• 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?

o      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

o       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?

o       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?

o       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

o       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.