TRAUMA INFORMED: RESTORE
Our world is broken. God’s original design has been twisted and distorted so that evil and suffering are common. The history of humanity is dark. Our history as a nation and even more specifically, our history in Birmingham is one of sin, division, terror, and injustice. We can sum this up as traumatic.
This leads us to the present. Communities characterized by poverty and crime did not come into existence overnight. We must look beyond the surface to find the real story. We must recognize and repent of our complicity in decades of injustice. We must understand that there are no quick fixes or easy answers for problems that have resulted from unacknowledged complex trauma.
We choose to step into the pain as Jesus did. We first address the reality of trauma in our own lives so that we can walk with our neighbors as they deal with trauma in their lives. Through mutual relationships and trauma-informed programs, we create brave space to walk together towards healing as a community.
Training videos :
Hear from one of our longtime volunteers what a difference Trauma Informed Care has made!
Before we can discuss the belief system of our kids, we must be aware of our own belief systems. Click the links below to take 3 quizzes to grow in self awareness of your views of the world:
Blank Space Birmingham listened to our dream of creating an intentional sensory path for Oak Tree kids and came up with multiple designs, then the kiddos voted on this fun space theme! We call it our calm down course because it begins by dis-regulating and ends with regulating actions to help kids calm themselves when they are looking for sensory stimulation!
Enjoy watching Oak Tree kiddos walk you through how we use the Peace Pond for conflict resolution!
Watch part 2 of our 3 part series exploring the Roots of Oak Tree.
How do we restore the former devastations? Through Trauma-Informed Practices.
EXTRA RESOURCES:
The Connected Child by Dr. Kayrn Purvis
The Whole Brain Child by Daniel Siegel
Childhood Disrupted by Donna Jackson Nakazawa
Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores by Diane Langberg
Click HERE for a more in-depth zoom series on Trauma Informed Practices.
Oak Tree Volunteers:
Please fill out the form below when you have completed the videos for our Trauma Informed training. This will help us keep track of which volunteers have been fully trained. Thank you!