Pandemic Integration

Suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning,

such as the meaning of a sacrifice.

Viktor E. Frankl

COLLECTIVE TRAUMA, such as the coronavirus pandemic with all its attendant racial, political, and economic upheavals, exacts a profound toll on populations, straining people’s ability to regulate their stress responses and to prevent the development of physical health symptoms and trauma effects. Even though the pandemic has reached a different stage, helping professionals in health, human services, and non-profit settings, whose work centers care and connection, are still feeling the ripple effects. These workers are charged to provide compassionate service to vulnerable populations while they also concerns about their own health and recovery.

Wayne Scott Favicon blueUsing art, poetry, reflective journaling, and community-building, this workshop will help participants integrate the stresses of the pandemic, emphasizing the inner workings of the human nervous system and practical mindfulness strategies that enhance perseverance and build long-term resilience. Participants explore how to apply concrete practices of mindfulness, create meaning from their pandemic experience, and integrate it into their identity as a helper or healer. The webinar will also provide a REFLECTIVE FORUM for helping professionals to breathe, reclaim their own intentions and visions in doing difficult work, and exchange mutual support during trying times.

PART ONE: How Toxic Stress Affects the Nervous System

(Day 1, 8:30 – noon, one long break)

  1. Articulate the practitioner’s role in delivering quality care and how it shifts under extreme circumstances
  2. Describe the continuum of toxic stress and the relationship between adversity and trauma
  3. Identify the three components of traumatic experience and how practitioners can mitigate effects
  4. Identify protective factors that prevent extreme adversity from becoming trauma
  5. Name one mindful practice they can use (e.g. intention-setting, witness and affirmation, breathing)
PART TWO: Embracing Co-suffering and Expanding Resilience

(Day 2, 8:30 – noon, one long break)

  1. Understand the different pathways of the autonomic nervous system and how they impact emotional self-regulation
  2. Use a “bottom up” approach to map their own nervous system
  3. Apply the phenomenon of co-regulation and resonance systems
  4. Practice using the Wheel of Awareness to train attention during tumultuous times
  5. Name one mindful practice they can use (e.g. reflective journaling, movement, meditation)

Currently this webinar/workshop is not scheduled. It is available for onsite delivery at agencies upon request.

Wayne Scott Favicon blueWayne Scott’s webinars are not just lively and fun but they’re trauma-informed in both design and delivery. Employing diverse media, they have less lecture, more dialogue and time for reflection, and an emphasis on drawing out the collective wisdom of participants. Webinars are less expensive than similar webinars offered by bigger companies and there’s no paper fliers to clutter your inbox (Because: PESI). NOTE: If you have any special needs that require accommodation or particular triggers that should be avoided, please contact me.