S.E.L.F. Curriculum

AVAILABLE LESSONS

Introduction to the S.E.L.F. Curriculum

Describes the S.E.L.F. Curriculum as trauma-informed, why that is important, and how to use the Curriculum.

Sanctuary Philosophy

Essay by Dr. Sandra L. Bloom, one of the founders of the Sanctuary Model®, the defines the values and belief system that is the underpinning of the Sanctuary Model and S.E.L.F. Curriculum which is one of the key implementation components the Sanctuary Model.

Introduction to S.E.L.F.

Simple handout for clients that accompanies every lesson or group of lessons. Meant to be given out to every participant at the beginning of the group to ground them in the basic language of Safety, Emotions, Loss and Future = S.E.L.F.

S.E.L.F. Group Guidelines

One page handout to offer some simple guidelines for group procedure

What Does S.E.L.F. Mean?

OBJECTIVES:

Introduce concepts of S.E.L.F. to the group

Connect S.E.L.F. to the mission of the organization

Connect S.E.L.F. to individual client problems

HANDOUT: What Does SELF Mean?

RESOURCE: S.E.L.F. – A Nonlinear Framework

More detailed explanation of S.E.L.F. for staff with some guidelines questions for staff to use with clients

Who are You a S.E.L.F. Self-Assessment

OBJECTIVES:

To learn to use the acronym, S.E.L.F. to define individual identity and pinpoint individual strengths and vulnerabilities.

To begin the process of developing self-knowledge and knowledge about others in the group.

HANDOUT: Using SELF to Introduce Myself

RESOURCE: Why Do We Have Emotions?

Brief essay on the role of emotions in our lives, why we have them and the problems we can encounter trying to successfully manage them.

Putting the Pieces Together: What Trauma Does to the SELF

OBJECTIVES:

To graphically demonstrate how trauma can be experienced as a disintegration of one’s sense of self and identity

To show that the key domains of beginning the process of recovery from trauma involve focusing on Safety, Emotions, Loss, and Future.

HANDOUT: Effects of Traumatic Experience

RESOURCE: Understanding the Impact of Traumatic Experience

An extended explanation about what psychological trauma is and some of the ways traumatic experience can influence the way people think, feel, and behave.

It’s All About Survival: Fight-Flight-Freeze

OBJECTIVES:

Understand the basic human stress response and how it interferes with safety

Be able to identify one’s own typical response to stress

Assess the effectiveness of one’s own stress response

HANDOUT: How Do You Respond to Stress?

RESOURCE: Fight-Flight-Freeze or How Not To Get Eaten

Essay explaining the basic stress response and the ways it impacts the body and the mind.

SELF Begins With Safety

OBJECTIVES:

Introduce basic ideas about what “safety” really is

Define Safety as: Physical, Psychological, Social and Moral Safety

HANDOUT: What Does Safety Mean?

RESOURCE: Safety- The First Pillar of Sanctuary

Brief essay about what it means to create safety within any environment.

What Does it Mean to Be Physically Safe?

OBJECTIVES:

Introduce four kinds of safety: Physical, Psychological, Social and Moral

Focus on physical safety as the most basic form of safety

Explain and encourage use of the Five-Step Safety Plan to maintain physical safety

HANDOUT: What is Physical Safety?

RESOURCE: Safety and Adversity in Childhood

Explanation of PTSD and the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

What Does It Mean to Be Psychologically Safe?

OBJECTIVES:

Focus on defining psychological safety

Explain and encourage us of the Five-Step Safety Plan to maintain psychological safety

HANDOUT: What is Psychological Safety?

RESOURCE: How Shocking! Thinking, Feeling and Acting Under Stress

Essay on the ways in which our thinking is affected by stress, how acute dissociation protects us in the short-term, and how we are likely to act under stressful conditions.

What Does It Mean to Be Socially Safe?

