Training and Consulting
In our organizational structure, policies, and practices, we embody the philosophy of trauma-informed care, which allows us to guide other organizations into becoming truly and effectively trauma-responsive in all of their practices. This makes us different from a lot of training centers providing trauma-informed care training; many training centers provide training on trauma-informed care practices without implementing these practices internally, which makes their organizational training shallow and their consulting ineffective. We, however, have intimate knowledge of the barriers and challenges as well as the incalculable benefits of embodying trauma-informed care practices into any community, organization, and/or business.
When you engage with GMT for your training and consulting needs, you engage with experts in the realm of trauma-informed care practices and curriculum design, which allows for the nuanced needs of your organization to be addressed within a TIC framework.
We specialize in custom training solutions to ensure the specific needs of your group are met.
City Administration
When community leadership understands the impact of trauma and adverse experiences on the citizenry, city administrators and leadership can enact policies and practices that facilitate understanding, healing, and support. This paradigm shift creates a true community in service of the needs of others and, over time, lessens and eliminates many social concerns.
We have experience in training city administration and leaders and consulting in policy review and new policy implementation.
Our approach is to discover the specific needs of your community and then to create a responsive training and consulting package to meet those specific, nuanced needs through research-based curriculum. This ensures that the training is relevant to the particular needs of your community.
We have training and consulted the City of Manitou Springs, Colorado in implementing TIC practices and policies, which engaged the fire department, the police department, transportation, parks and recreation, city planning, and the city administrator and staff.
Organizations
We have provided trauma-informed care training for organizations to meet specific goals and needs of various organizations.
The BeeHive of Manitou Springs is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the understanding of trauma-informed care practices to each member of their community through community engagement events and training engagements. The BeeHive engages with GMT to provide the trauma-informed care practices to the community and to consult on community event planning to ensure each event increases community understanding of the impacts of adverse life experiences and how to work to resolve them.
Pikes Peak Restorative Practices is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing justice through restorative practices. PPRP engages with GMT to provide trauma-informed care training to their restorative circle guides. GMT also works collaboratively with PPRP within healing circles to provide the TIC perspective in healing.
Criminal Justice
When the legal system understands the root of adaptive patterns of behavior, which lead to activities categorized as criminal, the system can be more responsive to addressing the roots before they become a social issue. The legal system can respond to individuals within the system in ways that work to address what happened to individuals, lowering the recidivism rate and reducing crime.
We have worked with the Colorado State Public Defender's office to provide trauma-informed care to individuals experiencing incarceration. This work has shown dramatic shifts in behaviors, understanding, and healing.
We have provided training for lawyers with The Powell Project through the Spero Justice Center to understand how adverse life experiences influences human adaptive behaviors and how these patterns present in a client facing a trial. This is powerful in educating corrections officers, judges, juries, and the individuals sitting on both sides of the courtroom.
Curriculum Design and Facilitation
GMT was contracted by the Trauma-informed Care Training Center to create custom content, which was responsive to specific needs of First Nations communities. This historically and culturally responsive training married the science behind the impacts of adverse life experience and epigenetic with the traditional beliefs, values, and morals of this First Nations community. The Isuarsivik Regional Recovery Centre engaged with GMT through the Trauma-informed Care Training Center, to create and facilitate an embodied TIC training experience. In ensuring we were creating truly responsive experience, GMT collaborated with international trauma expert, Dr. Gabor Mate, to gain insight into the specific regional challenges facing First Nation individuals in Arctic Canada.
As a result of mentoring, the Department of Behavioral Health engaged with GMT to provide consulting and key note speaking events in order to bring the wisdom of trauma-informed care practices to the stage.
Click the image above to learn about Jailbreak: an exploration of the transformative power of art.
This collaboration evolved from Gustav's therapeutic engagement with Chad, who has seen that the impacts of trauma can carry the weight of incarceration, yet that does not mean that healing has to stop.
Unresolved trauma can feel like we are all held captive in a cell.
Special Projects
Through various training and therapeutic events, GMT has collaborated on special projects to integrate healing practices through arts, theatre, poetry, music, and comedy.
Healing is possible through the restorative potential of community, for security comes from relational support. Humans need each other to heal, grow, and thrive.
To learn more about how GMT can collaborate on your next project, reach out; we are thrilled to help bring TIC understandings to your sphere of influence.
Educational Organizations
GMT has authored and facilitated training for teaching candidates enrolled in the Teacher Education program with Colorado College, to ensure the next generation of public school teachers are aware of the impacts of adverse childhood experiences on the educational opportunities of students as well as being armed with relevant, research-based strategies to immediately implement in the classroom to ensure healing and limited potential for retraumatization.
Additionally, Gustav has served on the Board of Education for Mantiou Springs School District 14, volunteering his insight and expertise in the vital need for trauma-informed care practices and policies within educational organizations. In his role as director on the Board of Education, he provides insight into the adaptive behavior patterns of students, community members, staff, and leadership to best inform revision of policies and practices.
