I was able to take CRI Course 1 [Trauma-Informed] as a requirement for my work in direct care at Bridge Receiving Center, a residential therapeutic transitional program for children first entering foster care. These children come to us directly from whatever trauma has happened in their homes. We want to provide a healing start to their time in foster care instead of another layer of trauma. The CRI training about trauma informed care taught us skills that the children we work with need vs. depending on old ideas of rewards and punishments. We discovered ways to build resilience strategies for the children, especially paying attention to what drives their behavior. We learned from this training that all of their challenging behaviors are a result of what happened to them before coming to us. Even if we do not have all of the details about the trauma history for each child, Rick Griffin provides ideas and strategies that actually work well with children who have experienced trauma of any kind. We have benefitted from his training which taught us to maintain a positive environment, be affirming, and resolve conflicts. One of the best aspects of the training is learning ways to teach the regulation skills to the children who so desperately need them. These children can then take their new regulatory skills into their lives and hopefully find better resolution to some of the challenges they may face each day.This training has made such a significant difference in the ways we deal with troubled children, and hopefully in how they experience life going forward.