OBJECTIVES:

Focus on defining social safety

Explain and encourage us of the Five-Step Safety Plan to maintain social safety

HANDOUT: What is Social Safety?

RESOURCE: The Social Response to Danger

Brief essay exploring the social response to danger grounded in our need to attach from cradle to grave, and some of the potential negative consequences including trauma-bonding and scapegoating.

What Does It Mean to be Morally Safe?

OBJECTIVES:

Focus on defining moral safety

Explain and encourage us of the Five-Step Safety Plan to maintain moral safety

HANDOUT: What is Moral Safety?

RESOURCE: Moral Intelligence

Brief essay that reviews the concept of moral intelligence and how it is define

The First Language of Safety: Yes, No, Uh-oh, Ouch

OBJECTIVES:

Develop greater awareness of boundaries and what it means to be safe

Increased awareness of personal signals for various kinds of danger

To help people recognize a psychological injury when it happens

HANDOUT: What Do We Mean by Boundaries?

RESOURCE: Creating Sanctuary: The Active Development of Nonviolent Environments

Essay describing the Sanctuary Model as a trauma-informed, whole-systems approach to creating nonviolent environments.

What Does It Mean to Trust? Social Safety

OBJECTIVES:

To explore that it means to trust oneself and other people

To discuss the obstacles to trusting other people

To develop awareness of when and when not to trust

HANDOUT: What Does It Mean “To Trust?”

RESOURCE: Attachment, Trust and Trauma

Essay on basic attachment research and the effects of disrupted attachment on subsequent development

Fences Make Good Neighbors: What is a Boundary?

OBJECTIVES:

Introduction to concept of boundaries and the importance of boundaries in people’s lives

Assessing functionality of interpersonal boundaries

Demonstrating other styles of creating and maintaining boundaries

HANDOUT: Fences Make Good Neighbors

RESOURCE: Implementing S.E.L.F.

More detailed explanation of S.E.L.F. with some examples of practical applications

Living Without the Terrorist Within

OBJECTIVES:

Identifying self-defeating and self-deprecating thoughts

Creating safety within oneself and developing positive self-regard

Enhancing self-respect

HANDOUT: Do You Have A Terrorist Within?

RESOURCE: When Victims Become Bullies

Essay on bullying behavior in children and in adults

Volume Control

OBJECTIVES:

Teach how to appropriately match emotional reactions to the realities of the situation

Provide tools for thinking about emotional reactions that precipitate action

HANDOUT: Volume Control

RESOURCE: Fear Conditioning & Volume Control

More detailed information about emotions, emotional management and the way fear interferes with normal emotional and cognitive function

Introduction to the World – and the Words – of Emotion – Mad, Sad, Glad, Scared, Shamed

OBJECTIVES:

Develop ability to identify emotions in a situation and match appropriate emotion to that situation

Develop ability to verbally communicate emotional states

Desensitize individuals to self-sharing in a group

Develop recognition that emotions can be used to create different outcomes

HANDOUT: The Words of Emotion: Mad, Glad, Scared, Sad, Shamed

RESOURCE: I Don’t Want To Talk About It: Numbing and Addiction to Stress

Essay that explores emotional numbing, alexithymia, the relationship to health, addiction to trauma and endorphins, the social role of emotions and emotional contagion.

Problem Solving

OBJECTIVES:

Provide a logical, S.E.L.F. approach to problem-solving

To provide a tool that can help make problem-solving more manageable

HANDOUT: Problem Solving Worksheet

RESOURCE: The Problem of Evil

Philosophical essay exploring how the notion of evil has been defined and how understanding the nature and consequences of traumatic experience may alter those notions and potentially lead to different response to people who do bad things

To Connect or Disconnect: That is the Question

OBJECTIVES:

Explore the ways in which intensely disturbing or traumatic experiences may cause us to disconnect from our bodies, emotions, thoughts, and memories

To develop an understanding of what dissociation is and how it relates to previous trauma

HANDOUT: Do You Disconnect?

