Products and Resources Catalog

It is imperative to create and maintain a safe, comfortable, open, and welcoming work environment with opportunities for learning and growth for organizations.  When considering a safe and supportive work environment, we must stress the importance of leaders who embrace and prioritize person-centered approaches. Creating a positive workplace challenges our individual and collective beliefs on what may be needed to create and sustain healthy work environments. Although there is no one answer, this resource can be helpful when building this environment within your organization.

The South Southwest MHTTC hosted this presentation on April 8, 2024. The program, facilitated by Dr. Heather Curry and Dr. Marianne Thomas, provided the foundations of identifying human trafficking, exploring trauma-informed and trauma-responsive interventions with victims and survivors, as well as techniques used when providing healing-centered care. About the Facilitators Dr. Heather Curry, PhD  Dr. Heather Curry has over a decade of experience through her scholarship, practice, and professional commitments with many of the most impactful systems of care for victims of human trafficking. She has served as Director for the Hillsborough County Commission on Human Trafficking, during which time she and the Commission, at the behest of the NFL, developed and executed the County’s plan to address Human Trafficking before, during, and over the Super Bowl. However, her approach to the phenomenon of human trafficking is always focused on what happens before, during, and after big events. She was also the Chief Liaison for Hillsborough County’s Juvenile Justice and Equity work. She holds her Doctorate. in Communication Theory from the University of South Florida. She has had teaching and research positions at the University of South Florida, Arizona State University, and Full Sail University during which she focused on social policy and homelessness, and community responses to matters of equity and vulnerability.  Dr. Curry also works with corporations, public sector clients, and non-profit organizations to address diversity, equity and inclusion. Her commitments, personally and professionally, have always been driven toward creating healthier, more responsive communities, in which issues such as human trafficking, can be prevented. Dr. Curry lives in Tampa, Florida with her two sons and two cats in an old, sometimes-lovely moneypit of a bungalow. She has made Tampa home since 2002.   Dr. Marianne Thomas, PhD  Marianne Thomas has an MA in Mental Health Counseling and a PhD in Behavioral Psychology.  As a survivor of human trafficking, Dr. Thomas used education as a way out of the life and has devoted her career to bringing awareness about the true problem of human trafficking in the United States, educating communities on the human trafficking problem in their area, and helping organizations to create or grow their own anti-trafficking program.     Early in her career, Dr. Thomas worked with women and children who experienced homelessness and with men and women within the incarceration system who also struggled with addictions.   She noticed a common thread of women who would trade their bodies for their, and their children’s, basic needs.   This recognition propelled her into the anti-trafficking movement.  Dr. Thomas began her work in the movement with the women she met within the world of homelessness.  Since then, she has worked with trafficking survivors across numerous populations. 

These documents provide information about Peer Specialists in crisis settings, including general competencies for Peer Specialists in crisis work, Peer Run Warmlines, Peer Navigation, Crisis Respite programs, Mobile Crisis Units, and Crisis Stabilization Units. Subject Matter Experts were consulted on this project and are referenced within each document in quotes as well as recognized as contributors. The content provided in these documents is not exhaustive. Contributors provided expertise; their contribution does not imply endorsement nor does it imply opposition to the document.

The Healing & Power in Peer Support training provides an overview of Healing-Centered Engagement and its principles as ways to deepen and advance the practice of peer support. Participants will explore concepts like holding space, radical acceptance, meaning-making, and power dynamics through deep reflection, experiential activities, and facilitated discussion. This curriculum is helpful for new peer supporters or any peer supporters who are looking to refresh and deepen their skills. This curriculum should be facilitated by experienced peer specialists who are looking to support the peer support workforce in their community. Healing & Power in Peer Support is the prerequisite training for the Virtual Facilitation through a Healing-Centered Lens training, another curriculum created by the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center. Learning Objectives At the end of this training, participants will be able to: Integrate the principles of Healing-Centered Engagement in peer support practice; Practice radical acceptance in relation to self and others; Employ Healing-Centered techniques when facilitating difficult conversations in peer support groups; and Analyze power dynamics within interpersonal and group relationships to promote autonomy and self-determination. This curriculum package includes: a Facilitator Manual, participant handouts, and a training slide deck. For questions about the Healing & Power in Peer Support curriculum or how to implement this training in your community, please contact the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center at [email protected].

Discover the transformative power of trauma-informed care in our Trauma-Informed Care Basics promotional video.

