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ATTENDANCE POLICY

We expect participants in the Academy's cohort-based courses to attend all course sessions. Each course session will build on the prior weeks. Attending and contributing consistently will enrich your experience and that of your peers.

Participants who attend all sessions will receive a certificate of completion. Those who miss no more than 1 session may receive a certificate of completion, at the Academy's discretion.

DESCRIPTION

This six-session course explores the multiple ways systemic inequality and related harms impact ourselves and our communities. Participants learn new and emerging research on trauma and healing, and explore how complex trauma presents in our communities. Throughout this course, we practice breath and movement exercises to process our own strong emotions, cultivate wellbeing, and center our nervous systems.

We will research and share practices that have allowed our families and communities to thrive and overcome adversity. By affirming and remembering our own healing lineages, we plant seeds of care to reduce the impact of complex trauma.

Between sessions, participants practice tools they identify to support their own wellbeing.  At the completion of the course, participants complete a care practice plan, and demonstrate tools they have cultivated to support wellbeing.

Capacity in this course is limited to 30 learners to promote interaction and engagement among participants and instructors.

Pre-requisite (recommended): Seeding Change: Care for Complex Trauma.

 

COURSE OUTLINE

Session I: Repairing the Narrative

Session II: Finding Our Roots

Session III: Deepening Care

Session IV: Refilling the Well

Session V: The Long Arc of Healing

Session VI: Sowing Seeds

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to:

•  Understand how intersecting harms create complex trauma in individuals and communities
•  Identify and share how their own community holds rich and diverse practices to heal physically and emotionally
•  Deepen their awareness of the link between self-care and compassion for others
•  Learn & demonstrate for others practices and strategies to process strong emotions
•  Build or strengthen their ability to create a plan for their own care

 

WHAT TO EXPECT

Each week we will practice grounding and nervous system centering tools, and hold an open discussion of tools participants have practiced between sessions.  Some sessions incorporate multimedia, short readings, and reflective writing.

We will be discussing how complex trauma impacts ourselves and our communities. To engage with the course material fully, all participants are asked to adhere to the following:

• Take the lessons, leave the story. Respect the confidentiality of all participants by not sharing identifiable information.
• Join from a quiet, private space, from a desktop or laptop with recently updated Zoom. Participating fully from a mobile phone is not advisable.
• Be on camera for the duration of the session.
• Bring any needed supplies.

Supply List:  Participants are asked to bring a journal or notebook for reflective writing, items to write with, and colors if you would like to sketch during the reflective writing time. For some sessions, you will be asked to bring any natural item that resonates with you (a leaf, stone, crystal, shell, glass of water, etc).

Stewarding Care:  Participants are asked to be stewards of their own care by coming prepared with any of the following:

• Bring water. A warm beverage like tea is also welcomed
•  Snacks, fruit, or something sweet to nourish yourself
• Any items you need to be comfortable (the body may flush hot or cold when experiencing strong emotions)

ELIGIBILITY

This course is open to staff of any non-profit community organization or government agency that delivers social services in NYC. This course may be especially helpful if you are looking for a deeper understanding of the impacts of trauma in your community, and would like to take away tools that are useful for your own life, and the clients you work with.

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit your application no later than October 22, 2024.