Brave Journeys is a leader in the development and training of school-based mental health professionals. We specialize in providing innovative, comprehensive, and attentive consultations and presentations designed to support school personnel during critical learning experiences such as keynotes, trainings and coaching sessions. Large or small group trainings available either in person or virtual and are tailored to each request.​

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Current Brave Journeys Professional Development Trainings:

(Additional topics available upon request)

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Suicide Focus

• Dismantling Systems of Oppression during Suicide Assessments in K-12 Settings. (2 hours, can be expanded to 3 hours)

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for youth in the United States. It is imperative that school systems understand the need for youth support and evaluation. This presentation will include basic information on assessing youth for suicide and power dynamics at play when assessing and determining supports for diverse youth. Parental engagement will be explored from the lens of understanding systems of power, and how to foster relationships with parents and students during a mental health crisis. Also addressed will be exploration of policy, staff bias and systemic racism impacting student interventions with regards to suicide.

• Suicide prevention in K-8 settings (2 hours)

With the increasing number of young children expressing thoughts of suicide, a new field of suicide prevention expertise is necessary.  Suicide assessments with young children can be more challenging, especially with students who are less verbal or are English language learners.  In this training, attendees will learn the data related to youth suicide, and how to complete suicide risk assessments with younger children.  Theory and practice will be introduced to assist learners with direct application of skills learned.  

• Suicide Postvention and Bereavement (1.5 hours)

This training is an overview designed to address suicide bereavement (and how it differs from general grief), intentional dissemination of information (school messaging), suicide prevention strategies (to minimize suicide contagion), and self-care in a professional setting.  Special attention will be paid to culturally responsive postvention and grief supports in schools.  

• Youth Suicide Contagion: What is it and how can we prevent it? (1 hour)

Historical data demonstrates that youth are at greater risk of suicide contagion than adults are.  A review of the data and literature related to suicide contagion will be discussed as well as practical strategies to minimize student risk. 

• Suicide Postvention: How to Practice Self- Care During Times of Stress and Grief (1.5 hours)

Designed to support the adults navigating a youth death by suicide, this training offers hope, knowledge and guidance during postvention.  Recognizing that school personnel and community partners regularly lead the community’s grief experience, it is imperative that they receive support and guidance during this time.  Exploration of cultural needs and understandings of death by suicide will be introduced, as will a focus on how to acknowledge bias and beliefs about community grief.  Practical, intentional and inspiring suggestions and shared experiences will be offered.  

• Designing Suicide Prevention Programs in K-12 settings (2 hours)

With a plethora of suicide prevention manuals guiding school personnel in the development of suicide prevention, intervention and postvention programs, this training will focus on data-driven recommendations and summarization of those manuals.  Want to design a suicide program but don’t want to read all the manuals?  This course offers what you need to know in 2 short hours.  

• At the Intersection of Suicide Loss and Culture (2 hours) 

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for youth in the United States. This presentation is designed to address suicide bereavement within a cultural context (and how it differs from general grief), dissemination of information with intentional care for culture, culturally responsive suicide prevention strategies (to minimize suicide contagion), and self-care in a professional setting.  Attendees will learn about alternate theories to death/dying from ones typically taught in Graduate School and the harm that can come from applying a culturally irrelevant grief theory during a postvention crisis.  Collective grief (related to trauma and loss), healing centered engagement and community focused interventions will be explored.  An overview of culturally informed responses to grief and loss will be offered, with a focus on impacts of policy, staff bias, and ethics.  Caregiver engagement will be explored from the lens of understanding systems of power, and how to foster culturally responsive relationships with caregivers and students during a postvention crisis. 

 

Grief and Loss Focus

• Grief and Loss, it is not just death and dying.  Becoming culturally responsive schools and how to support all grieving students.  (2 hours, can be expanded to 3 hours)

Data shows that most students will experience the loss of a loved one prior to turning 18 years old.  Historically, schools have shied away from focusing on the topic of grief and loss and have either referred out or offered grief groups on campus.  In this presentation, attendees will learn about alternate theories to death/dying from ones typically taught in Graduate School and will deepen their knowledge related to racialized trauma and collective grief.  An overview of culturally responsive care around grief and loss will be offered, with a focus on impacts of policy, law and ethics.  Harm reduction will focus on decolonizing schools in their responses to student grief and loss and attendees will engage in critical evaluation of their schools’ responsiveness for this topic. 

 

School Related Topics

• Navigating through everyone’s feelings… maintaining professional roles and advocacy on school campuses. (2 hours)

Schools are messy, wondrous, creative, challenging places of growth and engagement. They are also hierarchical systems that rely on conformity, routine and adherence to local and national politics and beliefs about educating children.  In this workshop, participants will explore the dark secret schools don’t like to talk about… bias and systemic racism.  Community influences, staff understanding and lived experiences, and the schema that we’ve adopted as “what education should look like” will be explored.  Focus will also include self-exploration of bias and enhancing the school social work’s role in calling out bias in decisions, policies, and engagement with students, their families and the community.  Attendees will engage in discussion about interdisciplinary teams and the benefits and challenges of working with various perspectives and understandings of youth mental health.  

Social Work Related Topics

• Re-Imagining School Social Work: Shifting to Consulting (1 hour)

Many MSW degrees provide some training in the specialization of school social work.  Most of that training focuses on integrating into a school system, operating as a multi-disciplinary team, understanding the school environment (and jargon), practicing boundaries, and learning about the hierarchical structures that schools operate under.  What if school social work could look different from that?  Imagine an opportunity where you work for yourself, determine your own objectives, your own use of time, how you share expertise, and charge an consultant rate that values the years of education and training you have invested in becoming a school social worker.  Sheri Koller, LCSW, LCSW-C, NCSSW, PPSC made the shift to a consultant role after 20 years of working for non-profits and school districts.  In this webinar she will touch upon her experience (including what worked and what didn’t), offer suggestions for funding, and tap into how to market a consulting business.  Let’s shift the narrative of who school social workers are (and can do), whilst continuing to serve the schools, personnel, students, families and communities that school social worker love.    

 

 

All Rights Reserved: Brave Journeys LLC​​

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