraising consultation. Currently Ms. Bilal serves as the Chief of Staff for the Black Organizing Project as well as directs her own consulting company where she provides trainings, curriculum development, healing experiences, coaching, and executive leadership to local and national agencies, companies and programs. Previously, Ms. Bilal served as a Senior Trainer with the National Black Women’s Justice Institute and a Radical Healer with Flourish Agenda.  She served as the Executive Director for M.I.S.S.S.E.Y. raising over 2 million dollars in funds to support sexually exploited children and young adults.   She has worked for numerous Bay Area agencies including World Trust, Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, Oakland Bay Area CARES Mentoring Movement, GirlSource, Office of Family, Children and Youth, City of Oakland, and the Young Women’s Freedom Center. Ms. Bilal holds a M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a B.A. in Theater Arts and Child Psychology from San Francisco State University.   Maurice Byrd, LMFT (he/him) Maurice Byrd is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working as a harm reductionist for the past 20 years. He is a clinical supervisor, and has collaborated in the development and implementation of community mental health programs for people experiencing chronic mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and experiencing homelessness. During his career, he has worked with adolescents and adults. He has provided mental health services in middle schools, high schools, in private practice settings, in the San Francisco County Jail system, in San Quentin prison, in homeless drop-in centers, at needle exchanges, and on the sidewalk with people experiencing homelessness. He trains, teaches, supervises, and provides consultation to both clinical and non-clinical staff at several non-profit agencies nationally, primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area and is often invited to speak as a voice for harm reduction therapy. Maurice specializes in teaching the fundamentals of practicing Harm Reduction Psychotherapy. He also enjoys teaching about facilitating groups and led a Harm Reduction Marijuana Group for system exposed young adults that he facilitated for 8 years. Maurice has been trained in MDMA for PTSD with MAPS and Ketamine assisted therapy. He also provides individual and group KAT therapy in his private practice. He has taught in the MFT program at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA focusing on Substance Use interventions and Community Mental Health. He is a published author, cowriting the chapter Dealing with Drug Use After Prison: Harm Reduction Therapy in the book Decarcerating America.   Tonia Herrero (she/her) Tonia Herrero is the owner and supervising Art Therapist of East Bay Art Therapy. Tonia is a cisgendered woman with Spanish, Ashkenazi, Irish and Native American (Sac and Fox) ancestry. Tonia is a Board Certified Art Therapist and Certified Supervisor with the Art Therapy Credentials Board and a Licensed Certified Art Therapist in the state of Oregon. She has over eight years of clinical experience in the field of art therapy and specializes in helping adolescent boys access, express and process emotions and trauma as well as find healthy ways to express and manage their anger. Additionally, Tonia specializes in adolescents and adults of all genders with substance-use concerns (or in recovery from addiction/alcoholism) as well as dual-diagnosis (substance-use plus mental health diagnosis/es). Tonia has long term sobriety/recovery herself and is passionate about working with folks in recovery or wanting to enter recovery from substance-abuse. For decades, Tonia has demonstrated an innate talent and ability to build positive rapport with adolescents, especially teen boys. Her approach to art therapy is trauma-informed and draws influence from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Relational Psychodynamic and Humanistic theories such as Person-Centered, Existential, and Gestalt. She is also trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) which informs her approach. Tonia is a Health At Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating informed therapist which informs her work with clients struggling with their relationship to food and body image.

TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2024 10:00 - 11:15 a.m. HT / 12:00 - 1:15 p.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. MT / 2:00 - 3:15 p.m. CT / 3:00 - 4:15 p.m. ET Session 4 of 8 in the "Provider Plática Learning Collaborative" Series / Sesión 4 de 8 de la Serie "Colaboración de Aprendizaje para una Plática entre Profesionales" (view series main page for full details / consultar la página principal de la serie para ver toda la información) Provider Plática Learning Collaborative: Supporting the Training Needs of Practitioners of Spanish Language Mental Health Services Colaboración de Aprendizaje para una Plática entre Profesionales: Respaldando las Necesidades de Capacitación de los Profesionales que Prestan Servicios de Salud Mental en Español April 4: Session 4 / 30 de abril: Sesión 4   Welcome to Session 4 in this series! / ¡Bienvenidos a la Sesión 4 de esta serie!   Collaboratively held by the National Training & Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) and the Pacific Southwest MHTTC this Provider Platica program is a monthly collaborative space for peer learning and resourcing. This session and all that follow are an open, bilingual space for members of the mental health workforce to share common challenges and experiences when providing services to Spanish-speaking communities with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) as well as high-quality resources and innovative solutions. All levels of Spanish language proficiency and comfort are welcome. Este programa de Plática entre Profesionales, llevado a cabo colaborativamente por el Centro Nacional de Capacitación y Asistencia Técnica (NTTAC por sus siglas en inglés) y el Centro de Transferencia de Tecnología de Salud Mental del Sudoeste del Pacífico (MHTTC por sus siglas en inglés), es un espacio mensual de colaboración para el aprendizaje entre pares y la facilitación de recursos. Esta y todas las demás sesiones son un espacio abierto y bilingüe donde los miembros de la fuerza laboral de salud mental podrán compartir desafíos y experiencias en común a la hora de prestar servicios a las comunidades de habla hispana con un Dominio Limitado del Inglés (LEP por sus siglas en inglés), así como recursos de alta calidad y soluciones innovadoras. Son bienvenidas las personas con cualquier nivel de dominio del español y comodidad con el mismo.   Audience / Audiencia Mental health professionals across the country and U.S. territories, including clinicians, peer counselors and others who provide services to Spanish-speaking individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). We welcome providers in a wide range of professional settings, including clinical, community and government agencies, education, private practice, and more. Profesionales de la salud mental de todo Estados Unidos y sus territorios, incluidos médicos clínicos, consejeros entre pares y otras personas que prestan servicios a hablantes de español con un Dominio Limitado del Inglés (LEP por sus siglas en inglés). Les damos la bienvenida a profesionales provenientes de una amplia variedad de entornos, que incluye instituciones clínicas, comunitarias, gubernamentales, educativas, consultorios privados y demás.   About the Facilitators / Conozcan a las Facilitadoras Lisa Teyechea (she/her) is highly skilled and experienced in technical assistance, training, and project developer in areas of public health, prevention, and behavioral health. Other skills include evaluation and grant writing. More than 20 years designing and implementing systems of care and programming at agency and community levels, while approaching work with a trauma-informed lens. Lisa Teyechea (ella) está altamente capacitada y posee una enorme experiencia en asistencia técnica, capacitación y desarrollo de proyectos en las áreas de salud pública, prevención y salud conductual. Entre otras habilidades suyas se incluyen la evaluación y redacción de solicitudes de subvenciones. Posee más de 20 años de experiencia diseñando e implementando sistemas de atención y programas a nivel institucional y comunitario, abordando su labor desde una perspectiva informada sobre el trauma.     Kristi Silva (she/her) has over 15 years’ experience providing culturally responsive training and technical assistance – especially for Latine and Native American communities – at the local, state, and national level. In addition to subject matter expertise in health equity and policy, Ms. Silva is an experienced researcher and evaluator, with specialization in community-developed best practices requiring an adapted evaluation methodology. She has worked in partnership with communities impacted by pan-generational trauma to develop strengths-based policies and practices that are sustainable and rooted in a social justice framework. As a professional who now serves communities like the one she comes from, Ms. Silva brings an essential lens of lived experience to the work. Kristi Silva (ella) tiene más de 15 años de experiencia brindando capacitación y asistencia técnica culturalmente receptiva —especialmente a comunidades latinas e indígenas norteamericanas— a nivel local, estatal y nacional. Además de ser experta en asuntos de equidad y políticas de salud, la Srta. Silva es una evaluadora e investigadora experimentada, especializada en mejores prácticas desarrolladas por la comunidad que requieran una metodología de evaluación adaptada. Ha trabajado junto con comunidades impactadas por el trauma pangeneracional para desarrollar prácticas y políticas basadas en las fortalezas que sean sostenibles y se fundamenten en un marco de justicia social. Como una profesional que ahora atiende a comunidades similares a aquellas de donde proviene, la Srta. Silva lleva a cabo su trabajo con una perspectiva fundamental de experiencias de vida.     (view series main page for full details / consultar la página principal de la serie para ver toda la información)  

This is a recording of Workshop 4 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  Counseling with Care: Trauma Informed School Counseling Practices Trauma Informed Principle to Practice: Peer Support, Empowerment   Are you a school counselor, becoming a school counselor, or someone who teams/works with school counselors? Zeyda Garcia, founder of Healing Aguas Wellness Solutions and school counseling professor, joined this series to share how to anchor and apply trauma-informed principles in school counseling practices, programs, and policies. In the workshop video, she discusses a high-level overview of trauma, its impacts on students, and different strategies school mental health providers can implement to support young people in counseling settings.   Utilizing trauma informed school counseling practices, providers can support young people in regulating their own nervous system and support them in accessing their education. Watch this workshop video and join in reflections on our unique school and personal practices, in order to enhance our trauma-informed support of students.   Viewers will walk away with practical tools to use in sessions with students, families, and school-wide. Most importantly, and in Zeyda’s words, this workshop aims to offer school counselors “more creativity, courage and confidence in yourself as a counselor and a commitment to caring for yourself.”

This recording is from Workshop 3 of 6 in the "Trauma-Informed, In School Sessions" Workshop Series.  This video recording provides an exploration of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based approach tailored for adults or children, particularly refugees and immigrants, with multiple traumatic experiences. Kids Narrative Exposure Therapy (KIDNET) is a therapy designed for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma, especially in conflict zones. KIDNET therapy focuses on reprocessing traumatic memories by contrasting the memories with the present feelings through narration. It focuses on helping them process their traumatic memories by creating a "lifeline" and uses techniques like storytelling, art, and role-play to aid in healing and recovery.   Led by Dr. Alejandra Acuña, this workshop guided participants towards a comprehensive understanding of NET's principles and techniques, learning how to utilize storytelling to help students process and integrate traumatic memories resulting in reduced PTSD symptoms. Viewers will walk away equipped with practical strategies and insights to provide culturally responsive support to students, fostering resilience and facilitating healing within diverse educational settings (e.g., green lights, yellow lights, and red lights of NET implementation!).   Importantly, Dr. Acuña shared not only about the evidence based approach, but how the implementation of it in itself can and should be trauma-informed and culturally responsive so that students and their families experience their recovery through the trauma-informed principles of empowerment and collaboration.

By adopting trauma-informed practices, schools can create environments that empower students, support healing, and break the cycle of bullying. This infographic illustrates the different approaches to address bullying in schools.