Bethany Christian Services of Holland MI is offering three, Continuing Education (CE) Hours certified, on-site, training workshops. The presenters of this workshop will travel throughout the world for the convenience of professionals working with children in the child welfare system.

These workshops are designed to inform professionals about the unique needs facing children and families. These workshops will give professionals the understanding and tools to successfully guide and aid their challenging efforts. These trainings have also been formatted to meet the needs of caregivers (foster/adoptive families).

Who is the target audience of these workshops?
These workshops are for any professional who work with children and families in the child welfare arena. This includes, but is not limited to, social workers, teachers, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, church leaders, or others in the medical field.

1. Taking on Trauma
The “Taking on Trauma” workshop teaches professionals about how to access and help children recovering or dealing with trauma. This workshop will also increase professionals understanding of how trauma affects the brain and influences a child’s. This workshop is designed to help you identify when trauma is affecting your foster/adoptive clients that are children. This training will cover the physiological and psychological aspects of complex trauma and present research-based interventions to clinically address trauma.
    Workshop Objectives
    At the end of the training, participants will understand:
    • Trauma’s Definition, Triggers, and the Biological Basis.
    • Impacts of Trauma at Home and at School.
    • Essential Tools: Attunement, Affect Tolerance and Regulation, Routines and Rituals, and Praise and Reinforcement.
    • Parallel Process and Vicarious Trauma.

2. The Chosen Family
In the second workshop, “The Chosen Family.” the presenters are prepared to teach professionals about adoptive and foster family expectations, experiences, adjustments, and bonding, along with the tools to reach out to children and parents in their time of transition.

A training for professionals who work closely with children and families to understand the unique experiences, strengths, needs, and resources of adoptive and foster families. Professionals will gain an in-depth view into the experiences and needs of the adoptive or foster parents, and will also gain insight into adoptive children and their experiences and associated needs. This training will provide the necessary tools to help these “chosen families.”
    Workshop Objectives
    During the training, participants will learn about:
    • Parents’ and children’s expectations and their impact.
    • The adoption experience for the family.
    • Adjustment of both the adoptive parent and child.
    • Bonding and attachment.
    • Forever tools to assist with families.

3. Tips and Tricks
This workshop is an advanced, in-depth training that dives into the techniques used to work closely with children and their families who have experienced complex trauma. You will learn the key struggles these children typically face as well as gain hands-on tools for guiding your work with these challenging behaviors. These skills will benefit the work you are doing as professionals as well as the caregivers raising these children. This training assumes prior knowledge of and/or experience with the impacts of complex trauma.
    Workshop Objectives
    During the training, participants will learn about:
    • Six different domains of impairment observed in complexly traumatized children.
    • Several different tools and techniques that address these domains.
    • How to use these tools in a therapeutic setting.
    • How to teach caregivers how to use these tools in a home environment.

Benefits
  • A low cost, professional training from experts in the field.
  • Marketing for your organization.
  • Opportunity to raise extra income.
  • An applicable professional training for your employees.

What you would need To Do
  • Call us and set a date.
  • Find a venue that has a projector, microphones, and DVD player (we’ll bring the laptop).
  • Determine your fee for participants
  • Market the training in your organization and community.
  • Wait for the registrations to roll in.

For more information regarding scheduling and fees please contact Jill Vander Bent: 616.796.9161

Workshop Presenters

Sarah Zuidema, LMSW Adoption Supervisor

Sarah Zuidema has worked in the intercountry adoption field for over ten years. Her work includes education, preparation, and post placement services after adoptive families welcome an international child into their home. Sarah works closely with the other adoption and counseling programs so she can be aware of the resources for children in this community and around the world.



Jill Vander Bent, LMSW Clinical Supervisor

Jill is the counseling supervisor for Bethany Christian Services in Holland and is an ADOPTS-trained therapist, who works with traumatized children. Jill has conducted several community trainings and presentations to professionals and parents on the topic of trauma and adoption. Jill has provided outpatient and home based services for children and families for over 7 years.