August 4, 2026

Presented by Vanessa N. Mayers, MSW

Workplace violence is not limited to physical harm. Verbal abuse, identity-based harassment, and racial trauma can deeply impact staff well-being, safety, and service quality — especially in human-centered nonprofit environments. This training explored workplace violence through a trauma-informed lens, with a focus on verbal abuse and racialized harm experienced between colleagues, supervisors, and clients. Participants examined real-world scenarios, prevention strategies, and trauma-informed reporting and response protocols that support accountability without causing further harm. Throughout the webinar, we referenced the RC Trauma Framework, RICH, and our Collaborative Crisis Model.

June 16, 2026

Presented by Tanji L. Donald, MEd

Teaching Risking Connection (RC) is a collaborative effort, and facilitating alongside a co-trainer or colleagues can sometimes feel overwhelming. In this webinar, participants explored core Risking Connection concepts using case examples from the RC manual and practiced translating these principles into meaningful, accessible facilitation strategies that strengthen connection and learning.

This session offered a supportive and encouraging space for beginner and intermediate Associate Trainers to learn together, share insights, and build confidence in their teaching practice. Participants worked collaboratively to strengthen foundational facilitation skills while exploring co-training approaches that emphasize partnership, communication, shared responsibility, and shared leadership. Through interactive planning activities, participants identified strategies that promote emotional safety and meaningful engagement. By the end of the session, participants left with practical tools, resources, and approaches to support the effective planning and delivery of future Risking Connection trainings.

May 12, 2026

Presented by Patricia D. Wilcox, LCSW

Trauma-informed care is hard to implement. It is even harder to sustain. Many forces pull us all back to punitive approaches, including fear, exhaustion and discouragement caused by staff shortages and system changes. This presentation offered specific actionable steps towards sustaining a deeply embedded trauma-informed approach, recognizing that long-term success hinges on both ongoing organizational commitment and a fundamental integration of social justice and equity principles.

We explored practical strategies for both staff and leadership to move beyond initial implementation, combat staff burnout and turnover, and actively challenge punitive practices. By examining the intersection of trauma and equity, participants gained individual and leadership actionable insights to cultivate a culture of compassion and understanding. All staff feeling welcome and connected is necessary for all to be safe enough to treat our clients with compassion. We further explored the ways in which we can use these approaches as trainers within our Risking Connection trainings. This integrated approach ensures a more supportive and just environment for both clients and staff, leading to truly sustainable and impactful trauma-informed care.

April 16, 2026

Presented by LaTasha Reece, MS

This webinar expanded the traditional boundaries of trauma-informed practice by demonstrating how every role within an organization, both clinical and non-clinical, contributes to healing. Drawing on the Risking Connection® (RC) framework and Online ARTIC data, this webinar explored how HR staff, facilities teams, food service workers, administrative support, and research personnel can become active partners in forming and maintaining RICH relationships.

Participants examined how everyday interactions, organizational systems, and workplace culture can either promote healing or unintentionally reinforce trauma dynamics. The session offered practical, relational strategies to help the non-clinical RCCM community see themselves as “treaters” in their unique roles and support clinical staff in how to collaborate with non-clinical staff to build a trauma-responsive environment. By broadening the lens of trauma-informed care beyond clinical settings, this training sought to strengthen whole-organization alignment, enhance relational safety, and affirmed that healing is a shared responsibility across every level of an agency.

December 2, 2025

Presented by TSI Staff

A big milestone!

In December 2025 we celebrated 25 years of Risking Connection — a milestone honoring a quarter century of trauma-informed systems change. We were thrilled to welcome several special guests whose vision and leadership made Risking Connection possible:

• Dr. Kay Saakvitne, lead author of Risking Connection
• Dr. Laurie Pearlman, co-author of Risking Connection & TSI co-founder
• Dr. Dan Abrahamson, TSI co-founder
• Esther Giller, M.A., founder of the Sidran Institute, facilitator/original publisher of Risking Connection
• Melodie Peet, former Commissioner of the Office of Behavioral Health, a division of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services

This journey also wouldn’t have been possible without you, our partners in this work. Our growth and impact have been shaped through deep, collaborative relationships with our client agencies – learning together, adapting together, and building trauma-informed cultures side by side. Together, we’ve created change that lasts.

