Trauma Response Institute
In September 2008, the Trauma Response Institute (TRI) became a distinct program within the Graduate Department of Counseling at George Fox University. The Institute sponsors training, research, and service activities in the support of the resiliency of individuals and communities facing traumatic events.
Three guiding principles of the TRI are its collaborative, ecosystemic, and resiliency foci. In all its activities the institute seeks to collaborate with service organizations, government agencies, schools, faith communities and traumatology experts from a variety of professions committed to disaster response. The ecosystemic orientation of the Institute embraces a holistic approach to understanding human experience and functioning. Educational programs focusing on a biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual inquiry into the impact of traumatic events set the stage for the application of a context-sensitive multi-modal response based on the needs identified by the affected community.
The guiding feature of the Institute is it's embrace of resiliency of individuals and communities to survive and thrive in the face of adversity. All activities of the TRI are grounded in the belief that each community impacted by a traumatic event has the capacity to find hope, purpose, and meaning as it rebuilds itself, with our services intending to facilitate this process of recovery.
TRI Activities
Providing education and training opportunities is central to the work of the TRI. In response to the growing need for responsible and informed trauma response providers, the TRI offers a post graduate certificate in trauma response services, a 12-unit graduate course curriculum available to mental health, school, medical and ministerial graduate students and post graduate professionals. The curriculum complies with the didactic requirements of major traumatology certifying organizations, and includes a 9-month to 1 year collaborative field experience in which the professionals will engage in a research or program development project of one's choosing.
Continuing Education (CE) events (not applicable to post graduate certificate yet compliant with professional continuing education requirements) are also offered, with many of the trauma response services specialty courses offered concurrently as CE events. Course schedules (including CE co-occurring opportunities) and registration details will be posted online.
The Trauma Response Team is a service arm of the TRI restoring the community either directly or by assisting disaster aid organizations recruit qualified trauma responders. All team members are graduate-level trained and credentialed mental health, education, medical, or ministerial professionals with demonstrated graduate-course level training in traumatology.
For more information about TRI educational programs read through our web pages or contact our admissions counselor Kathy Grant kgrant@georgefox.edu. To talk further about the TRI, call or email the TRI, and either Lani Watkins or Anna Berardi will return your request. We also invite you to follow us online for ongoing discussions about all things focused on resiliency in the face of difficult challenges. Meanwhile we look forward to new possibilities as we partner together no matter what unfolds in our future.
-Anna Berardi, PhD., TRI Director