Join ODVN and the Ohio Victim Witness Association (OVWA) for this advanced, in-person training opportunity. Traumatic experiences impact how survivors navigate stress and emotions long after the abuse ends. Although this knowledge can help normalize traumatic stress responses, it can still be difficult as an advocate to navigate the responses of survivors and our physiological reactions in the moment. Further, dissociation is a traumatic stress response that is often misunderstood and shrounded in stigma. Pop culture and media portray dissociation at its extremes, but many survivors experience dissociation in their everyday lives without having the language to understand what is happening. Even worse, the professionals they encounter may not have the language to help survivors seeking the resources they need for reconnection. 

This training uses a trauma-informed lens to view distress, dysregulation, de-escalation, and dissociation, and provides participants with practical knowledge and skills to identify dysregulation and signs of dissociation. In addition, participants will learn practical strategies to promote de-escalation, regulation, re-integration, and embodiment with survivors and with themselves.