The power of a witness: Using narrative exposure therapy to support students' trauma recovery

Workshop 3 of 6 in the "Trauma-informed, in school sessions" workshop series. View the series page for full details.

This workshop provides an exploration of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based approach tailored for adults or children, particularly refugees and immigrants, with multiple traumatic experiences. Kids Narrative Exposure Therapy (KIDNET) is a therapy designed for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma, especially in conflict zones. KIDNET therapy focuses on reprocessing traumatic memories by contrasting the memories with the present feelings through narration. It focuses on helping them process their traumatic memories by creating a "lifeline" and uses techniques like storytelling, art, and role-play to aid in healing and recovery.

Led by Dr. Alejandra Acuña, this workshop guides us towards a comprehensive understanding of NET's principles and techniques, learning how to utilize storytelling to help students process and integrate traumatic memories resulting in reduced PTSD symptoms. Attendees will walk away equipped with practical strategies and insights to provide culturally responsive support to students, fostering resilience and facilitating healing within diverse educational settings (e.g., green lights, yellow lights, and red lights of NET implementation!).

Importantly, Dr. Acuña will share not only about the evidence based approach, but how the implementation of it in itself can and should be trauma-informed and culturally responsive so that students and their families experience their recovery through the trauma-informed principles of empowerment and collaboration.