STAFF SUPPORT AND EDUCATION
TRAINING
All Topeka Rescue Mission staff receive 8 hours of Trust-Based Relational Interventions (TBRI) training upon hire, with refresher training throughout the year. TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma-informed therapeutic model that trains caregivers to provide effective support and treatment for at-risk individuals. TBRI uses Empowering Principles to address physical and environmental needs, Connecting Principles for attachment needs and engagement, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. TBRI has been applied in courts, residential treatment facilities, group homes, foster and adoptive homes, churches, schools, correctional facilities, with survivors of sex-trafficking, law enforcement, clinical practices and beyond. TBRI is designed to meet complex needs of vulnerable individuals. While the intervention is based on years of attachment, sensory processing and Nero-science research, the heartbeat of TBRI is connection.
“Many principles line up perfectly with how we should seek to interact with others, and the training provided several practical applications for these deeper concepts.”
“Great training. Life changing actually.”
“This training was exceptional! Engaging, applicable, something to use every day in all facets of our life. Normally I am not big on training activities but enjoyed all of these.”
“I learned more about how others think and process thoughts.”
Staff Quotes From Training
CONNECTION GROUPS
Connection groups are designed to keep TBRI skills and literacy fresh within staffs’ minds while simultaneously creating a ministry that is both deeply and widely connected. Each staff member attends their designated connection group once a month, communing with other staff members from various departments across the ministry. Having these connection groups creates a safe place for staff to share in their successes and hardships of incorporating TBRI into the ministry. Staff are also able to take a breath from the busyness of daily work and pray with one another during this time to further build the Kingdom here on earth at the Topeka Rescue Mission.
WORK FORCE DEVELOPMENT
The Topeka Rescue Mission recognizes that we do not know what we do not know until we know it; and once we know it, it takes time to apply it. Knowing that the training and connection groups were only the first step to becoming a trauma-informed ministry, Work Force Development (WFD) was created. WFD helps our staff members translate the knowledge of trauma-informed care from the classroom setting to the ground level, using the new skills and tools in daily work life and interactions with those we serve. The Trauma Education & Development Team members walk alongside all departments helping with the implementation of TBRI skills, development of trauma-informed goals, and provision of resources needed to reach those goals.