Cross-Cultural Trauma-Informed Counseling With Foster Care Youth And Their Families

 

Judith Castro

Judith Castro

Speaker: Judith Castro

Judith comes with 25 years of expertise in areas of dynamic public involvement, education, facilitation, and mentorship, as well as 9 years of counseling.  She has worked with non-profit organizations in the areas of family therapy, trauma healing for families, and female survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence, education, housing, conflict resolution, immigrant rights, and environmental issues.  Judith has also worked extensively with cities, Lane County, and state projects in transportation, community empowerment, and development.  Judith is also a highly recommended teacher in the areas of counselor training, race, class, and gender issues.  She has taught in higher education for Lane Community College seven years and at the University of Oregon. She has been a parent educator for Centro Latino and Birth to Three, a Childcare provider trainer in abuse prevention and reporting, and an advocate trainer for multiple organizations.

Her experiences include training, outreach, education, resource development, group development, organizational development, public involvement, diversity capacity building, and leadership development.  Judith is passionate about reaching people to improve their lives and to help build happier communities.  She holds a bachelors in Anthropology and Political Science; a Master’s in Women’s Studies with a focus on Race, Class, Gender and economics and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy; and a Massage Therapy degree all which inform her work on social, individual, and family wellness.

Children in foster care have experienced trauma in their family of origin and as a result of displacement.  While some states make an effort to match foster care children with foster care parents of the same race, it is not guaranteed.  Cross-cultural dynamics and racism can lead to strained relationships and additional attachment injuries for the child of color.  White parents make up 63% of foster care parents and 71% of adoptive parents in the United States.  Therapists can be a cultural bridge to help white foster parents/relatives understand and act in healing ways towards children of color.  Therapists can also be a cultural support for foster care children of color.  This requires an understanding of ethnic dynamics, racism, and specific family therapy tools to enhance attachment, compassion, and to increase the white foster parents’/relatives motivation to learn about ethnicity and racism.

 

Learning Objectives:

  1. A brief history of the child welfare system and current changes
  2. Understanding the differences between ethnic struggles and racism
  3. Using Family Systems Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Emotionally Focused Therapy to build bridges
  4. Teaching culture, race, and ethnicity strategies in the counseling room with white foster care parents/relatives that reduce shame triggers and how to work with shame.
  5. Working with foster care parents who are relatives of the child of color when the relative is white.  Having a further understanding bicultural/biracial dynamics in families.
  6. Helping white foster care parents/relatives develop motivation and an ability to provide parenting that creates resiliency in children of color.
  7. Tools/activities to help foster care children of color heal from displacement and feel culturally and racially validated.
We're sorry, but A Home Within cannot currently offer CE credits to Psychologists for homestudy/asynchronous learning (i.e. watching our recordings at home). Psychologists can earn CE credits for attendance at live AHW CE events. We are working with APA to secure the necessary approval to again offer homestudy CEs to Psychologists beginning spring 2022.
LCSWs and MFTs can earn CE credits either by attending live events or watching the recordings at home.

These events are free, and registration is available up until 24 hours prior to the start of the event. There is no penalty for cancellations. Content level is suitable for working mental health professionals with advanced degrees. There will be no breaks during the programs.

Live courses are interactive and recorded courses are non-interactive. In order to complete and receive credit for live courses, attendees must remain for the duration of each event and complete the course evaluation directly following each event. A link to the evaluation will be shared in the Zoom chat box during the live webinar. To earn home-study credits for recorded webinars, viewers must watch each course and complete the evaluation and posttest for each course. Viewers have 3 chances to pass the posttest with a score of 75% or higher. Once the evaluations or the evaluations and postttests are completed, we will generate and issue certificates via email within one week of completion. 

Credit is calculated by the hours of the event (1 hour = 1 credit, 2 hours = 2 credits, etc.). The time it takes to complete the course evaluation and/or the posttest does not count toward CE credits. 

To participate in a live webinar, a system that runs Zoom is required. To watch a recorded event for home-study, a system that plays recorded videos is required.

Please send an email to chrissy@ahomewithin.org to request disability accommodations, address grievances, or ask questions.

ASWB: A Home Within, 1381 is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. A Home Within maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 3/21/2019 - 3/21/2022. Social workers completing each of the above listed courses may receive 2 continuing education credits per course.

APA: A Home Within is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. A Home Within maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

NBCC: A Home Within has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6701. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. A Home Within is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

AHW logo study
ACEP Logo- High Resolution