Be Kind to Yourself: Loving Kindness Practice for Beginners

Thursday, September 8, 2022 9:00 - 10:00 AM EDT

Learning to be kind to ourselves can sometimes feel like a monumental task. We are often our own harshest judge. In this experiential workshop, we will explore the mindfulness practice of Loving Kindness and learn how to use it in our daily lives. Through simple, brief practices, we can begin to soften our own self-judgment and build our internal capacity for self-compassion, expanding our access to joy and ease in our everyday lives. Building our internal capacity for self-kindness and self-compassion supports our ability to create calm, focused, empathic attention when faced with stress, trauma, or another's pain. It makes us stronger and more resilient in the face of challenges.

Staff Faculty: Monica Sullivan, MEd

Making Sense of Negative Coping and Creating Healthier Pathways

Friday, September 16, 2022 10:00 - 11:15 EDT

Do you shame yourself, or look down on others, for behaviors that harm your health and well-being? This workshop will name toxic stress as one of the root causes of unhealthy behaviors. We will explore effective ways to address negative coping patterns by accepting them as survival driven; then look at ways to shift the balance to healthier skills. Being able to name and validate our experiences and the tools we've used to survive is part of healing and recovering from trauma. Learning that we can write a new narrative and change our responses to life is empowering and liberating. These practices of naming, validating and moving to healthier practices support wholeness, growth, and recovery in our personal and professional lives.

Guest Faculty: Rebecca Bryan, DNP (bio below)

Managing Fatigue from Different Angles

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 1 - 2:30 PM EDT

The feeling of fatigue is sometimes unavoidable in our lives. We all get to a point of restlessness and exhaustion. Not all of us are aware that there are various levels of fatigue that can show up for us in many different ways. It may not feel possible for you to always differentiate between what kind of fatigue you’re experiencing.

In this workshop, we will dissect the feeling of fatigue and discuss the many different ways our fatigue can develop within us. By the end of this workshop, we will be able to identify different strategies we can implement to combat our fatigue when it shows up and dims our overall focus.

Staff Faculty: Don Jackson

Exploring Loss and Grief Series: 4 part series

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 10:00 -11:00 AM EDT

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 10:00 -11:00 AM EDT

Wednesday, November 2, 2022 10:00 -11:00 AM EDT

Wednesday, November 9, 2022 10:00 -11:00 AM EST

Have you asked yourself…WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!? IS IT JUST ME!? Are you feeling like many others who just can’t seem to get a handle on all the thoughts and feelings attached to the extreme changes in our surrounding environment? Over the last few years, we have experienced turbulent changes to “life as we know it”, such as upheaval, loss of control, and feeling powerless, which has resulted in a deeper sense of loss and grief for many of us as a collective. When a community, society, nation, or village undergoes a crisis this can also lead to anticipatory grief. As ongoing crises continue around us, these changes lead us through the difficult processes of mourning the former and yet, not knowing what to expect or how to respond to what may be coming in the future. Understanding the impact of loss and grief across the continuum of our collective, workplace and personal lives places us in a better position to manage our inter-connected mental, emotional and physical wellness in an ever-changing societal climate.

• Week 1: When It's All Just Too Much
• Week 2: What's Going on Around Here;
• Week 3: Individual Grief-When the Well is Empty;
• Week 4: Grieving After Community Violence-Is It Safe Anywhere?

As direct service front-line workers, every day brings the need to witness others' suffering and respond in the face of pain. Over time, we can become numb to the feelings connected to being the witness. Acknowledging, naming, and validating the experience of loss and grief is essential, as all of us will experience it in our lifetimes. Speaking the truth about our internal experience allows us room to grow stronger when faced with loss.

Guest Faculty: Carmen Caraballo, MSW, (Bio Below)

Mindfulness for Beginners: Working with Discomfort

Thursday, November 17, 2022 9:00 - 10:00 AM EST

When we try to quiet our minds and practice mindfulness, we often come across discomfort or restlessness in our body, heart, or mind. In this experiential workshop, we will practice simple tools to help us work with discomfort when it arises in our practice experience. We will explore breathing, naming, and shifting focus techniques, to help us access greater ease and well-being. Our capacity to build self-awareness through paying attention to our internal experiences supports our ability to create a calm and focused presence when faced with stress, trauma, or another's pain. It makes us stronger and more resilient in the face of challenges.

Staff Faculty: Monica Sullivan, MEd

Guest Faculty Bios

Rebecca Bryan, DNP, is an adult nurse practitioner whose passion is raising interprofessional awareness about trauma-informed approaches to care. In 2012 she founded the UrbanPromise Wellness Center in Camden, NJ, with evidence-based initiatives grounded in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research. Dr. Bryan is currently an adjunct professor at Rutgers University School of Nursing and has 20 years of experience working in the primary care setting, as well as experience working with pastors at Credo wellness conferences. She has educated interprofessional audiences about the impact of childhood adversity on health, behavior, and social consequences across the lifespan.

Carmen Caraballo, MSW, is a seasoned bilingual Master’s Level Social Worker with over 27 years of experience working with children, youth, adults, families, communities, and organizations throughout the Philadelphia area. She possesses a strong clinical background working with various populations, such as pregnant and parenting women, pre-term prevention, home visitation services, early childhood education, child welfare, at-risk youth and violence prevention, reunification, homelessness and housing, smoking cessation, addiction and substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, trauma work and critical incidence, hospice, and end of life care. She has provided services along the continuum of direct service practice, case management, clinical counseling and therapy, supervisory and management functions, director of programs and executive leadership, and executive coaching. She has a passion for coaching and partnering with individuals to unlock their fullest potential in order to attain their most desired personal, professional and creative goals. In her personal time, she enjoys reading, writing, appreciating the wide range of creative arts, listening to jazz really loud, tending to her many plants, and spending quality time with her three amazing adult children, her nine beautiful grandchildren, and her beloved circle of female friends.

Staff Faculty and Facilitators

Don Jackson and Monica Sullivan, MEd

Supported in part by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health

This Resiliency Series is specially offered for community members and organizations who through their work are First Responders or are involved with those affected by the Substance Use Crisis in Philadelphia. The stress of caring for others can affect our bodies and minds. This free virtual series is here to support our workplaces and community and is open to anyone.

For information on Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), visit #TakeCarePHL at https://www.philadelphiaaces.org/sts. Visit the Events page to sign up for notifications of future events.