Adopting a Mindset of Cultural Humility as an Approach to Supportive Care for System-Involved Youth and Their Families

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT

Training Description

This training will demonstrate that Cultural Humility is the best approach to supportive care for system-involved youth and their families. Every person is a unique combination of cultural traits that are influenced by personal and familial experiences of trauma, grief, joy, identity, and purpose. Thus, every individual has a personal culture that cannot be taught through bullet points, but can only be understood through the lens of Cultural Humility. For people in a supportive role, a mindset of Cultural Humility recognizes the person we are caring for as the expert on their personal culture, and acknowledges the individuality and unique experiences of system-involved youth and their families.

This is a virtual training session offered on Zoom. Participants will be informed through presenter instruction, self-reflection, and exploration of their personal culture. To increase participant engagement and content retention, the presenter will utilize the chat box, annotation features, guided participant discussion, a virtual grieving style activity, small group sharing utilizing breakout rooms, and Questions & Answers.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

● Explain why an approach of Cultural Humility is the preferred mindset for supportive care with system-involved youth and their families, rather than “Cultural Competency”.

● Identify at least 3 ways that applying Cultural Humility impacts the supportive care of system-involved youth and their families.

● Identify at least 1 unique trait of their own personal culture.

Agenda

10:00-10:15am   Welcome (15 min)

● Introduction of Trainer

● Introduction of Topic

● Introduction of Participants

10:15-10:45am   Education: Cultural Humility & Supportive Care (30 min)

● Evolution of Cultural Awareness

● Cultural Humility as a Mindset for Supportive Care

10:45-11:00am  Guided Discussion (15 min)

11:00-11:15am  Education: Understanding Personal Culture (15 min)

11:15-11:45am   Small Group Sharing: Self-Reflection about Personal Culture (30 min)

(This will be done in breakout rooms with 3-4 participants)

● Review definition of Personal Culture

● Reflection time to consider Personal Culture

● Describe your Personal Culture to your small group

11:45am-12pm Debrief of Small Group discussion (15 min)

12:00-12:30pm  Lunch Break (30 min) (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

12:30-1:00pm  Education: Significant Loss & Personal Culture (30 min)

● Types of Losses

○ Any significant loss is processed as grief

● Grief 101

● How Significant Loss Affects Our Personal Culture

1:00-1:15pm Education: Grieving Styles (15 min)

1:15-1:30pm Group Activity: Identifying Your Personal Grieving Style (15 min)

1:30-1:45pm Guided Discussion of Group Activity (15 min)

1:45-1:55pm Open Question & Answers (10 min)

1:55-2:00pm Wrap-up (5 min)

Meet Our Trainer

Wendy Kessler, MSW, FT is a Grief Specialist. She is credentialed as a Fellow in Thanatology (the study of death, dying, and bereavement) by the Association of Death Education and Counseling, and a Certified Mental Health First Aid Instructor. Wendy worked as hospice Bereavement Specialist from 2017-2022 – offering grief care to patients’ loved ones, hospice staff, and community partners. Through hospice work she recognized a gap in grief education for helping professionals, and a need for better understanding and support for grievers. As a result, she left corporate hospice care and launched Grief Guide Consulting, LLC in 2022. Her private practice grief services include individual counseling, support group facilitation, group education, and consulting. She believes that grief is not a problem to be fixed. It is a journey that we can learn to navigate, and when the path is unfamiliar or uncertain it can help to have a guide. You can learn more about Wendy or contact her at her website: www.griefguideconsulting.com.

This course meets the qualifications for (3.5) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.