RESOURCE: Dissociation

Essay defining dissociation, offering examples of dissociation, and exploring some of the long-term effects of chronic dissociation

How To Stay Grounded

OBJECTIVES:

Explore the natural inclination of the mind to emotionally and physically disconnect from disturbing or traumatic situations

Describe simple methods for getting grounded in order to reconnect and reorient mind and body to present reality

HANDOUT: How To Stay Grounded

RESOURCE: Memory and Dissociation Under Stress

Essay describing the memory disturbances that frequently accompany traumatic experience, including flashbacks and post-traumatic nightmares

SELF-Soothing and Stress Management

OBJECTIVES:

Identify stress responses in mind and body

Differentiate between soothing behaviors that are maladaptive and those that promote healing

Select behaviors and responses that can decrease emotional arousal

HANDOUT: Managing Emotions

RESOURCE: “But I Just Can’t” Perception, Learned Helplessness and Attention Problems

Essay exploring the helplessness associated with trauma, learned helplessness and interference with cognitive and behavioral function.

Hurt People Hurt People

OBJECTIVES:

Normalize discussion about the contagiousness of violence

Demonstrate how aggressive behavior begets aggressive behavior

Explore different ways that people respond to the stress response

HANDOUT: Are You a Puffer or a Shrinker?

RESOURCE: Hurt People Hurt People

Essay that explores the ways in which victims can become victimizers with a special emphasis on domestic violence and child abuse

Addictions, Safety and Self-Soothing

OBJECTIVES:

Discuss the ways addictive and compulsive behaviors are played out in everyday life

Develop understanding about the connection between addictive behavior and problems with emotional management

HANDOUT: The Primary Colors of Emotion

RESOURCE: Double Trouble – Substance Abuse and PTSD

Brief essay relating substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder

Resolving Conflict

OBJECTIVES:

Develop awareness of the ways in which conflict resolution can be blocked and the different kinds of conflict resolution styles available

Review list of guidelines for managing or resolving conflict

HANDOUT: Guidelines for Managing Emotions and Resolving Conflict

RESOURCE: I Like To Play With Fire: Risk-taking, Suicidality and Aggression

Essay exploring the connections between a past history of trauma and a variety of risk-taking behaviors including sexual promiscuity, suicidal and aggressive behavior.

What Do We Mean By Loss?

OBJECTIVES:

Define broad category of loss

Teach the various ways of showing grief and unresolved grief

HANDOUT: The Many Faces of Loss

RESOURCE: Sexual Assault

Essay on the nature of child and adult sexual assault

Using SELF To Work Through Loss

OBJECTIVES:

Demonstrate the ways in which the components of S.E.L.F. can provide a guide for working through loss

Explore barriers to working through loss in order to move on into a different future

HANDOUT: Losses Associated with Childhood Adversity and Trauma

RESOURCE: The Grief That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Essay about the many losses associated with abuse and deprivation in childhood

Never Having to Say Goodbye- Reenactment

OBJECTIVES:

Understand the ways in which the self-limiting roles they are currently playing are a result of past experiences

Recognize the ways in which reenacting past self-defeating roles reproduces helplessness, abusive power, and a tendency to be revictimized

Recognize how reenactment roles affect identity and reproduce loss

HANDOUT: Is It the Same Thing Over and Over

RESOURCE: Traumatic Reenactment

Essay describing in more detail the dynamics of traumatic reenactment as it manifests in behavioral reenactments and self-harming behavior

Learning to Let Go

OBJECTIVES:

Recognize that working through loss is vital to creating a different future

Describe the meaning of “letting go” and a process for completing it

HANDOUT: Learning to Let Go Worksheet

RESOURCE: Give Sorrow Words: Emotional Disclosure and Physical Health

Brief essay describing research on using writing to promote both emotional disclosure and improved physical health

How to Lose Your SELF: Turning People Into Chameleons

OBJECTIVES:

Learn how to set boundaries to better define one’s self

Understand the impact of peer pressure

Demonstrate how easy it is to lose one’s sense of identity in interaction with others

HANDOUT: Do You Ever Lose Yourself?

