Understanding Trauma and Dealing with Discloures Workshops
Kia ora Women’s Support Motueka supporters and friends. Last year we ran our first full ‘Dealing with Disclosures’ workshop programme, which consisted of six hours of education over three nights. A disclosure is when someone tells you they have been harmed.
The workshops covered:
- Disclosures and how family violence affects people differently.
- How trauma affects the brain and how symptoms of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) present in people who have been harmed. - To keep everyone safe, we discussed how to create and respect
boundaries with the person who disclosed and why these boundaries
are so important. - How to refer people on for further support.
Our workshops were attended by several different community connectors who have said our training has been essential to their work. Our workshops are aimed at anyone in the community who would benefit from knowing how to handle disclosures of harm. People who could benefit are social service providers, hairdressers/barbers, bartenders, WINZ case managers, students, social workers, teachers/educators (ECE, primary, secondary, and tertiary), medical professionals (Nurses, GPS, Pharmacists, Hospital staff and Midwives), support staff, community workers, religious leaders, police, lawyers, and of course the general public (friends and whānau are often the first to be disclosed to). Anyone who is interested is welcome to join!
The workshops provided a safe environment for our participants to ask questions and practice scenarios related to disclosures of harm. In addition, our participants left with a 40-page workbook containing all relevant information from the workshops with a ‘go to’ page where the most crucial referral information is located. The ‘go to’ pages reduce the stress of receiving a disclosure and allow the participants to focus on what is most important, helping the distressed person.