DiscoverResource Parent Curriculum
Resource Parent Curriculum
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Resource Parent Curriculum

Author: NCTSN Podcasts

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Our library of podcast episodes, available here or through iTunes, includes topics from suggestions regarding facilitating the RPC to foster parent testimonials to creating foster parent support groups. In addition, facilitators also offer helpful metaphors they have discovered for explaining concepts about the effects of trauma, and relate their lessons learned as they implement the RPC. For example, in “Learning How to Swim,” one facilitator shares how she and her team built a trauma-informed parenting program from the ground up.



We’ve got room for many, many more podcast episodes. Do you have examples of what has worked for you when conducting workshops? As a resource parent, have you experienced some powerful turnarounds with your children using trauma-informed approaches that others may want to hear about? If you have ideas for podcast episodes that you may want to record and send to us, please contact us at info@nctsn.org.

24 Episodes
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This podcast was created by Karla Johnston-Krase, M. Div., RYT-200, to support you as a trauma-informed parent. As a parent herself through birth and adoption, Karla knows how parenting children who’ve experienced early life transitions can present unique challenges to the whole family. She is an advocate for radical self-care and helps others find simple and practical tools to create more ease and joy in body, life, and parenting. In this podcast, Karla provides guided relaxation that includes a body scan similar to something called Yoga Nidra, a style of relaxation that has amazing benefits to clients with trauma and PTSD. More therapists and counselors are integrating similar practices into their work. You can find additional resources at www.DiscoverYourCenter.com.
In this podcast, Melissa Hoffman, PhD, from University of Tennessee Health Science Center, The Tennessee Network of Trauma-Informed and Evidence-Based System (TN-TIES) interviews George (Tripp) Ake, PhD, from the Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH). Dr. Ake shares his experiences using the RPC with military connected families, as well as, the development of additional vignettes to enhance the learning opportunity for this population.
In this podcast, Heather Ford, the Supervisor of the Trauma Specialization Team of the Arizona’s Children Association describes her agency’s use of the RPC in all of their seven sites. They always have a group going in each site (sometimes more than one). She describes how the practice was introduced, how she trains new group facilitators, and how she assures that all staff continue to present the material as intended.
Providers at the Center for Child and Family Health in Durham, North Carolina have found a unique way to make the RPC more inclusive for adopted children who have experienced trauma. In this 10-minute podcast, Felicia Gibson, PhD, who works in Post Adoption Support Services at CCFH, tells how her group created this nine-week psychoeducational parent/child program. The podcast host is Melissa Hoffman, PhD, from University of Tennessee Health Science Center, The Tennessee Network of Trauma-Informed and Evidence-Based System, or TN TIES. Each three-hour session of FACT, or Families and Adopted Children Together, includes a shared meal, fun activities for the kids, and Family Together Time to reinforce messages that map onto the RPC learning modules. The program grew from parents’ reports that their adopted kids who had experienced trauma felt isolated and still carried shame associated with their traumatic experiences. And, since parents and children attend sessions together, FACT also addresses child care issues that sometimes hamper parent participation in the RPC training. CCFH will soon hold a reunion for participants from the first seven sessions, and plans to eventually make their program available to the RPC Learning Center.
Resilience has become a popular concept, but what defines this quality in foster youth? According to Amnoni Myers, who grew up in the foster care system, and who now counsels foster youth as they transition out of the system, "resilience is knowing when you're falling and knowing how to catch yourself." So when her clients at Family Matters of Greater Washington in D.C. ask for her help, Myers understands they are demonstrating resilience. In this podcast with host J. Brian Houston, PhD, Director of the Disaster and Community Crisis Center at the University of Missouri, she discusses ways in which resource parents can help their foster youth build their own inner resilience. It's important to meet youth where they are, and to empower them to understand their own stories. Resource parents can function as listeners and learners and offer support and opportunities for growth. They can also remind their youth that "none of us makes it here alone," and that resource parents are part of the team to help them thrive and grow.
Irene Clements, Executive Director of the National Foster Parent Association, has seen many changes in how resource parents are viewed in her 27 years as a foster and adoptive parent and public policy advocate. During this 16-minute podcast, Clements tells podcast host Heather Biggar, LCSW, of the Maine Children’s Trauma Response Initiative, that resource parents are now seen as key players in the team effort to help children achieve permanency. She also points out that while resource parents are now “a voice at the table,” much remains to be done. Meaningful change will include acknowledging that entire resource families, and not just parents, are impacted by case planning decisions . Clements urges parents to not only advocate one-on-one for their child, but to join with associations
Beth Barto, LMHC, Director of Quality Assurance at LUK, Inc. recalls during this 20-minute podcast interview with NCTSN Affiliate Member Frank Bennett, PhD. Over a two-year period, Barto and colleagues became more comfortable with delivering the curriculum to clinicians as well as resource parents. Keeping in mind their own experience and wishing to assure sustainability of the training, they developed a Learning Community to introduce the training to selected applicants. Barto describes the process of using RPC Learning Center resources, assigning pre-work, and conducting practice sessions to increase facilitators’ comfort with curriculum delivery. She also shares recommendations for those who wish to ‘scale up’ the process and conduct a Learning Community of their own.
In this 13-minute podcast, Jared Martin, a Research Associate with the Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, describes the use of implementation science to accomplish the goal of sustainability in conversation with Lorena Avitea, LCSW, a Trauma Informed Systems Specialist with the Chadwick Trauma Informed Systems Project-Dissemination and Implementation, or CTISP-DI. Avitea also talks about using the four phases of the EPIS (Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainability) framework when Chadwick helped Volusia County, Florida Department of Children’s Services to create a county-wide “supercommunity” around the RPC.
