Clients facing a myriad of life’s challenges can show up in our organizations and practices as frustrated and agitated. When we as practitioners are also on-edge, tensions can escalate quickly. This workshop uses trauma-informed concepts to explore safety in our organizations and explores how we can increase practitioner well-being as a strategy to decrease tension and de-escalate conflict. Through case studies, we will explore conflict and build on our tools to de-escalate conflict in productive, trauma-informed, strengths-based ways while attending to safety for all.

OBJECTIVES

Participants will be able to

1. Define trauma informed care and provide two examples of trauma informed strategies that could be implemented in an organization or practice
2. Describe the connection between trauma informed care, employee well-being, safety, and the ability to provide skillful, empathic conflict de-escalation
3. Discuss conflict de-escalation skills to implement in an organization or practice
4. Compare and contrast safety and safer; and, describe tools for increasing safety in organizational environments

Presenter:

Katie VonDeLinde, MSW, LCSW, energetically and creatively educates domestic violence advocates, social workers and helping professionals on economic justice, survivor-defined advocacy, and career sustainability to increase holistic safety for those impacted by intimate partner violence. Katie directed Redevelopment Opportunities for Women’s Economic Action Program, providing financial advocacy, developing curricula, and educating domestic violence advocates across the nation on economic advocacy. Ms. VonDeLinde currently is an award winning adjunct faculty member at Washington University, a Women’s Health Educator at the AWARE program at Barnes Jewish Hospital, and a co-director of KMCV consulting, LLC .