Shattered Assumptions

INTRODUCTION

Most service users will have experienced trauma either in their early childhood experience or during their adulthood and psychological trauma can be considered to underpin many of the mental health issues that they face.Indeed many staff members will also have experienced some form of psychological trauma in their own personal and professional lives.

This workshop aims to prepare participants to feel more confident and skilled in working with service users who are troubled by psychological traumas. The workshop is delivered through a series of dramatised case scenarios, each addressing a different aspect of working with trauma. In each case participants are helped to explore their own reactions, understanding and skills and then to compare that with best practice.

This evocative workshop dramatically brings together the fraught tension between the needs of the service user and that of the practitioner in a way that highlights good, safe and appropriate practice.

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

The workshop can be run over one, two, three or more days. It is recommended that participants have attended "Troubled Minds" before enrolling on this course - or alternatively it is possible for us to design a workshop that integrates both courses. As a rough guide:

  • The one-day workshop is suitable for staff for may come in contact with service users troubled by trauma, but where this is not the the main focus of their work

  • The two-day course is for staff where assisting service users who are troubled by trauma is the main focus of their work

  • The longer courses are for staff who need to develop specialist skills in working with service users who are troubled by trauma

LEARNING OUTCOMES

ONE DAY COURSE

On this course participants will:

  • Explore the relationship between trauma and a person's wider mental health

  • Learn about Type 1, 2 and 3 traumas and the difficulties service uses are likely to experience in adjusting to those experiences

  • Review the range of therapeutic options available to service users affected by each type of trauma

  • Learn how to support people in the immediate period following a traumatic experience

  • Identify strategies to help service users feel more in control of their lives

TWO DAY COURSE

This covers everything on the One Day Course, and in addition course participants will:

  • Discover skills and strategies for working with people have been affected by trauma over the longer term

  • Consider complications such as substance misuse and comorbid mental health issues

  • Review how these insights and skills can be applied to benefit current service users

LONGER COURSES

The longer courses (3-5 days) cover everything in the one and two day course and then go on to look in more detail at the specialist skills involved in working with specific client groups.