Access the Recording of this Training Here The purpose of this presentation is to help Mental Health and Substance Use providers as well as the Recovery Community at large better understand the potential support needs of people with IDD with or without co-occurring Mental Health and/or Substance Use Challenges that they interact with either socially, academically, and/or professionally by providing examples of potential support needs and methods that can be used to help address support needs.  Learning Objectives:  By the end of the presentation attendees will be able to:  Define Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities  Identify different potential support needs of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities including vital support needs around Sensory Processing Disorders like Tactile Dysfunction and Proprioceptive Dysfunction  Execute a more trauma informed and person-centered approach to interacting with persons with Proprioceptive Dysfunction and/or Tactile Dysfunction About the Presenter:  Jordan Smelley is a Mental Health Peer Support Specialist in Texas and a person in long-term recovery from Intellectual and Developmental Differences with Co-occurring Mental Health challenges. Jordan partly defines his own recovery in relation to the opportunities available to present and educate the community on topics around supporting persons with IDD.  Jordan was awarded the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Texas Chapter’s Empowerment Award for Excellence in Promotion of Self-Advocacy at its 47th Annual Convention on November 16, 2023, in recognition of Jordan’s Self-Advocacy efforts around expanding supports available to persons with Intellectual and/or Developmental Differences.

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) to host the Trauma Informed Care Open Office Hours session 4. This session offered hands-on application and clarity on concepts through case-study examples and interactive discussion with TACHC Trauma Informed Care Coordinators. This session was held on October 24, 2023, and focused on TIC and Care of Individuals with Chronic Diseases.

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) to host the Trauma Informed Care Open Office Hours session 5. This session offered hands-on application and clarity on concepts through case-study examples and interactive discussion with TACHC Trauma Informed Care Coordinators. This session was held on November 28, 2023, and focused on TIC and Care for Individuals with Substance Use Disorders.

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers (TACHC) to host the Trauma Informed Care Open Office Hours session 3. This session offered hands-on application and clarity on concepts through case-study examples and interactive discussion with TACHC Trauma Informed Care Coordinators. This session was held on September 26, 2023, and focused on Care Coordination & Cross-Sector Collaboration.

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers to host the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Series: Knowledge & Strategies for Health and Hope Session 5 on November 14, 2023. This session focused on TIC and Care for Individuals with SUD.     Trauma Informed Care is an evidence-based framework particularly suited to collaboratively identify risk factors to care, such as medication access and use, therapeutic engagement, and non-medical resource needs and navigation.

Creating Affirming Environments for LGBTQ People Receiving Services provides an overview of terms, concepts, and identities that people working in the behavioral health field should know to provide affirming services and cultivate affirming environment for LGBTQ people. Based on a 2018 report from the Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, titled Peers in Research: Interventions for Developing LGBTQ-Affirmative Behavioral Health Services in Texas, most providers in Texas do not hold overtly prejudicial attitudes towards LGBTQ clients, but that most providers either lack the knowledge and skills to provide appropriate care to LGBTQ clients or are not aware of the importance of LGBTQ-affirming care. This training aims to bridge the gap many providers feel by offering basic information, resources, and guidance for people working in behavioral health agencies on how to support LGBTQ people receiving services.     Co-created by: Darcy Kues, JD., and Shane Whalley, MSSW     Learning Objectives: At the end of this training, participants will be able to:    • Define many current terms used in the LGBTQ communities;    • Understand the foundation of sexual orientation and gender;    • Recognize the unique impacts of trauma on the LGBTQ communities;    • Communicate using an affirming framework with LGBTQ people receiving services; and    • Implement at least one LGBTQ-affirming organizational/environmental change.     For more information on this training, including training opportunities through the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center or how to bring this training to your community, please email [email protected].

The Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training is a three-day training (19.5 hours of classroom time) for peer supporters on the topics of youth voice and issues specific to youth navigating mental health or substance use challenges. The Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training is available for anyone who works, or is interested in working, as a peer specialist. This training provides participants with a foundation for youth experience with mental health and substance use challenges, the unique issues for youth navigating recovery and youth-serving systems, and best practices and tools for peer specialists looking to support youth. The training will also encourage participants to consider how to use their own lived experience when supporting youth through structured reflection, group discussion, and interactive activities.     The Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training is appropriate for anyone working or volunteering (or interested in working or volunteering) as a peer specialist. The only prerequisite to attendance is that participants must have previous formal training in peer support practice (e.g., their state’s Peer Specialist certification training, Intentional Peer Support, etc.).     Learning Objectives: At the end of this training, it is envisioned that participants will be able to: Define the term “youth” Identify and practice effective ways of meeting youth and young people “where they are” Build authentic connections with young people based on lived experience, regardless of differences in age or other experiences Identify stigmatizing language used to describe young people and effectively reframe such language through the lens of peer values Understand how resistance or other actions may be forms of self-advocacy, communication, or responses to trauma Identify common responses to trauma that young people experience Support young people in exploring different ways to heal from trauma Utilize foundational knowledge of power and privilege to support youth experiencing oppression Assist young people in learning to advocate for themselves within the settings that young people must navigate Set and hold boundaries with persons served and coworkers Identify challenges and ethical boundaries for supporting family members of a young person     A special thanks to Via Hope, the organization where initial development of the Youth and Young Adult Peer Support training took place.     For more information on this training, including training opportunities through the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center or how to bring this training to your community, please email [email protected].

