Last month, WIT concluded our online evening Parenting Beyond Trauma workshop series for women-identifying parents and caregivers. This workshop focused on how childhood trauma and domestic violence in adult relationships can create profound generational impacts on the physical, mental, and social well-being of survivors and their children.
Brittany Shaffer facilitated and developed workshop content as her senior capstone project at The Ohio State University. DV Counselor Donnell, as Brittany’s internship supervisor, was also instrumental in the development and planning of the workshop series.
“Survivors don’t always realize the trauma that their children are experiencing,” said Donnell, speaking about the need she saw among clients for this kind of workshop. “But the kids are watching you being abused. Even if they are not physically being abused [themselves], they’re witnessing abuse.”
Over six weeks, Brittany introduced topics such as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), traumatic relational/attachment, resilience and post-traumatic growth, boundary-setting, and "Whole-Brain Parenting" Strategies. The goal, she said, was to increase awareness of the generational cycles of abuse and trauma, and to impart strategies for how to overcome past trauma and “break the cycle” within relationships and families.
Meetings took place via Zoom from January 29th - March 9th, 2023. Participants were able to attend on either Tuesdays or Thursdays, with the same content delivered both days each week to accommodate participants' busy schedules. While the first hour of the workshop was often information-heavy, the last 20 to 30 minutes were devoted to open discussion and questions.
“There were a lot of great discussions,” said Brittany. “It was the first time people had a setting where their experiences were recognized, of having experienced their own childhood trauma while also navigating the challenges of parenting children exposed to trauma. There were a lot of moments when someone would share their own experience and two or three people would say Oh I can relate to that, here’s my situation.”
Brittany made sure to stay on Zoom at the end of each session, so that participants could talk to her or another WIT counselor one-on-one if necessary. “Being able to provide that extra support made me feel more comfortable facilitating these workshops, because this can be such triggering material.”
Collaboration within WIT was key to making this series successful. WIT's Community Outreach Coordinator, Larry, facilitated an interactive presentation around boundary-setting that was tailored to parents and caregivers; another week, DV Counselor Nicole presented a segment on learning styles. Donnell and Claudia (DV Counselor) attended weekly to provide additional individualized support to clients, as did WIT's Therapy Program Intern, Kara.
While Brittany and Donnell had anticipated the need for Parenting Beyond Trauma, they hadn’t anticipated just how popular it would be! “Roughly 60 people expressed interest in joining the workshops. I had to cap registration at 30 and set up a waiting list,” said Brittany. Those interested included both current WIT clients and those joining by referral from sister agencies.
“Watching this workshop play out was so much more and bigger than I ever could have imagined,” said Donnell. “I hope this workshop happens again. It wasn’t just lecturing -- it became a support group at the end. There is a need for these parents to have this type of support, to be able to have these discussions with each other.”