Hello to my friends in the ACEs Connection community. I am happy to announce the publication of my new curriculum Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience. This program comes from a lifetime of experience both personally and professionally, as well as using the most current research and consultation with leaders in the field. Jane Stevens asked me to share with you why I wrote it, how I tested it and how long it took from idea to publication.
Why I wrote it: Just like all of you, I was stunned 12 years ago when I heard of the groundbreaking work of Dr. Vincent Felitti. Dr. Felitti's research explains so much of the troubles in the world. At the time, I was an executive director of the Relationship Skills Center in Sacramento. When I started the organization, I thought giving people relationship skills would be sufficient for building healthy families. We were successful in many cases, but not as successful as I had imagined. Felitti’s work reminded me that we needed to deal with the underlying trauma in the lives of couples we served to create the desired changes.
The Relationship Skills Center provided many lessons. The first was the lesson that not enough people, especially in the low-income areas, have sufficient access to mental health services. Many are unwilling to see a therapist or counselor or simply do not have the needed resources. Secondly, embedded community service agencies are better equipped to bring psychoeducational programs to their neighborhoods. Thirdly, complex psychoeducation strategies can be taught by paraprofessionals within the community. Fourth, there are not enough therapists in our world to help people who suffer from the effects of childhood trauma.
As a marriage and family therapist, I have spent a lifetime learning effective treatment methods for healing from trauma. I felt inspired when I received my certification as a Certified Trauma Professional in 2014 that emphasized two major research studies. One study by Cloitre, et.al., 2011 found that no significant difference in effectiveness existed between different methods of psychotherapies when treating post-traumatic stress disorder. A second study analyzed 54 methods of trauma treatment to determine which were most effective. These were emotion-regulation strategies, cognitive restructuring, anxiety and stress management, interpersonal skills, meditation, and mindfulness (Benish, Imel & Wampold, 2008). Based on those findings and my experience with psychoeducational programs in the relationship education field, it was clear that healing from the effects of trauma could be learned in a psychoeducational format.
How I tested it. Work began on this curriculum in 2014. I consulted with many leaders in the field and began writing Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience in 2014. The curriculum was field-tested first at Encino Preparatory High School, one of the lowest performing high schools in California. At Encino, I worked with a group of seventh graders who were considered at high risk for failure to graduate from high school. They quickly let me know what parts of the curriculum worked and what didn’t. The curriculum was then taken to a transition housing program and field-tested on adult residents who were formerly homeless. Next, 100 students at the Health Professionals High School, another high-risk campus, were taught the Mind Matters curriculum. Classes were taught by marriage and family therapist interns and college students to demonstrate that paraprofessionals could teach this program.
Who can use this? To quote Jane Stevens, “This curriculum can be used with people of all ages—including teens, youth and adults—in schools, community based organizations, the justice system, foster care, shelters, and group homes.”
If you would like more information concerning this curriculum, its training and use: Please contact: carolynrichcurtis@gmail.com or call me at 916-995-6846. To see a sample lesson and table of contents, go to http://www.dibbleinstitute.org/mind-matters.
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