Resources

    • FYI – Podcast with our Youth Specialist, Madison Cameron

      Center for Trauma Informed Practices |

      FYI – Podcast with our Youth Specialist, Madison Cameron

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    • New Cell Phone Guidelines

      J. Kevin Cameron, Executive Director NACTATR / CTIP |

      New Cell Phone Guidelines

      As promised, we have released our CTIP Guidelines for the Implementation of Cell Phone [Personal Mobile Devices (PMD)] in schools.

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    • Parent/Caregiver Involvement: Lessons Learned in the Aftermath of the Michigan School Shooting

      J. Kevin Cameron, Executive Director NACTATR / CTIP |

      Parent/Caregiver Involvement: Lessons Learned in the Aftermath of the Michigan School Shooting

      Overview

      We have had a sustained increase in the frequency and intensity of VTRA-related cases coming out of the pandemic. This includes a dramatic increase in weapons possession among young people. In the educational context, the preferred weapon of choice is a knife.

      However, the most complex cases are involving middle school and elementary aged children where we are also seeing more sexualized VTRA-related cases from:

      • Threats to sexually assault by gesture, words, drawings
      • Text and social media threats
      • Stalking
      • A power dynamic at play including grooming and luring beyond age and stage.
      • Actual sexual assaults
      • An atypical fixation on sexualized material and or dynamics (pornography, target fixation based on gender e.g. Incel)

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    • Is the Pandemic Really Over?

      Dr. Victoria Raish |

      Is the Pandemic Really Over?

      News outlets publish articles every day with headlines such as “pandemic is over;” these will be found next to headlines that describe the long-lasting mental health effects or learning gaps that the pandemic has exacerbated. Opinions on the pandemic’s ending notwithstanding, students are back in school and everyone is adjusting to education in what may be a post-pandemic world. One of our favorite phrases is, “the pandemic did not cause new symptoms to develop in our society: it raised the anxiety, which worsened existing symptom development.” Our online learning courses provide a unique, systems-based perspective on human functioning, mental health, socioemotional learning, and trauma-informed practices.  

       

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    • Immerse Yourself in Interactive Online Professional Development

      Dr. Victoria Raish |

      Immerse Yourself in Interactive Online Professional Development

      The professional development offered by the Center for Trauma Informed Practices (CTIP) uses the best and latest research-based information on how people learn to create online courses. Our courses equip educators with the knowledge and skills to better understand their learners, the situations they come from, and the impacts that individuals have on systems and vice-versa. Socioemotional learning has been explored with various dimensions, models, and principles. In our case, we take socioemotional learning to be the umbrella under which our learning fits.

       

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    • Connecting With Your Students Using Concepts That Work

      Dr. Victoria Raish |

      Connecting With Your Students Using Concepts That Work

      The Center for Trauma Informed Practices is a leader in the field of trauma, threat assessment, and violence prevention. Our organization has assisted in the aftermaths of some of the most publicized traumatic events in schools including the shootings at Columbine and Taber, Alberta. It is through events like these, and through partnerships with organizations like the FBI and the United States Secret Service that we have developed meaningful content for educators who want to improve the learning environment of their schools and classrooms. 

       

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    • It’s Shortsighted to Pretend That The Past Three Years Didn’t Happen

      Dr. Victoria Raish |

      It’s Shortsighted to Pretend That The Past Three Years Didn’t Happen

      People are talking about the “new normal” and the return to a more typical school year. Many of you who are in the classroom on a daily basis may think that it’s nonsense: we can’t pretend that students starting new school years are going to exhibit normal behaviors. The regression that students have experienced—not only cognitively, but emotionally as well—means that we as educators need to be prepared to create an inclusive classroom.

       

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    • Increase in the Frequency and Intensity of Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA™) Cases

      J. Kevin Cameron, Executive Director NACTATR / CTIP |

      Increase in the Frequency and Intensity of Violence Threat Risk Assessment (VTRA™) Cases

      December has traditionally been an identified Critical Period in VTRA practice. Critical Periods are predictable timeframes for increased threat making and threat-related behaviour. As noted in our earlier communications, the increased frequency and complexity of cases was foreseeable this Fall/Winter due to a significant delayed trauma (stress) response to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Highlighted in our VTRA trainings this year, is the message that the “the sky is not falling, this was always predictable”. However, due to the increased number of cases, VTRA Leads in schools, partner agencies, and at the community level may need to triage their cases. It may be more manageable and feasible to do more site-specific incident screenings to mitigate initial risk while awaiting consultation from multi-agency partners. This is because most protocol partners are needing to triage their own casework in comparison to pre-pandemic practice.

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    • Trauma in Human Systems: A Brief Introduction

      J. Kevin Cameron, Executive Director NACTATR / CTIP |

      Trauma in Human Systems: A Brief Introduction

      Trauma in Human Systems:
      A Brief Introduction

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    • Texas School Shooting: Screening in the Aftermath

      J. Kevin Cameron, Executive Director, CTIP |

      Texas School Shooting: Screening in the Aftermath

      We were planning to release a version of this E-Alert next week as a guide to triaging Threat Assessment cases for the remainder of this academic year but the tragedies in Buffalo, New York and Texas have accelerated it. As many of you are aware, we released an E-Alert a little over six months ago highlighting the 500% increase in VTRA cases, during the Fall of this academic year, compared to VTRA cases in the Fall of 2019 (prior to the pandemic). With professional resources being strained and some communities no longer supporting school resource or youth officer programs, the flow of necessary information for violence prevention efforts has been impaired in some areas.  

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