Trauma-Informed Training
As evidence builds that traumatic stress has a profound lifetime impact on the developing brains and bodies of children and youth, the need for trauma informed training of child and youth-serving professionals is paramount. The Institute is pleased to be working with a variety of essential child and youth-serving sectors to further this important work. They include child welfare, early childhood education centres, daycares, children’s mental health, school boards, and the juvenile and family justice system.
On-demand trauma informed therapy demonstration videos are available that include mock therapy sessions with bonus commentary videos available.
The following therapy demonstration videos are currently available for purchase, both individually as well as a package that includes access to all videos:
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy- Parent Sessions
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy- Dyad First Session
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy- Dr. Jon Baylin and Dr. Sian Phillips Discussing Dyad First Session
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy- Dyad Residential Placement Discussion Four Months Into the Work
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy- Dr. Jon Baylin and Dr. Sian Phillips Discussing Dyad Residential Placement Discussion Four Months Into the Work
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy – All Sessions & Discussion Package
**Downloads of videos are available to DDP Trainers in good standing with the Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute, for use in DDP training only. Trainers will be required to complete a video usage agreement and will then receive a link to download files. Please email institutetraining@georgehull.on.ca to receive video usage agreement. This can be done before or after purchase.**
Customized Training
The Institute is pleased to be able to offer trauma informed training that is fully customized to an organization and it’s staff.
In order to best meet the training needs of a staff/organization, the Institute begins with a thorough needs assessment of knowledge and skills among the staff being trained. A post-training evaluation is also completed to ensure that the organization was able to achieve the learning goals it identified. Email institutetraining@georgehull.on.ca for more information or to have your customized training developed.
Upcoming Training
The Institute is developing a broad range of trauma informed training programs. All training has been developed to support the translation of knowledge from theory to practice. Trainings are customized to reflect the needs of the sectors being trained. Thus, trainees learn trauma responsive skills for use in their particular discipline.
Trauma Informed Training
The Institute offers a broad range of trauma informed education including the following training:
The Impact of Racial Trauma on Children and Youth Mental Health
This workshop will explore Racial Trauma and the impact on children and youth mental health. We will explore not only the impact of racism on children and youth mental health but actionable steps for helping professionals and parents alike to help with not only naming racial trauma but finding ways to assist in the naming of and healing of racial trauma.
- Do you worry about whether sexual behaviour you see in children you work with is developmentally appropriate?
- Do you know what to ask these children and their families when you are concerned?
- Do you understand cultural considerations when addressing concerning behaviour?
Concerns regarding sexualized behaviour of young children are often identified by parents, day care staff, school staff and others. Ensuring that normative behaviour is not mislabeled, nor concerning behaviour ignored, is important. Join us in this workshop that will bring additional clarity to these issues.
Trauma-Informed Strategies for Frontline Staff in Intensive Services
This course will equip staff in Intensive Services (live-in and day treatment) with skills to support children facing trauma and attachment issues. Key topics include managing disclosures, de-escalating hyperarousal, and using emotional presence to build trust. Case examples from client situations will be used to identify step-by-step interventions. This training is open to child and youth care practitioners and any other intensive care staff.
A Trauma Lens to Speech-Language Pathology Practice (Level 1)
During this series, speech-language pathology practitioners will learn about trauma-informed care and how to apply it to speech, language, and communication work with children and their families.
Triple Trouble: Exploring the Neurobiology of Childhood Trauma
Even the most experienced therapist can be overwhelmed by dealing with children who have experienced trauma. Emerging insights into how trauma marks the child’s developing brain offer fresh hope in treating the effects of trauma. International expert Dr. Jonathan Baylin will guide you through information from neuroscience 2.0 towards new therapeutic approaches to help traumatized children recover their sense of safety, self worth, and hope.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) Training
Join us for an immersive training experience on the Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Treatment (SMART) program. Participants will learn how SMART focuses on enhancing emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal regulation through innovative techniques, and will engage in hands-on activities with therapy equipment to understand how these tools support natural body and emotion regulation during shared play.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Trauma Informed Assessment Certificate Program
There has been an explosion of science that supports the need for trauma responsive approaches in children’s mental health. Yet very few practitioners feel confident enough to competently assess the impact of trauma on children and youth. Join us for a comprehensive course on assessment and treatment of trauma in children and youth developed by Geraldine Crisci, a world-renowned trauma clinician and trainer.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Indigenous Experiences: Strategies for Building Healthy Inter-cultural Relationships
Joe Elkerton, an Indigenous Torontonian and intergenerational survivor of the Indian Residential School System, will lead this workshop. Not only will his personal experiences and learning move you, they may change your practice.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
A Trauma Lens to Speech-Language Pathology Practice (Level 2)
In this series, speech-language pathologists will deepen their understanding of trauma-responsive care, explore universal trauma screening, and have further opportunity for discussion and practice support. Click here to sign up for the waitlist or sign up for the Institute newsletter to be updated to when dates are set.