Our keynote speaker was Noel Casiano, PsyD, LMFT, presenting Rooted in Connection: Fostering Resilience Amid Uncertainty. Now more than ever, we need each other – to draw strength from the resilience of the past, hold our courage in the present, and dream up the possibilities that lie ahead.

We honored our past, rooted ourselves in community, and imagined just how far the ripple effect of trauma-informed care can carry us all in the next quarter century.

November 13, 2025

Presented by Vanessa N. Mayers, MSW

In 1883, poet Emma Lazarus wrote, “The New Colossus” and it was affixed to the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. The one line often referenced says, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Today, over 14% of the American population is foreign-born. Individuals and families come to the United States for a variety of reasons including economic and educational opportunities as well as to escape environmental disasters, conflicts, persecution and human rights violations.

This webinar invited participants into a courageous and inclusive space as we considered some of the ways America’s shifting demographics impact workforces and populations served, especially within human services. We reviewed several scenarios of different types of immigrant experiences – before and after entering the U.S. – and then examined how some of their behaviors might be adaptive.

Lastly, we reviewed strategies that RC Trainers and organizations can utilize in their workplaces with staff and populations served.

October 16, 2025

presented by LaVerne Baker Hotep

“Kasserian Ingera,”meaning, “And how are the children?” is a traditional greeting among the Masai people of Kenya and Tanzania.  This greeting speaks to their belief that the health and prosperity of their society depends on the well-being of their children. The traditional response is, “All the children are well.”

All children everywhere have the right to a childhood with dignity, respect and worth. The right to a childhood free from racism and discrimination is crucial to a child’s well-being. Systemic and institutional racism puts children at risk for a lifetime of deprivation. And because of this prevailing dis-ease that infects every aspect of our culture, all the children are not well. Exposure to racial discrimination is a chronic source of trauma in the lives of all children that negatively influences their physical, emotional and mental health.

This presentation identified long-lasting effects of racism on our youth. Participants shared their thoughts and approaches as we explored three practices that help mitigate the impacts of racial bias on early life.

We envision a society that evolves to a point that, when asked, “And how are the children?” we will joyfully respond, “All the children are well!”

September 30, 2025

presented by Tanji L. Donald, M.Ed.

The implementation of trauma informed care concepts within organizations can be a daunting, yet rewarding process. Building group cohesion is an important trauma-informed practice.

During this webinar, we examined the five pillars of group cohesion and how they can create a culture of trust and support; build higher levels of connections; increase motivation and job satisfaction; and develop a shared sense of purpose within organizations. This interactive session explored the challenges and rewards of building group cohesion during Risking Connection trainings.

September 4, 2025

presented by John Engel

This webinar explored the neurobiological window of tolerance (WOT), which represents an individual’s optimal zone of physiological arousal. In short, a wide window supports a normal threat response, executive function, social engagement, regulation, and resilience. A narrow window, on the other hand, leads to a malfunctioning threat response, disruption of both social engagement and executive function, dysregulation, and less resilience.

Together, we will explored ways that the WOT can be narrowed, including exposure to adversity, trauma, and stress, and the surprising way mindfulness practices, physical exercise, and talk therapy can also narrow the WOT. Strategies for widening our WOT were be offered, including techniques for modifying treatment environments, promoting self-regulation, and facilitating full recovery from stress activation. We also examined how our collective window can be narrowed and widened, with implications for organizations serving trauma survivors.

August 5, 2025

presented by Bradley Wyner, NADD-DDS

Sensory integration refers to the brain’s ability to process, interpret, and respond to sensory information—such as touch, sight, sound, taste, and movement—in a coordinated and meaningful way. Sensory processing plays a critical role in helping people feel safe, grounded, and calm. When our sensory integration works well, a person can respond appropriately to sensory inputs from their environment, which helps maintain emotional regulation and overall well-being. For people with histories of trauma and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (particularly those on the autism spectrum), sensory integration can often be more complex, as the brain takes in more information than the person can effectively process.

We explored how these sensory challenges can manifest in the people you support, and looked at some quick and practical strategies, as well as starting points to customize supports for unique needs. Our goal is to develop “the eyes to see” when people are struggling with sensory integration, and to proactively incorporate sensory supports into your work practices to promote regulation and felt safety for the people you serve.