RESOURCE: The Neglect of Neglect

Essay describing the ways in which childhood neglect contributes to adult problems

Habits and Resisting Change

OBJECTIVES:

Learn about the automatic nature of forming habits and what it takes to change bad habits in order to achieve safety

Recognize that changing habits requires managing difficult emotions

Recognizing that changing habits involves facing fears and enduring loss in order to create a better future

HANDOUT: What Are Your Habits & My Plan for Changing Habits

RESOURCE: Revictimization, School Failure and Substance Abuse

Essay about how revictimization, failure in school as a child, and substance abuse as an adolescent and an adult all relate to each other and precipitate reenactment behavior.

What We Resist Persists

OBJECTIVES:

Recognize the fears that are aroused as barriers to change

Inform participants about the Stages of Change theory

HANDOUT: Loss, Fear and Stages of Change

RESOURCE: Barriers to Recovery and Stages of Change

Essay reviewing the Stages of Change theoretical framework and some reasons why it is so difficult for practitioners to address the impact of trauma on their clients.

One Step At a Time – Is That All You Need to Know?

OBJECTIVES:

Demonstrate how direction, vision and future planning are essential parts of change

Demonstrate that we can influence our own future through the choices that we make

HANDOUT: Five Steps to a Better Future for Myself

RESOURCE: The Bystander Effect

Essay that explores the ways in which victimization and perpetration are influenced by everyone else – the social context within which events unfold.

How Does Change Happen?

OBJECTIVES:

Demonstrate the ways in which we can influence our choices that determine the future by understanding the patterns of the past

Recognize how important it is to learn from the past

HANDOUT: Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

RESOURCE: Chaos, Complexity and the Process of Change

Essay that attempts to simplify the emerging concepts of complexity as it relates to the ways in which people change

Empowerment

OBJECTIVES:

Differentiate between destructive and constructive forms of exercising power

Become familiar with direct and indirect methods of exercising power

Recognize previously untapped sources of personal power

HANDOUT: Exploring What Power Really Means

RESOURCE: Retributive vs. Restorative Justice

Essay that explores the difference between justice that is based on retribution and justice that is based on restoring the integrity of the community

How To Influence the Future: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

OBJECTIVES:

Understand how we play a role in determining how other people treat us

Guide participants in a method for altering the roles ewe automatically play so that people will treat us differently

HANDOUT: Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

RESOURCE: How Labels Determine Reality

Essay describing the ways in which we tend to label things, including people, and they how those labels can become self-fulfilling prophecies that actually determine how reality is defined.

Relapse Prevention

OBJECTIVES:

Identify situations which compromise sobriety – from substance abuse or destructive behaviors – while attending to the emotions that accompany change

Define strengths that allow individual to successfully resist relapse

HANDOUT: Relapse Prevention Worksheet

RESOURCE: Caring for the Caregiver: Vicarious Trauma

Essay on “vicarious trauma” describing the cumulative transformative effect on the helper of working with victims of trauma.

Moving On and Giving Back

OBJECTIVES:

Introduce the idea of a survivor mission

Describe successes people have had in struggling with challenging life experiences

Develop understanding for how giving back is an integral part of growth, recovery and personal development

HANDOUT: Survivor Mission

RESOURCE: Social Transformation of Trauma

Essay describing various ways that people transform traumatic experience into something of value for themselves and for others

Imagining A Better Future

OBJECTIVES:

Introduce the idea of living a balanced life

Exercise the skills necessary to envision a better future

HANDOUT: Inventory of Recreation Activities

RESOURCE: The Sanctuary Model of Organizational Change

Brief essay on why trauma-informed services are so important and what it actually means for an organization to be trauma-informed