Bilingual Training: Strategies to Teach Emotional Regulation Skills to Parents and Caregivers of System-Involved Youth

Nicole Kelly, PsyD & Nancy Acosta, PsyD

Training Description

Parents and caregivers of system-involved youth play a crucial role in their healing journey. So, it’s essential for them to regulate themselves to assist youth in their care with regulating themselves. This aids parents and caregivers of system-involved youth in their ability to navigate crises, co-regulate and increase their overall well-being. Participants will learn how to teach parents and caregivers about emotional regulation skills as well as skills to practice with parents. This training will be provided in English and Spanish to equip providers working with bilingual or Spanish speaking parents with these skills.

Learning Objectives

· Participants will be able to explain to caregivers what emotional regulation skills are and why they’re important

· Participants will be able to explain to parents and caregivers at least one emotional regulation skill in Spanish

· Participants will be able to explain to parents and caregivers at least one emotional regulation skill in English

Agenda

10:00-10:15am  Welcome

10:15-11:30am  Emotional regulation overview

· Describing emotional regulation skills

· Goals of emotional regulation

· Teaching parents what emotional regulation skills are (English)

· Teaching parents what emotional regulation skills are (Spanish)

· Importance of emotional regulation skills for parents

11:30-11:45am  Break (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

11:45am-1:00pm  Engaging parents/caregivers

· Normalizing stressors and need for emotional regulation skills

· Barriers to parental involvement

· Connection between parent’s ability to regulate and youth’s ability

· Co-regulation/modeling

· Teaching parents/caregivers about co-regulation/modeling in English and Spanish

1:00-2:00pm  Lunch (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

2:00-3:30pm  Regulation skills

· Difficult situations with youth

· Helping youth regulate

· Teaching parents/caregivers about strategies to help youth regulate

· Caregiver affect management

· Identifying triggers

· Engaging senses

· Stop, opposite action

3:30-3:45pm  Break (CE hours will not be offered for this time)

3:45-4:45pm

· Cope ahead

· Self-compassion

· Reaching out for support

· Vignettes

4:45-5:00pm  Wrap-up & Closing

Meet Our Trainer

Nicole Kelly is a clinical psychologist who has worked with trauma survivors for 14 years. She currently consults with agencies on trauma-informed care, programming for commercially sexually exploited youth, vicarious trauma, and leadership development. Nicole has been training multidisciplinary audiences on trauma-related topics since 2015 and provides guest lectures at local universities on human trafficking.

Nancy Acosta is a bilingual therapist who has 7 years of experience working with trauma at a sexual assault center. She has provided services to children and adults in various settings including outpatient community mental health centers, college counseling centers, crisis centers, and in an integrated behavioral health setting. She has completed training in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy as well as Cognitive Processing Therapy. She has experience providing training and supervision to doctoral level graduate students in trauma related topics including crisis intervention, vicarious trauma, and grounding techniques. In addition to developing a training manual for a student training program at a rape and crisis center, she also has experience supervising practicum students and providing support to staff and advocates. Nancy has experience working as a behavioral health consultant with multidisciplinary staff to improve recognition, treatment and management of behavioral problems and conditions.

This course meets the qualifications for (5.5) 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.