Trauma-Informed Care, Motivational Interviewing, Staff Wellness & Resiliency, & Leadership
Whether you are looking for a 45-minute workshop on a singular topic or a 5-day training series combining different topics, Matt will work with you to identify training objectives and deliver engaging and participant-centered learning experiences.
If you'd like to discuss training with us, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Training Series
Connecting Paradigms: A Trauma-Informed & Neurobiological
Framework for Motivational Interviewing Implementation
Connecting Paradigms provides an innovative approach to helping those struggling with past trauma to make critical life changes and heal from their pain and suffering.
Scientific understanding of the brain, the impact of trauma, and research on behavioral change have grown exponentially over the last several decades. This knowledge is challenging and transforming thinking about how we provide mental health and substance abuse education, medical care, criminal justice, and social work.
Connecting Paradigms presents an integrated model combining research in neurobiology, trauma, behavioral change, harm reduction, and Motivational Interviewing into a practical skill set easily implemented across a variety of settings and professions.
Trauma-Informed Care
Recent research on the brain and trauma gives those working in the helping professions a new paradigm to conceptualize and work with clients.
Understanding how trauma impacts brain development puts harmful behaviors and destructive thinking patterns in context and gives helpers a roadmap for building relationships and promoting healing and growth.
This training presents the Trauma-Informed Paradigm in a practical context, giving learners a theoretical basis and tools to apply immediately in their work with clients. Through the application of this Trauma-Informed Paradigm, workers can minimize re-traumatization while creating an environment for the traumatized individual to regain control of their lives.
From Neurobiology to Heart Rate Variability: The foundations and future of Trauma-Informed Care
In the 1990s, two events challenged many long-held assumptions in psychology, health care, education, and social services. The first was the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, which demonstrated the correlation between trauma and mental health, cognitive functioning, social functioning, and cognitive development.
The second was brain-scanning technology that revealed that the brains of people struggling with trauma functioned differently than those without trauma. These innovations spurred the trauma movement, transforming services and our understanding of a range of social problems.
Unfortunately, the cost and nature of the technology needed to measure nervous system health made it difficult to use to measure the effectiveness of interventions and treatment. Thanks to new inexpensive technology, one of the best methods for measuring a person’s mental, cognitive, and medical health has become a practical tool for those working with individuals struggling with trauma.
Heart rate variability helps the trauma movement take its next huge step forward. This training will explore the science behind trauma and how to position heart rate variability as a complement to treatment and a vast improvement in our ability to quantify the impact of our interventions.
Staff Resiliency & Wellness
Helping professionals are at risk of experiencing issues that mirror those of the
traumatized clients they serve. Research demonstrates the dangerous impact on physical and emotional health when exposed to trauma is combined with a stressful work environment. Knowledge is the best defense against burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue.
This training goes further than other self-care trainings by addressing the critical elements of health to enhance productivity and quality of work on both an individual and organizational level.
Utilizing research in neurobiology, psychology, and business, this training provides skills for direct care professionals to be more effective and efficient at work, allowing for the highest level of services possible.
Trauma-Informed Leadership
Trauma-Informed Leadership provides leaders the skills and knowledge necessary to propel their community and organizations towards excellence. This training offers a practical model designed to enhance staff health while maximizing system and organizational outcomes. Learners will leave this training with a new paradigm of leadership and a set of skills to implement in staff supervision and management of programs.
Designed in an interactive and experiential format, this training challenges leaders to look at job responsibilities, staff, systems, and agency through the Trauma- Informed Paradigm. This powerful experience provides approaches and strategies that can transform individuals, systems, and overall approaches to helping others heal and grow.
Whether you are an aspiring or experienced leader, you will see your role and work in a whole new light.
Motivational Interviewing
“Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular attention to the language of change. It is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion (Miller & Rollnick, 2012).”
MI provides a strategic framework for building relationships through active communication approaches and strategies termed the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing. These approaches and techniques guide how we structure our interactions with clients and guide how we set up programming. Using the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing as a foundation, the second part of this training will explore how people move through the stages of change and how MI implementation helps people move from contemplating a change to finding motivation for action. Building on these foundational skills, the focus will shift to the heart of MI.
