In this training, participants will develop a foundational understanding of trauma and the core principles of Trauma-Informed Care. We will explore how trauma, at the historical, intergenerational, and individual levels, shapes the pathways through which system-involved youth become involved in gangs and gang activity. Participants will examine ways to conceptualize and apply trauma-informed principles and strategies when delivering supportive services to system-involved youth who are impacted by gang involvement. Alongside a trauma-informed lens on gang involvement, the training will also address other key dimensions of this topic, including typical gang characteristics, psychosocial and individual risk factors, motivations for joining gangs, and concrete strategies for building resilience in gang-involved youth and their families who are system involved

Several youth and families, especially those from the Latine community, that we serve in child welfare services have experienced shifts and transitions in their family systems due to immigration trends. Often, Latine families have recent roots from countries of origins that are impacted by poverty, violence, lack of access to education and steady employment among other challenges. Therefore, many families or family members are forced to leave their country of origin to find refuge and a better life abroad, including in the U.S. The migration for each family may look unique to their family system and specific needs, but often we have a parent or both parents immigrating to the U.S. while many children are left in the care of extended family in their country of origin. Eventually, families may reunite with their children, but what may be considered as a joyous occasion, is often experienced as challenging by families due the attachment disruption that may have occurred between parent(s) and their children during the separation. Along with the attachment and relationships being disrupted, the families face challenges, such as bicultural identities, acculturation, trauma, and several other factors that further compounds the stress for the family. This workshop will provide an overview in understanding the challenges that families face when an attachment disruption took place due to immigration as well as the impact of other accompanying challenges that surround families in such situations.

Collaboration is highly valued in the service delivery field. It is highly important to collaborate with other professionals when providing services to family, but it is even more beneficial for families that we treat them as partners throughout this process and remain collaborative with them. Sometimes, in bilingual service delivery, families lose their voice and ability to advocate due to language barriers and bias, therefore, it is imperative that we work towards engaging in effective practices to maintain this partnership and empower the families we serve. In this workshop, participants will review effective case planning in bilingual service delivery. Participants will practice how to engage Spanish Speaking clients and families in their native language to increase the partnership with the family as the services are in a language, they are most comfortable with, but also to provide services that culturally responsive. Participants will develop communication skills and relational skills necessary to help develop effective case plans.

There is a large need in California for serving monolingual Spanish Speaking LatinX/Latine families through service delivery. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough bilingual providers to meet the growing need. Therefore, it is imperative to build on our knowledge and skills in working with translators in the field while remaining therapeutic and culturally responsive. In this workshop, we will review the best practices that the literature addresses when providing linguistically appropriate and culturally responsive services with the use of translators.

In this training, participants will develop a foundational understanding of trauma and the core principles of Trauma-Informed Care. We will explore how trauma, at the historical, intergenerational, and individual levels, shapes the pathways through which system-involved youth become involved in gangs and gang activity. Participants will examine ways to conceptualize and apply trauma-informed principles and strategies when delivering supportive services to system-involved youth who are impacted by gang involvement. Alongside a trauma-informed lens on gang involvement, the training will also address other key dimensions of this topic, including typical gang characteristics, psychosocial and individual risk factors, motivations for joining gangs, and concrete strategies for building resilience in gang-involved youth and their families who are system involved

This training will explore the impact of immigration-related trauma for Latine system-involved youth and immigrant families who may be at risk of deportations due to their status in the United States which includes attachment trauma due to forced family separations. Considering the current political climate in which policies are being enforced that are negatively impacting the undocumented community, including those in the Latine community, the presentation will discuss how this current political climate is further compounding the trauma related to immigration that is already present for this community, such as trauma they may have experienced on their journey to the U.S. as well as trauma that forced them to flee their countries of origin. In addition, this training will focus on highlighting the resilience and strengths typically found in the Latine immigrant community so that participants can build on this resilience to support well-being and increase positive outcomes and a sense of hope for system-involved youth and their families during turbulent times.

Working with the Spanish Speaking families in service delivery can present unique challenges, including addressing complex challenges related to immigration trauma that many families have experienced. Youth and families served by community-based agencies usually seek out services to address a multitude of needs, such as symptoms and behaviors stemming from trauma, but also other psychological and socio-political challenges. Therefore, providers that serve this population often feel “stretched” in trying to meet the needs of the families as well as work towards engaging families in a way that feels linguistically and culturally appropriate. Therefore, this training will support bilingual Spanish-speaking providers in practicing their bilingualism when providing services to this population, especially in the area of trauma informed principles, as well as support in building on their culturally responsive interventions.