June 17, 2025

presented by Beth Casarjian, PhD, and Jess Linick, PhD, of the Lionheart Foundation

Strengthening staffs’ self-regulation skills and providing consistent psychosocial support is a pre-requisite to delivering high-quality care to youth. EQ2 is a trauma-informed, self-regulation program specifically developed for direct care staff serving trauma-impacted youth. EQ2 was designed to: 1) support staff in building the self-awareness and self-regulation skills required to deliver trauma-informed care (TIC); while 2) helping staff use approaches to manage their own histories of adversity and buffer them from burnout.

This webinar focused on specific approaches to support staff – particularly an increasingly younger, more inexperienced workforce – through the development of foundational self-regulation and relationship skills. It explained the EQ2 model, how it is implemented, and discussed the EQ2 mobile health app, which staff can use to manage stress in real time. All participants have been given access to the app and its content for 3 months following the webinar.

April 24, 2025

presented by Patricia D. Wilcox, LCSW

Recently social service agencies have been acknowledging the effects of working with, feeling empathy for, and having responsibility for trauma survivors. Whether this effect is referred to as vicarious trauma (VT) or secondary traumatic stress, there is no doubt that the work can influence the treater’s world view, their sense of safety, their own relationships, their sense of hope and their energy and enthusiasm for their work. However, agencies often take the approach that this is mainly an individual problem, to be solved by the treater on their own time and at their own expense with self-care and good boundaries. This presentation challenged some of the myths of vicarious trauma, such as that work is entirely depleting and that home life is entirely fulfilling; and that there is such a thing as work-life balance.

The book Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress: Skills for Sustaining a Career in the Helping Professions by Brian C. Miller (2022 Routledge) provided the scaffolding for specific techniques that can help our workers retain and grow their hope and energy in the work, and thus reduce turnover. We covered areas such as: debunking the myths of VT; developing skills to enhance our work lives; understanding that appreciating intensity rather than avoiding it helps us thrive; bringing joy into our work lives; developing radical compassion; and recovering from crisis. We also explored the assumption that trauma encounters are inherently fatiguing and investigated the premise that the cure for exhaustion is not rest; it is wholeheartedness.

December 12, 2024

presented by Sabrina Demsky-Cameron, DSW, LCSW, and Monica Carras, M.S., BCBA, LBA 

This presentation helped attendees identify and develop an initial understanding of how to work with those that carry a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and have been exposed to a trauma. ASD is a developmental disorder characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interactions with others. These impairments vary from underdeveloped social skills, difficulties with expressive and receptive communication, and the demonstration of restricted or repetitive behaviors. These behaviors may manifest or present themselves in a variety of ways, and the severity of these symptoms can make it difficult for an individual with ASD to disclose any traumatic events and/or feelings they may have associated with this experience.

October 1, 2024

presented by Amanda Rich, PhD

Families play a powerful role in shaping health and well-being across the lifespan. For many, they not only provide a source of identity and belonging, but are also the most enduring source of physical and emotional support. Family engagement is the practice of and commitment to a strength-based approach to relationship building and collaboration with the families of the person using services. It is a cornerstone of best practice in child and youth services and is associated with positive outcomes when working with adults.

For adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), families play an essential role in caregiving, care coordination, advocacy, the support of self-determination, and meaningful inclusion. Many professionals, however, struggle with how to meaningfully engage families of adults with IDD while respecting the person’s right to autonomy. In professional disability services, there is sometimes a conflicting view of families as both a source of support and a barrier to the person’s and the organization’s plans.

This webinar will discuss the importance and context of family engagement in adult IDD services using a trauma-informed lens. We will explore barriers to and strategies for building trust, collaboration, and goal setting with families while centering the rights, wants, and needs of their loved ones.

June 18, 2024

presented by Brandi Kelly, PhD

Wellness practices – rooted in positive psychology – continue to gain attention as an important approach to fostering positive life outcomes in all of us, including people supported in human service settings. Wellness practices also are increasingly viewed as a critical and holistic response to the impact of childhood adversity and trauma and therefore integral to a trauma-informed approach. Both wellness and TIC have core principles of safety, empowerment, and connection.