Amy Bouldin, MSW, the Program Manager for Resource Parent Training at the Child Welfare Academy, University of Maryland in Baltimore, conducts 80 one-session resource parent trainings a year. Conducting the four-session RPC during an NCTSN research evaluation project had some unique features, as she tells NCTSN Affiliate Member Frank Bennett, PhD, in this 11-minute podcast. Amy shares the other positive outcomes her group reported and suggests some key elements for others considering conducting the RPC training.
In this podcast, Resource Parent Diane Lanni gives an example of how she remained calm and acted as an emotional container when her child grew agitated. Her story shows how it is possible to understand behavior through a trauma lens, react in a way that gives a child what s/he needs, and then later teach skills so the child can ultimately manage his/her own emotions rather than forever relying on caregivers to be that emotional container..
What are the essential elements of the RPC, and what is most important for agencies to know when they are thinking about launching the workshops? For example, what happens when a workshop facilitator turns out not to be a good fit for the RPC? These are some of the questions that Chris Foreman, CISW, Liaison, National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, explores with Melissa L. Hoffmann, PhD, Project Director for the Tennessee Network of Trauma-Informed and Evidence-Based Systems (TN-TIES) project in this 15-1/2 minute podcast.
Do you know a toddler who can be unusually aggressive or easily frustrated? A school-aged child who is frequently distracted in class or a teenager who struggles to focus on more than one activity at a time? If so, have you ever wondered if this child might have ADHD? In this podcast, Beth Barto, LMHC, interviews Heather C. Forkey, MD as she explains how children exposed to traumatic events can exhibit symptoms that overlap with ADHD and, in some cases, could result in inaccurate diagnosis. Dr. Forkey will then suggest ways to talk about impulsive and disruptive behaviors with school staff and pediatricians to make sure that a child gets the services s/he needs.Family Handout
Mandy Taylor, Adoptive Parent and Foster Parent Retention Specialist at Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, MI shares her experience developing a Post-RPC Training Support Group. Mandy leads a monthly meeting where concepts and ideas from the RPC are reviewed. The group also explores how this knowledge can be applied to their current parenting. Additionally this podcast discusses the importance of creating a space for parents to give and receive validation, generate camaraderie amongst parents, and provide one another with tangible parenting suggestions. The group is built upon the premise that if healing is done through the context of relationships, then resource parents too need supportive relationships as they act as agents of healing for their children.
Chris Foreman, MSSW, former foster care consultant, shares how delivering this curriculum to her foster parents not only helped them understand and respond more effectively to a variety of challenging behaviors but in the long run, actually reduced her workload. Over time, the number of crisis calls she received dropped, and she was able to comfortably manage a higher caseload.
Kimberly I. Fielding, EdD, ACSW, shares a metaphor she uses to differentiate the types of stress as they relate to traumatic stress. For example, the first type is positive stress—how it is desirable and motivating. Tolerable stress is about working through the challenges. Toxic stress transitions toward undesirable and counter-motivating stress. It is also differentiated from traumatic stress to assist helping professionals identify and respond in more fine-tuned ways. This podcast includes how to use a common prop—the facilitator’s own hands—to share this important information regarding the types of stress.
Rebecca Mataya, treatment-level foster parent shares how using a trauma lens – and listening for clues – helped her realize that extremely challenging bedtime behaviors weren’t about defiance and were easily addressed once she created psychological safety. This 4-minute podcast is an excellent illustration of how concepts taught in the RPC can be applied at home.
Rebecca Mataya, treatment level foster parent, shares how she created opportunity for choice and control as a trauma responsive parenting strategy to food issues. In doing so, not only did it reduced challenging behaviors but taught self soothing.
Kate Murray, Ph.D., and Chaney Stokes, Trainer, answer questions about how to recruit and prepare facilitators with lived experience when utilizing the curriculum: Caring for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma: A Workshop for Resource Parents (commonly referred to as the RPC). The podcast addresses: concerns of exposing a potential co-facilitator to triggers; the risks of having a co-facilitator over-share; and the amount of time it might take to train and support someone with their own trauma history. Also discussed is their personal advice and experiences on why they invest time into preparation and debriefing; how to acknowledge one another's "hot buttons"; and what tools to use to keep in sync and be supportive of one another to successfully blend clinical, professional, and personal experience for the benefit of all.  Download Partnership Planning chart
Liz Sharda, LMSW, shares that it is not enough to talk about trauma informed care principles when delivering the RPC; facilitators must also model these concepts within the training environment if they hope to be successful in helping families develop a trauma informed parenting approach. In this podcast, an NCTSN member who trains facilitators in this curriculum talks about modeling the principles of Safety, Choice and Control, Connections and Managing Emotions, and Self Reflection as a critical piece of effectively delivering RPC. Referenced in this podcast: Walking the Walk: Modeling Trauma Informed Practice in the Training Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2014.
Barbara Wojtach, LCSW, is the Program Director for the Foster Adoptive and Kinship Care Educations Program, FAKCE, a program of the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office at Grossmont College, in San Diego, California. FAKCE along with the County of San Diego Children's Services decided to move to a trauma-focused pre-service training program for foster and adoptive parents in the fall of 2012. With permission from the NCTSN, they set out to adapt the RPC curriculum to make it relevant for a pre-service training. In this podcast Barbara discusses the implementation of the revised curriculum called TIPS, Trauma Informed Pre-Service, which occurred in July 2013. She also discusses the changes made to the RPC curriculum, the structure of the pre-service training and the response of participants and instructors regarding the revised curriculum.
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