We Are Trauma Informed

It's one thing to offer help when someone is suffering. it's another thing to know how to help. In EMBRACE we have found most of the people we serve are struggling with the after effects of trauma. Many of them to such a degree that we took our break to receive training to serve better in 2020.

The last few months, our team has sought the professional guidance of Rikki Gruen, MA LMHC, NCC, CCTP from Restoring Hope Counseling Spokane to ensure our volunteers, regardless of their prior education, are trauma informed and effectively equipped. Rikki has more than twenty-five years experience in counseling, most of it working with victims of trauma of all ages and demographics. She was an invaluable asset to our ministry.

As we seek to be as intentional and precise as possible, this trauma-informed training provided us with the tools and resources essential to assisting a community of children, teenagers, families, and adults struggling with the symptoms caused by trauma in varying degrees of impact.

Rikki, who is also certified in Equine Therapy, provided EMBRACE additional tools to use our horses with those struggling with trauma. She gave education on the physiology of trauma and equipped our all-volunteer staff to come alongside those struggling with anxiety, depression, flashbacks, panic attacks and more as a result of trauma and bring them to a place of mental and emotional safety and stability. While none of our volunteer staff is certified in counseling or social work, these methods do not require such a certification to practice thm.

In additional to the practical training we received from Rikki Gruen, EMBRACE has also spent the break studying how to love like Jesus through Dr. Les Parrott's book, "Love Like That" as well as digging deeper into God's Word as a team. As always, our heart is to serve those God brings to our door and help those we serve grow in bringing relationships alive through a Christ-centered experience with our horses.

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