Neutralization
This training will educate participants on addressing terrifying sensorial reminders, or “triggers,” from past traumatic events that can lead to avoidant and phobic behavior. Participants will gain skill-based training, understanding clinical differentiations and criteria for method choices, and will be encouraged to apply this approach with clients using their own case example.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Dyadic Development Psychotherapy Study Group 2023 – 2024
This is a monthly virtual working group that will give participants an opportunity to come together to talk about and practice DDP skills. We will use discussion, role-play in large and small groups, as well as peer support to further embed DDP principles into your practice.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
The Impact of Racial Trauma on Children and Youth Mental Health
This workshop will explore Racial Trauma and the impact on children and youth mental health. We will explore not only the impact of racism on children and youth mental health but actionable steps for helping professionals and parents alike to help with not only naming racial trauma but finding ways to assist in the naming of and healing of racial trauma. Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
From Trauma Informed to Trauma Responsive in Complex Children’s Mental Health Cases
Join us for this four part virtual series for professionals where we will take a complex children’s mental health case study from intake through treatment. Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Externalization of Graphic Imagery
This workshop will examine the effective use of art in the treatment of trauma and explore how symbolic and metaphorical expression can be a creative, right-brain intervention, giving voice to the most unspeakable experiences.
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) Training
This training is suitable for professionals who have experience in working with children and families, or parents or caregivers, whose children have experienced developmental trauma and show attachment and relationship difficulties with their primary caregivers. This could be with adoptive parents, foster parents, kinship carers, or caregivers, such as in residential homes.
DDP Level 1
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
DDP Level 2
This Level Two 5-day online course is open to clinical and educational psychologists, therapists, social workers, residential staff, teachers, parent mentors, and other practitioners who have completed the 4-day Level One training. It follows on from the ideas and skills introduced in Level One and is suitable for those who are beginning to use the principles and interventions in their work.
Trainer Dr. Sian Phillips is a psychologist who has a private practice and specializes in the assessment and treatment of children who have experienced developmental trauma and the families that look after them. She consults to a number of agencies that are committed to using DDP as a framework to understand and work with biological families as well as foster and adoptive parents. She has two recent publications: Belonging: A Relationship-Rased Approach for Trauma-Informed Education (Phillips, Melim and Hughes 2020) and Working with Relational Trauma in Schools (Golding, Phillips & Bomber, 2020).
Sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this training will next be offered.
The Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy study group is a monthly virtual working group. It gives participants the opportunity to come together to talk about and practice Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy skills. We hope to get curious together about what is working and those areas where you feel you may need more practice and knowledge. We will use discussion, role-play in large and small groups, as well as peer support to further embed DDP principles into your practice.
Our intention in having a small working group of 25 people is to ensure we have the opportunity to explore the moments, the themes, and issues that are relevant to group members – the good, the bad and the ugly!
The study group includes 10 two hour virtual sessions over the course of a year which will provide training, opportunities for practice, and consultation.
Group is facilitated by Dr. Sian Phillips, PhD, CPsych, and Kristin Gionfriddo, MSW, RSW.
Learn more about the DDP study group. Or sign up for the Institute newsletter for updates on when this group will next be offered.
Conferences & Workshops
The Institute continues to disseminate knowledge by hosting multiple workshops and conferences. Below are some of our previous ones.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy 2021 Conference
June 14 – 16, 2021, Virtual
The Institute was proud to have been selected to host the 2021 Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Institute (DDPI) conference. The conference was held June 14 – 16, 2021 and speakers included many leaders in the field such as Dr. Dan Hughes, Dr. Diana Fosha, Dr. Patricia Vickers, Dr. Helen Minnis, and Dr. Jon Baylin.
Integration of Brain & Body-Based Interventions in Trauma Treatment Conference
April 19, 2021, Virtual
The George Hull Centre Institute for Childhood Trauma & Attachment was pleased to host this conference on April 19th, 2021 for what was an extremely practical day of virtual learning with the esteemed Dr. Ruth Lanius and Ellen Yack. Presenters demonstrated the combination of top-down and bottom-up treatment approaches, targeting manipulation of sensory and motor experience to help regulate higher cognitive functions, including emotion regulation, cognition, and theory of mind.
Partnerships
Another way the Institute is furthering industry knowledge-sharing is through participation in key trauma-focussed initiatives including the following.
Canadian Consortium on Child Trauma & Trauma-Informed Care
The Institute has been invited to partner with the Social Science and Humanities Research Council to establish the Canadian Consortium on Child Trauma & Trauma-Informed Care. The consortium will bring together the latest evidence and knowledge in Canada on childhood trauma and trauma-informed care to positively influence child and youth serving sectors. The goals of this partnership include creating cohesive and impactful social responses to child trauma in children and youth across provinces, linguistic and service sectors, and disciplines while facilitating research, collaboration, multidirectional exchange, knowledge mobilization, and opportunities for student training and professional advancement.
Developmental Trauma Action Alliance
The Institute is a lead member of the Developmental Trauma Action Alliance (DTAA). This alliance is supported by the Adoption Council of Ontario, and represents 100 members from Canada and the U.S.A. dedicated to the improvement of care for children who have experienced developmental trauma. Members of the DTAA include major researchers in the area of trauma, leaders of children’s mental health and child welfare organizations, representatives from the justice system, police, school boards, and the medical system.