Training Summary: Provide a couple sentences summary (content themes/training techniques, and how this training is relevant to working with children who live in out of home care)
This interactive training targeted at caregivers and professionals emphasizes the importance of providing a trauma-informed, harm reduction model when working with birth families and youth. The focus of this training will be understanding trauma-informed care, harm reduction and cultural humility, and how these frameworks are essential in building healthy relationships with birth families and youth. We will discuss setting boundaries, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, building rapport with caregivers, and how to incorporate knowledge and strategies in serving youth impacted by addiction. This training will include some local and online resources to continue to provide support to youth with accessible tools and referral sources. This training will address specific issues faced by youth locally in terms of regional substance use concerns as well as harm reduction services in the region.

 Participants in this training will be able to define concepts and understand trauma-informed care and a harm reduction model. This training will utilize strength-based, culturally-humble and trauma-informed philosophy in order to best understand how substance use, dependency and abuse impact birth families and youth, family systems as well as those working with them, caregivers and professionals. Participants in this training will learn to respond to substance use in a way that leverages youth and family strengths, relationships, community resources and support that lead to the best outcomes for young people/ best outcomes for reunification.

Class Objectives: (what knowledge, ideas or skills will participants explore, learn, practice, etc during the training) Provide at least 3 class objectives.

Participants will:

·            Obtain an overview of harm reduction, trauma informed care, and building rapport with youth and families impacted by substance use/ addiction

·            Learn how to develop successful relationships, incorporate training materials in their role supporting youth and families

·            Understand why a trauma-informed harm reduction model with boundaries is essential to providing culturally-humble, compassionate relationships with youth and their birth families.

How can participants utilize their new skills and knowledge after the training to reinforce their learning? (provide at least 2 transfer of learning strategies)

How can participants utilize their new skills and knowledge after the training to reinforce learning?

·            By gaining a better understanding of the needs of youth/ families and best ways to address behaviors surrounding substance use, abuse and dependency.

·            Recognizing race, culture, privilege, and bias in working with youth/families in order to reduce victimization and discrimination in supporting reunification

·            Participants will develop strategies to engage in conversations with youth/ families in ways that will focus on relational and youth-centered needs.