Don’t miss this webinar on Trauma-informed mentoring

A New Lens for Mentoring: Trauma Informed Care

Thursday, March 19, 2015
1:00 PM – 2:15 PM EDT

Trauma Informed Care may be a new term for those supporting children and youth in mentoring programs, but it has been a framework for psychological treatment that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma for many years. Traumatic events overwhelm a child’s capacity to cope and elicit feelings of terror, powerlessness, and out-of-control physiological arousal. They may be a single event, like a natural disaster, or chronic, like being exposed to domestic violence. All types of traumatic events change the brain, physiological responses, and how a person responds to other people in their lives. Young people participating in mentoring programs may have experienced some kind of trauma already in their short lives. How the environment, including significant adults, interacts with these youth can impact the healing process. When programs commit to a Trauma Informed Care approach to all of their services, they are promoting healing environments that will especially positively impact the mentoring relationship. We are joined by Laurie Vargas, M.S., PPSC, part of the team of School Social Workers with San Francisco Unified School District who run the Mentoring for Success program and who created their Trauma Informed Care approach. Join us to learn more about how to apply this lens of care to all aspects of your program – mentees, mentors, and staff – and specific strategies that mentors can use with their mentees to promote building a safe, trusting, and transforming relationship.