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers to host the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Series: Knowledge & Strategies for Health and Hope Session 4 on October 10, 2023. This session focused on TIC and Care for Individuals with Chronic Diseases.     Trauma Informed Care is an evidence-based framework particularly suited to collaboratively identify risk factors to care, such as medication access and use, therapeutic engagement, and non-medical resource needs and navigation.   View Recording

Positionality refers to the social positions we hold in our society that influence how we interact with the world. As mental health providers, researchers, and advocates, our social positions influence our approach to our work, and reflection on positionality can allow us to identify our limitations and advance equity. The Positionality Project at the South Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) aims to provide resources for the mental health workforce in Region 6 to understand and integrate positionality into their work. This brochure includes foundational information for mental health providers, researchers, and advocates to understand positionality. It provides a metaphor to understand positionality, explores how positionality can be used in mental health, provides a hypothetical example of applying positionality, and shares guiding questions for developing a positionality statement, which is one method for reflecting on positionality. A glossary of terms is provided at the end of the brochure. We hope that the brochure provides an introduction to this critical topic and inspires further learning.

These guides accompany the Trauma-Informed Basics e-Learning Modules and can be used by facilitators when supporting others in deeper engagement and learning of the content presented in the three training modules. The Appendix contains additional materials to support module learning, including breathing and relaxation guides and notes for case consultations in the modules.

The South Southwest MHTTC collaborated with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers to host the Trauma Informed Care (TIC) Series: Knowledge & Strategies for Health and Hope Session 3 on September 12, 2023. This session focused on TIC and Care Coordination through Cross-Sector Collaborations Trauma Informed Care is an evidence-based framework particularly suited to collaboratively identify risk factors to care, such as medication access and use, therapeutic engagement, and non-medical resource needs and navigation. Watch the presentation here: https://vimeo.com/864559372/d534e9b150?share=copy  

As systems move toward providing trauma-informed care, it is important for everyone at all levels of an organization to understand the basics of trauma-informed care. The following resources and courses introduce participants to understanding stress, understanding trauma, and understanding trauma-informed care. All organizational staff can complete the course to develop a shared language, understand stress and trauma, connect the role of resilience in response to adversity and trauma, and identify ways everyone in the organization can support trauma-informed care and implement trauma-informed approaches. This online course was created collaboratively between the South Southwest MHTTC and the Texas Cross-Systems Trauma-Informed Care Initiative with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  The learning modules are housed on a website hosted by the TTC network that provides free training. You will be asked to set up a free account to access the training, which also allows you access to any training on the website. Please set up your account here.  The three modules are approximately one hour each. Each module offers its own certificate of completion with continuing education credits Module 1: Understanding Stress Module 2: Understanding Trauma Module 3: Understanding Trauma-Informed Care

This guide is intended to accompany the three-part series, Understanding Stress, Understanding Trauma, and Understanding Trauma-Informed Care web-based modules located on HealthEKnowledge. This guide is intended for facilitators, coaches, and trauma-informed care champions of this curriculum to feel guided and supported in leading a cohort of through the content. The layout of this guide provides an overview of the objectives, materials needed, breathing & grounding exercises the facilitator can use, timing and content map for live sessions, as well as additional or supplemental exercises to support the content in the module.

The objectives of this module are:  • Develop a shared language around stress, adversity, and trauma, as well as healing and resilience. • Identify different types of stress. • Identify ways stress affects the body.

The objectives of this module are: Make the distinction between trauma and ACEs. Continue to grow our understanding of various forms of trauma. Connect the role of resilience in response to trauma and adversity.

The objectives of this module are: Identify the four key assumptions in a trauma-informed approach. Discuss the six SAMHA trauma-informed care principles. Identify ways they can implement a trauma-informed care approach.

In the appendix, you can find additional breathing exercises, questions to build connections, closing exercises and practices, and TIC principles case studies.

Learn how to cultivate a strong and robust system with this informative flyer focused on how to grow a healing and resilient system.

Growing a Healing and Resilient System Informative Flyer