Change happens when people feel a type of stress called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance occurs when people realize that their actions and behaviors do not align with their values or how they want to live their lives. While cognitive dissonance is uncomfortable, it creates motivation to bring about changes to eliminate it.
Trauma-Sensitive Schools Series
Trauma, Behavior, and Academic Success
Our rapidly evolving understanding of trauma and neurobiological development challenges schools to rethink educational strategies so that all students reach their academic potentials.
In this training, we will explore how trauma affects students’ abilities to succeed academically exploring trauma’s impact on cognitive functioning, memory, delaying gratification, and executive functioning.
Often the behaviors of students with trauma prevent them from achieving educational success. Trauma impacts emotional regulation, understanding of cause and effect, and behavior results sets students up for failure in traditional educational settings.
Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms and Schools
What is a trauma-sensitive school?
What makes a classroom trauma-sensitive?
In this training, we will explore best practices and strategies for helping students with trauma achieve academic success. Schools are ideally positioned in our community to identify that a child experienced trauma and help connect the student and family to the resources they need to heal and prevent future pain and suffering.
The trauma-sensitive school movement is gaining force; this training will provide a roadmap to realize this ambitious goal.
Self-care, Leadership and School Culture
The current model thinking about the wellness and performance of teachers and school staff in education is a significant barrier to creating trauma-sensitive schools.
The journey towards becoming a trauma-sensitive school requires helping staff rethink how they educate and manage behaviors. It also requires a new approach to school culture. Trauma-sensitive schools must view staff well-being as a strategic priority. Stress and burnout are not the only risk factor as vicarious and secondary trauma a result
of exposure to student’s traumatic experiences. Burned out and traumatized staff will struggle to bring the emotional and cognitive capacity needed for the deliverquality education and support services our students need to thrive.
This workshop puts forth a practical model designed to enhance staff well-being, integrate trauma- sensitive principles, and maximize academic outcomes.
Online Self-directed Trainings
Matt has created an online training series that captures his content, energy and passion for material he knows is life-saving and changing. Get the same content as delivered in his in-person trainings with all the efficiency, cost-savings, and flexibility of online training. Matt's online hosting site offers interactive trainings accessible on every device while tracking learners’ progress through the content. Check out a selection of the topics available, below.
For more information and online training costs, visit the learning management site at https://bigonline.teachable.com/
Training-Informed Care
5 hour
1.5 hour
Trauma-Informed Communication & Motivational Interviewing
3.5 hour
1.5 hour
Self-care
2.5 hour
Trauma-Informed Leadership
4 hour
Trauma-Sensitive Early Education & Elementary Classrooms
1 hour
Self-care for Educators & School Staff
1 hour
Impact of Trauma on Social Emotional Health & Academic Achievement
1 hour
Creating Trauma-Sensitive & High Performing Schools
1 hour
Trauma-Sensitive Middle & High School Classrooms
1 hour
Services & Pricing
Workshops and Training for Clients, Patients and Students
Most of the above topics are compelling psychoeducational learning experiences for those in services. Learning about trauma and change in a workshop setting helps supplement other services by providing insight and hope through a greater understanding of oneself.
Keynote Address
Bring Matt’s inspiring energy to your conference. Matt customizes keynote addresses customized for the specific goals of the conference and audience. A mix of information and inspiration, let Matt help you achieve the mission of your conference.
Webinars
Distance learning is a great and cost-effective way to gain mastery over complex topics and build skills.
Coaching and Technical Assistance
Support adult learning by utilizing coaching to supplement a training experience. Whether in-person or through webinar format, coaching helps further integrate knowledge and master skills.
Costs
Keynote Address or other in-person speaking engagements in front of large audiences: $4,000 (includes a free workshop for conferences).
Workshops, trainings, and webinars: $650 per training hour. Training outside the Denver Metro Area has a minimum cost of $4,000, covering up to 6 hours of training and coaching.
Coaching: $250 an hour.
Please get in touch to find out about international rates
