Does your job involve interviewing trauma survivors?

In the aftermath of trauma, a survivor will probably have to recount what happened to them several times – to service providers, to medical staff, to counselors, to law enforcement, to lawyers, and maybe to reporters.

Many of these interviewers have not been trained on how to make the encounter less stressful for themselves or the survivor. Interviewers may not understand how a traumatized body and brain react and may become frustrated or misinterpret what they are seeing, leading to the survivor feeling dismissed or judged.

The goal of many survivor interviews is to obtain a “coherent narrative”, which is essential not only for reporting but also for helping the survivor process the trauma. However given the way trauma impacts memory, without some support and structure, a concise, chronological narrative might be the last thing the survivor’s traumatized brain can produce.

Echo’s new training, Trauma-informed Interviewing, gives you a brief overview of the impact of trauma as well as practical tips on how to support a trauma survivor during an interview. We will be looking at how trauma impacts memory and equip you with skills to help create a narrative that is clear, comprehensible, and most importantly, healing for the survivor.

Participants will be able to:

• Integrate emotional regulation strategies for self and survivor
• Identify the signs of re-experiencing & offer strategies for support
• Describe common trauma responses
• Learn strategies for offering choice
• Identify some common pitfalls in relating to survivors
• Explain the importance of survivor-driven vs. survivor-focused approaches
• Employ strategies that increase survivor resilience
• Differentiate the characteristics of trauma memory versus regular memory
• Utilize tools for supporting survivors in building a coherent narrative

Details

Dates: Wednesday, May 22, 2024 | 8:30am-11:30am PST
Cost: $55
Location: Live training via Zoom. Zoom link and extra details will be sent out a week prior to the training date.
Continuing Education: 3 CE credits are available for an additional $30. For more information visit our continuing education page.

Additional Information

Cancellation fees may apply; be sure to review our refund policies here.

For questions about this training, please contact us at training@echotraining.org or (213) 484-6676

Louise Godbold, Executive Director. Louise has spent the last 25 years working in social programs—for funders (the California Endowment and Los Angeles County Health & Human Services), for UC Berkeley, and as a strategic planning and evaluation consultant for innumerable nonprofit organizations. In 2010 she joined Echo, which began to specialize in trauma training after she assumed leadership in 2013. Louise has given TV and press interviews internationally on the topic of trauma and resilience. Her writing on trauma has appeared in The Smithsonian Magazine, Pacific Standard, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Slate, Vox, The Imprint, Culturico, and Huffington Post (France). Louise is the developer and lead trainer for Echo’s trauma and resilience curricula.