Trauma-informed physical environments, spaces, and buildings: Dr Karen Treisman

This will be a half-day virtual event:

Date: 16th December

Time: 10 am till 1 pm (approximately)

Cost: €10 SCI Member/ €20 Non-member

Social Care Ireland are delighted to collaborate with Dr Karen Treisman with this half day online workshop on physical environments. A brief but interesting and insightful morning workshop which applies some of the concepts, ideas, and principles of trauma informed practice into how we can infuse and incorporate these into our physical spaces, environments, rooms, and buildings. A step-by-step model will be shared which can support people to do a walk through and narrative journey of their space and to be able to make tweaks and improvements. This will include things from lighting, to furniture, to incorporating regulating elements, to the signs we use and more. These steps can also be applied to other organisational areas like supervision, team meetings, recruitment and so forth.

Aims and objectives:
To increase people’s awareness of the importance of one’s physical environment
Leave with some tangible ideas to implement in one’s own workplace
Learn a step-by-step process to reflect on one’s own physical environment which can also be applied to other organisational areas
Learn how to infuse trauma informed ideas into something visible like a space, room or building

Facilitator:

Dr Karen Treisman, MBE, is a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist who has worked in the National Health System and children’s services for several years. Karen has also worked cross-culturally in both Africa and Asia with groups ranging from former child soldiers to survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. She also is the author of 12 books, including the bestselling book, “The therapeutic treasure box”, 4 sets of therapeutic card decks, and 6 therapeutic soft cuddly toys.

Karen has extensive experience in the areas of trauma, parenting, adversity (ACE’s) and attachment, and works clinically using a range of therapeutic approaches with families, systems, and children in or on the edge of care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, and adopted children. Karen also specialises in supporting organisations and systems to move towards becoming, and to sustain adversity, culturally and, trauma-informed, infused, and responsive practice. This work focuses on creating meaningful and multi-layered cultural and paradigm shift across whole systems. This was the focus of Dr Treisman’s Winston Churchill Fellowship Karen was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship Travel Award which involved visited several places in the USA to further study whole system and organisational approaches to trauma-informed and trauma-responsive care and this topic is the focus of Dr Treisman’s newly released book “A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organizations: A Ready-to-Use Resource For Trauma, Adversity, and Culturally Informed, Infused and Responsive Systems”.

In addition to holding a doctorate in Clinical psychology, Karen has undergone a range of specialist training courses including in EMDR, Narrative Therapy, Trauma-focused CBT, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Systemic Psychotherapy, Video Interaction Guidance, Sensory Approaches, and Theraplay.

Karen is an external consultant, trainer, speaker, and assessor to a variety of local authorities and organisations including Barnardos, PAC-UK, AdoptionPlus, BAAT, Pause, Action Trauma, Grandparents Plus, Three Steps Ireland, MedicaCPD, and the Fostering Network. Karen is also an expert witness and regularly undergoes a variety of assessments for court. Additionally, Karen is also an associate editor for the Journal of Child Abuse and Trauma, and a reviewer for the Journal of Adoption and Fostering.