Secondary Trauma is a stress response that comes from work with individuals with significant levels of trauma exposure and from working in high stress work settings. Increasingly, we are in a time of high traumatic intensity that both clients and workers are exposed to.
Resilience is the natural tendency of the human being to protect itself in the face of traumatic exposure. It includes the use of body, emotion, communication, and relationship-based activities that strengthen the core self of the workers so they can meet secondary trauma with a strengthening response. It is the replacement of toxic trauma with powerful skills and practices.
In this 7-hour training, we work with both an experiential and a content driven training process. You will learn the most from this training as you are open to both forms of learning. We create safety in any experiential process and encourage you to participate and track the impact of these strategies on your whole system. The content of the training is a cutting-edge integration of trauma theory, attachment theory, neurobiology, and embodiment work.
Learning Objectives
1. Grasp the impact of a secondary trauma on the body, brain, and nervous system of spiritual directors, as well as on team functioning and the work culture.
2. Understand the difference between trauma informed and trauma engaged work.
3. Explore the Four Forms of Secondary Trauma
4. Understand the STAR-T formula for engaging secondary trauma with awareness and connections skills that allow for the building of resilience.
5. Experientially train the participants in the skills necessary to build resilience through personal practice and co-regulatory relational connection.
6. Understand the process of alchemy that is involved in turning traumatic exposure into strength and power.
7. Transform our understanding of the body in the engagement of trauma and developing a language for integrating this into the work of the spiritual director.
About Andrew Laue
Andrew R. Laue, LCSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in Missoula and Polson, Montana. In addition to the clinical work, he does with individuals, couples and families, he supervises 30 psychotherapists in the Western Montana region, He was the chief trainer for the National Association of Social Workers Montana Chapter’s course in Clinical Supervision.
In 2017, he won a National County Association award for his Secondary Trauma Group work with the Missoula County Attorney’s office. He is passionate about creating sustainability for human service professionals through the process of identifying secondary trauma that occurs from the intensity of human service work. He consults with many agencies about the delivery and complexity of mental health practice. These include First Step Missoula at St. Patrick’s Hospital, Multnomah County Behavioral Team, Riverstone Heath in Billings, Montana, Montana Office of Public Defender and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Social Services Department.
A leader in the LGBT community in Montana, Andrew has developed cutting edge interventions for diverse groups including his HIV prevention work with the MSM and IDU population, for which he won the Governor’s Award for HIV Prevention in 2003.
A decade ago, he was part of the development of the award-winning documentary film, Red Without Blue (2007) which has become a founding document in the search for the equitable treatment of transgender people.
He resides on the Flathead Reservation in rural Montana and is passionate in his commitment to serve the Native American population in this region.
Suggested Donation: $100; $80 SDAO; $60 Wellstreams students