533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare

The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Learning Objectives Participants will be able to: Explain how the parallel process applies to agency leaders who engage in self-care; Describe how trauma-informed approach principles can help children, youth, families, and staff manage traumatic stress; Identify the role organizational culture plays in managing traumatic stress; and Identify staff, supervisor, and administrator responsibilities in managing traumatic stress among child welfare professionals and promoting trauma-informed culture. 2

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Agenda for Today Welcome and Introductions The Parallel Process Trauma-Informed Approach Principles and Organizational Culture Organizational Roles to Promote Trauma- Informed Culture Summary and Evaluations 3

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Quality Service Review Indicator 1a: Safety: Exposure to Threats of Harm Degree to which: The child/youth is free of abuse, neglect, and exploitation by others in his/her place of residence, school, and other daily settings. The child/youth’s parents and/or caregivers provide the attention, actions, and supports and possess the skills and knowledge necessary to protect the child/youth from known and potential threats of harm in the home, school, and other daily settings. 4

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center There is a three-pronged approach to dealing with trauma. They are: Individual (employee) self-care Peer and supervisory support Organizational/Agency-wide support including the use of worksite models and systems that work to manage trauma Organizational Responsibilities 5

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center The Parallel Process Administrators Supervisors Front-line staff Parents/Caregivers Children/Youth 6

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Don’t Let Ideas Get Away! 7

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center A trauma-informed approach refers to how a program, agency, organization, or community thinks about and responds to those who have experienced or may be at risk for experiencing trauma; it refers to a change in the organizational culture. (Harris and Fallot, 2001) What Do We Mean By a Trauma-Informed Approach? 8

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Four Key Elements to a Trauma-Informed Approach Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization. SAMHSA,

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Terms in a Trauma-Informed System Trauma-Informed Care Trauma-Informed Intervention Trauma-Informed Services 10

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Instructions: Learning the Trauma-Informed Approach Principles 1.Read Handout #6 (Trauma-Informed Approach). 2.Discuss and answer the questions for your assigned principle. Take notes on the handout. 11

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Instructions: Peer Teaching 1.Discuss your assigned principle with your new group by summarizing the discussion you had with your previous table. 2.All discuss strengths and opportunities for enhancing the principle. 3.All take notes on Handout #6 (Trauma-Informed Approach). 12

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center What is Collaboration? Collaboration is a process of engaging team members to reach goals that cannot be achieved by one single agent. It includes the following components: Jointly developing and agreeing on a set of common goals and directions; Sharing responsibility for obtaining those goals; and Working together to achieve those goals, using the expertise and resources of each collaborator. (National Summer Learning Association, 2013) 13

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Benefits of Collaboration Among All Staff Keeps them connected, encourages them to access support, and establishes a more positive workplace atmosphere of support, teamwork and mutual respect; Increases opportunities for people to learn from each other about managing work-related stress; and Provides opportunities for a wide range of social support activities. 14

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Collaboration Activity Instructions Keep the goal on resiliency and refer to Handout #8 (Strategies to Promote Collaboration and a Positive Work Environment). Close your eyes and imagine this difficult situation again, but this time through the resiliency lens. Would you manage this situation differently? How? Use flexibility and creativity in your brainstorming. 15

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center A person’s ability to “bounce back” from hardship or a difficult situation. (ACS-NYU, Children’s Trauma Institute, 2011). Resilience 16

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Resilience Framework in the Workplace Activity Instructions 1.Find a partner. 2.Play either role for Scenario #1 on Handout #9 (Promoting Resiliency Using a Trauma-Informed Approach). 3.Address and/or solve the problems raised in the scenario using Handout #6 (Trauma-Informed Approach) and Handout #8 (Strategies to Promote Collaboration and a Positive Work Environment). 4.After three minutes, switch roles and repeat for Scenario #2. 5.Provide each other feedback on the trauma-informed responses. 17

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Resilience Framework in the Workplace Activity Instructions (continued) 1.Find a new partner 2.Play either role for Scenario #3. Address and/or solve the problems raised in the scenario using Handout #6 (Trauma-Informed Approach) and Handout #8 (Strategies to Promote Collaboration and a Positive Work Environment). 3.After three minutes switch roles and repeat for Scenario #4. 18

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Individual Resiliency Activity Instructions 1.Identify a stressful experience you recently had at work. 2.Record the resilient and non-resilient behaviors of people who were impacted by this experience; note which behaviors were exhibited by caseworkers and which were by supervisors. 3.For each non-resilient behavior listed, re-write the experience using a resilience framework. 4.Identify three self-care behaviors that could have reduced the impact of this experience. 19

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Reflection Stepping back from the immediate experience to sort through thoughts and feelings about what one is observing and doing with children and families. (Fenichel, 1992). 20

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center What is Reflective Supervision? A collaborative relationship for professional growth that improves program quality and practice by cherishing strengths and partnering around vulnerabilities to generate growth. (Shahmoon Shanok, 2009) 21

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center The Three Elements of Reflective Supervision Collaboration Regularity Reflection (Parlakian, 2001) 22

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Don’t Let Ideas Get Away! 23

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center How Is Each Level of the Organization Involved in these Tasks? Developing a vision of how the employees will deal with trauma; personally and agency-wide, on an ongoing basis; Designing and building the systems needed to make that happen; and Creating a safe and trusting environment for the employees that incorporates the parallel process. 24

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Don’t Let Ideas Get Away! 25

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Questions and Answers 26

533: Building a Trauma-Informed Culture in Child Welfare The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center Use Your Action Plan Often! 27