Historically, in the developmental disability (IDD) field and even outside it, the teaching of wellness practices has been viewed as the job of licensed professionals like therapists or applied behavior analysts. But wellness is important for everyone and need not require clinical involvement. Direct service professionals (DSPs) can learn wellness practices to use themselves and can be trained to teach them to those they support. These practices include such things as gratitude practice, strength spotting, relationship building skills, problem solving, and communication with professionals.

This webinar will describe the rationale for using wellness practices, introduce a DSP toolkit about wellness, and describe the training and implementation of these practices into a state agency supporting people with IDD.

Sessions ran on April 25, May 14, June 11, October 17, and December 10, 2024

Our goal in 2024 is to introduce RC Trainers and Champions to our newly revised Risking Connection Basic curriculum. While the curriculum has been updated over the years (with the exception of the recently created IDD version), this revision is the most comprehensive one ever undertaken. Its structure and content will feel familiar; however, this new and improved version differs in some key ways. Among the changes: an updated look that better reflects the diversity of our world and workplaces; full integration of the RC anti-racism supplement (currently posted on the RC Trainers’ Corner); updated/embedded video content that is more user-friendly; and an expanded resource section.

For most RC Trainers, events will be different this year. The annual attendance requirement will be the same as ever – attend two events each year. However, instead of RC Webinars focused on a variety of topics, there will be two separate RC Webinars entitled Introducing the RC Trainer Manual Revision – Part 1 and Introducing the RC Trainer Manual Revision – Part 2. These will run multiple times over the year. Please attend both sessions as your two annual events. There are two exceptions:

• For RC Trainers who are due for Recert, you’ll receive Part 1 and Part 2 during your Recert, then will need to attend one other event.
• For RC IDD Trainers, we will offer 3 IDD-focused RC Webinars and 1 IDD-focused Recertification training in 2024. The RC IDD curriculum was completed in 2021 and we are not yet prepared to do a revision.  Therefore, RC IDD Trainers and Champions will not receive a revised RC Manual; they will run trainings as usual.

We are excited to introduce you to the newly revised RC curriculum and hope you’re excited, too.

December 5, 2023

presented by Steve Brown, PsyD, and LaTasha Reece, MS

An important part of how we see ourselves comes from our membership in social groups (gender, race, religion, class, sexual identity, etc.). We talk more today specifically about our racial group identity, but that is relatively recent.

In the past and even still today, many Whites don’t view themselves as even having a race, much less examining how their race makes them who they are. In contrast, from the earliest age, people of color keenly understand they have a race and that it deeply matters in this world.

This webinar explored how people develop their racial identity. It focused on White, Black, and Bi-racial groups, looking at models for how racial awareness can grow and change over time. We thought about both our own racial development and that of our clients, paying special attention to how this can affect interactions and RICH relationships.

November 14, 2023

presented by LaVerne Baker Hotep

Can the traumas experienced by parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents live on in us – particularly if they are unresolved? Yes!

Historical trauma refers to trauma that is experienced by a specific cultural, racial, or ethnic group over a period of multiple generations. It is related to major events that oppressed particular groups of people, including slavery, the Holocaust, forced migration, and the violent colonization of Indigenous Peoples. Intergenerational trauma occurs when the effects of trauma are passed down between generations. The science of epigenetics has contributed greatly to our understanding of the challenges within families and cultures when the effects of oppression and trauma are passed from one generation to the next.

December 8, 2022

This 90-minute interactive presentation provided a primer in trauma and resilience in the workforce. It explored the ways leaders and managers can position themselves and their teams to enhance awareness for both trauma and resilience, and develop the flexible and adaptive mindsets necessary to sustain a truly trauma informed and relationally-focused organization.

December 1, 2022

This was an in-person event in New Britain, CT

Paying attention to biases and reducing them will improve expression and understanding of disagreements. Acknowledging the reality and role of implicit biases in guiding behaviors and beliefs can result in actionable and effective solutions to facilitate and improve relationships.

Facilitated discussions on biases and perceptions created a safe environment for hard, ongoing conversations.  Cultural safety is the ability to create a trusting environment that is socially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically safe for staff and family members.  Cultural humility challenges us to learn from others, reserve judgement, and bridge the cultural divide.  Cultural humility increases the quality of interpersonal actions.

