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Risking Connection™(RC) is a foundational trauma training curriculum and training program for professionals who work with trauma survivors. Rooted in relational and attachment theory, it provides a mechanism for individuals and organizations to implement trauma-informed care in their practice.
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The Restorative Approach® (RA) is a trauma-informed alternative to traditional "point and level" systems for child congregate care settings. Based on the principles of restorative justice, it translates what we know about trauma and how children heal into specific treatment strategies.
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Upcoming Events
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May 22nd Webinar for RC Trainers -- The Impact of Trauma on Neurodevelopment
DATE: May 22TIME: 3:00 pm
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Risking Connection Train-the-Trainer -- July 18-20, 2012
DATE: Jul 18TIME: 12:00 am
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May 22nd Webinar for RC Trainers -- The Impact of Trauma on Neurodevelopment
Building healing relationships with children and families by promoting excellence in trauma-informed treatment.
The Traumatic Stress Institute is a division of Klingberg Family Centers
Risking Connection® Training
When a child depends on an adult for nurturance, safety, and love, he or she should not be taking a risk. When betrayed by abuse, however, future relationships do indeed involve taking great risks – risks of disappointment and loss, shame, and further abuse.
Many children in the mental health and child welfare system have been betrayed many times — by parents, by other caretakers, by the system. These traumatized children become highly skilled at pushing away others via a wide range of challenging behaviors and symptoms that hurt themselves and others. When these traumatized children become adults, many continue to find it risky to connect with others. They also carry forward extreme and often perplexing symptoms that test the skills of even the most seasoned human service professional.
Treating traumatized clients also poses risks to treatment providers. Opening our hearts to them means feeling their suffering and exposing ourselves to the darkest sides of humanity. It means investing in clients who often don’t want our help, who frequently return to abusive environments, or who are in and out of treatment programs through “revolving doors.”
In order to heal, traumatized children and adults need to risk forming connections with caring treatment providers that are different (enough) from those of the past. They need relationships that are RICH – Respectful, Informative, Connected, and Hopeful. Forming such relationships is no easy task because of the extreme behaviors survivors display, the powerful feelings they evoke in us, and their ambivalence about getting close to us.
Risking Connection is a curriculum-based training program created to provide mental health and human service professionals with a philosophy and method for working with clients who are survivors of childhood abuse and trauma. The 3-Day Basic Training is based on the curriculum, Risking Connection: A Training Curriculum for Working With Survivors of Childhood Abuse (Saakvitne, Gamble, Pearlman, & Lev, 2000)
Risking Connection is unique in that:
Each day of this active-learning course includes lively presentations, small and large group discussions, application exercises, and exercises designed to address self-care and well-being of treaters. All participants receive a certificate of attendance at the end of the training.
Risking Connection training offers organizations a pathway toward system-wide change to trauma-informed care. Through the Risking Connection Train-the-Trainer, agencies can gain the capacity to provide ongoing RC training within their organization. By doing so, they receive ongoing continuing education support for their credentialed RC trainers and join an international network of agencies using RC to create trauma-informed services.
Below is a PDF of the brochure and registration materials for the RC Basic Training
Freestanding 3-Day Basic Training Brochure GENERIC 4.9.12
Risking Connection is a registered trademark of the Sidran Foundation.