This rigorous training provides an in-depth examination of trauma on an individual, community, generational, and systemic level.  During the course, participants will learn about common trauma responses beyond the fight and flight narrative and how these experiences can impact worldview and later social determinants of health.  Participants will be taught how to effectively partner with someone “living in” trauma using a combination of self-reflection, community-based, and harm-reduction approaches that will be put to the test through roleplay scenarios and live practice opportunities throughout the training.  Participants will then be taught how to enact systems-level change through community building and trauma-informed policy writing.  Central to this training is the understanding that trauma is a social issue that impacts everyone.  By using a public health perspective, Kiva Centers steps away from traditional individual treatment-based approaches and towards collective healing models that work to strengthen the resiliency and resources available to individuals, families, and whole communities.  At its core, Kiva Centers’ Peer Trauma Guide training is a paradigm shift from asking “what’s wrong with you?” to asking, “what happened to you?”.
Primary Audiences: Peer Support Workers and/or people with peer support training experience, Behavioral Health, and Public Health workers.