November 1, 2022

September 13, 2022

Like so many institutions, the Traumatic Stress Institute has set a strategic priority on embodying anti-racism in our organizational culture. The racial reckoning of the past couple of years has provided us with an opportunity to acknowledge our blind spots and work to reconcile those gaps.

One of our first actions over the past year was the creation of a new supplement to the Teaching Manual for Risking Connection called “Teaching Risking Connection with an Anti-Racist Lens.” In collaboration with an Advisory Committee made up of RC Trainers and Champions with diverse racial and ethnic identities, we were able to produce this supplement. It is NOT meant to replace the Teaching Manual, but rather offer insights and strategies to weave an anti-racist mindset into your teaching.

This deeper dive built on last December’s webinar, when the Anti–Racism supplement was introduced.

presented by Pat Wilcox, LCSW, Steve Brown, Psy.D., and Mary Jo Harwood, LSW, DNCCM
December 1, 2020

Due to COVID-19 this training will be held virtually.

This consult group will take a deeper look at Symptoms as Adaptations and the importance of using validation as a healing tool. Participants will unpack why it is important to take a step back when engaging with a dysregulated client to ask, “What need is he/she trying to meet?” In order to get a clear understanding of that need, the use of validation can be both healing and helpful. Engaging in validation is often rushed during interactions in favor of solutions and problem solving. When validation is done effectively, treaters get more information about how the disruptive behavior has assisted the client with survival as well as what self-capacities should be strengthened so that needs get met in a less disruptive way.  In addition, when people feel heard and understood they become more regulated and calmer.

This training is designed as a model for an RC Refresher. At the end of the training, trainers will receive all materials (outline, power point, and handouts to teach this training).

presented by Mary Jo Harwood, LSW, DNCCM
December 3, 2019 January 14, 2020

This event was rescheduled due to snow but counted toward 2019 RC Trainer requirements.

This RC Trainer Consult group addressed the challenges of staying RICH when having difficult conversations during supervision or with colleagues in the workplace.  Conflict can affect our ability to communicate. Effective communication is key to staying RICH and arriving at mutually agreeable solutions.

December 4, 2018

More and more government bodies at the county, state, province, and national levels are mandating that agencies be trauma-informed. The US “Family First Prevention Services Act” legislation is a prime example. Signed into law on February 9, 2018, it stipulates that “funded services must be trauma-informed.” While the requirements for implement TIC differ, many agencies are nervous about losing funding as a result of falling short.

Being trauma-informed is more than using Risking Connection. It involves other TIC implementation steps as well, such as changing agency policy and procedure, doing universal trauma screening, and changing hiring practices. It also requires providers to prove to funders that they have met the trauma-informed standard.

In this final webinar of 2018, we discussed the current mandates related to TIC, supplied tools for participants to assess where their organizations stood with respect to TIC implementation, and outlined concrete steps to take to meet these mandates.

September 25, 2018

In an age of rapidly changing technology, instant messaging, and a 24/7 news cycle, capturing and retaining a participant’s attention during trainings can be challenging. How do adults learn most effectively? Does staff training even work? Why does it seem like training so rarely leads to behavior change? How can you learn skills of a master trainer/teacher?

The good news is that today we know more about how people learn, how people process and retain knowledge, and how trainers and teachers can connect with an audience. The presenters addressed how to best connect with learners; how to build community in a group; knowing your own learning style and how to use that knowledge to be an effective teacher; ways to implement restorative justice practices in learning spaces; and how to tell a great story.

April 24, 2018

Why are fathers and male caregivers so absent in the treatment of children in our agencies?  Sometimes it’s because there are few men in our clients’ lives. Sometimes men are the perpetrators of violence for which our clients are seeking treatment. But even when there ARE important male figures in the lives of the clients we serve, they often stay away from our programs.

In this RC Trainer Consult, we explored these behaviors and circumstances by considering some familiar RC questions: What happened (to these fathers and men) that explains their behavior? How do we as treaters (and agencies) contribute to and reinforce such behavior? The answers to these questions will help us identify attitudes and practices for being more father/male-inclusive in our delivery of trauma-informed care.