Indigenous Perspective: How Trauma Impacts Sleep & Sleep Hygiene for System Involved Youth & Their Caregivers

Nima Novak

Training Description

Trauma can have a significant impact on sleep and sleep hygiene for system-involved youth and their caregivers. Disrupted sleep has been shown in research to cause very harmful consequences to those experiencing it, especially over an extended period time to all areas including health, work/school, relationships, learning, memory and activities of daily living. In this 2-hour training, the presentation will include definitions, research on how trauma negatively can impact sleep, and what to do when youth or caregivers have trauma disrupting their sleep including somatic strategies to improve outcomes for system involved youth who are disproportionately youth of color and all too often negatively affected by trauma. Participants will be guided through a sequence of learning activities to explore and understand the negative impact of trauma on the brain and to gain increased awareness to reduce and heal disrupted sleep. Learning activities will include: self-reflection, storytelling of real life examples, large group exercises, and participant question time.

Learning Objectives

● Participants will be able to identify & explain 5 ways that trauma can affect sleep and sleep hygiene for system involved youth.

● Participants will be able to explain 3 ways to create a safe sleep environment, including somatic strategies.

● Participants will be able to explain 3 ways how disrupted sleep impacts system involved youth and is a contributing negative factor for Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score outcomes.

Agenda

10:00-10:05am  Welcome, Introductions, and Expectations

10:05-10:10am Resourcing the body activity

10:10-10:40am Definitions:

● Sleep stages

● Trauma, including ACE scores

● Hyperarousal and insomnia

● Hypervigilance and fragmented sleep

● Nightmares and night terrors

● Sleep-related anxiety

● caregiver stress and sleep disruption:

● Fight/ flight/ fawn response & sleep

● Poly Vagal Theory

● Glimmers

● Sleep hygiene

● Self-compassion

10:45am-11:10am  How trauma impacts sleeps, how people with higher ACE scores can experience increased sleep disruption

11:10am-11:25am Story telling

11:25am-11:45am How to create a safe sleep environment, including somatic strategies for specific sleep disturbances

11:45am-12pm Questions & key takeaways

Meet Our Trainer

Nima Novak is an Indigenous Speech Language Pathologist from the Mohawk Tribe of the Iroquois Nation. She holds a Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology and a Master’s of Science in Speech Language Pathology. She has worked extensively in marginalized communities, specifically in Oxnard with Indigenous preschool population and on the west side of Chicago, where she has seen first hand the negative effects of trauma on speech, language and fluency development. She is currently studying somatic therapies, Polyvagal Theory, Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) and Reiki to promote healing across the communities she serves, with the intention of loving kindness for all. Her focus on evidence-based practices and empirical research serves to bridge the worlds of healing and science which are often relegated to different categories. Nima’s holistic approach of resilience and education teaches how research-based mindfulness practices can be used to manage trauma in the body for both her students and colleagues experiencing the effects of secondary trauma. She is dedicated to empowering her students and all womxn to pursue their passions through the cultivation of resilience and self-worth. In her school based speech therapy and basketball coaching Nima takes a trauma-informed approach to support BIPOC and all students at every level.

Nima is an advisor on Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Board and mentor's current students at California State San Marcos in the Students of Speech & Language, Inclusion, Diversity, & Equity Group. For her anti-racism work, she has been featured in Vice Magazine, Medium.com, The Community Psychologist Special Feature, Authority Magazine and Thrive Global Magazine. She is a contributing founder and author of the anti-racism work group Living in Empathy. Nima has been featured in interviews on Evergreen State College, Educators for Justice IG live, SLPs Of Color IG live, the SLPs of Color podcast, the FAACT podcast and the Breaking Down Podcast. She has presented as a keynote speaker for The Rainbow Project, LGBT Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, Chicago Minds, Women Trans Femme Bike Group, Bradley Street Bicycle Co-op, University of St. Augustine Health Sciences, Community Living Thunder Bay, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Northwestern University.

This course meets the qualifications for (2) 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.