Re-Imagining Our Responses to Hardship,
Oppression and Trauma
A two day conference with
Vikki Reynolds, PhD and Ken Hardy, PhD
Thursday, November 12 and Friday, November 13
Rochester Educational Opportunity Center (REOC)
Rochester, NY
9:00am – 4:00pm
Co-Sponsored by: St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, The Warner School of Counseling (University of
Rochester), Genesee Valley Division of NASW-NYS, The Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW Program
of the College at Brockport and Nazareth College, The Mental Health Association, UB School of Social
Work, Spiritus Christi Mental Health Center, University of Rochester Family Therapy Training Program,
College at Brockport Department of Social Work.
In this two-day workshop, internationally known presenters Vikki Reynolds, PhD and Ken
Hardy, PhD will discuss how clinicians and community workers can develop greater awareness
of issues related to power, privilege and accountability, how clinical and community workers
might differently understand people's responses to hardship and trauma (current and historical)
and how helping professionals might re-imagine effective interventions that respond to the social
contexts that deeply influence people's lives.
Day 1: Vikki Reynolds, PhD – Repositioning Our Work and Ourselves to Address Trauma and Hardship
This workshop will invite a critique of the tenuous, strained, yet hopeful relationship between social
justice activism and community work & therapy. Dr. Reynolds’ workshop will addresses the tensions of
clinical and community work replicating oppressive practices, and invite a critique of our practice with
an aim to move us toward collective ethics for justice-doing. This critique entails addressing power,
privilege and disadvantage; naming and beginning to respond to white privilege and colonialism in our
traditions of practice; developing practices of accountability for our work; and repositioning our work to
more effectively address trauma and hardship in the lives of individuals and communities.
Learning objectives:
Participants will be able to:
 Describe ways that the helping professions might inadvertently disempower clients and
replicate oppressive practices
 Explain power, privilege and disadvantage and name how these apply to their work contexts
 Develop ways to create “safer” space for clients to speak about the problems that they face
 Apply decolonizing practices to the development of more effective treatment interventions
Day 2: Ken Hardy, PhD - Addressing Sociocultural Factors in Clinical and Community Work
This workshop will focus on the Dr. Hardy’s work to challenge clinicians and community workers to think
more critically about the often hidden but very significant connections and intersections among trauma,
poverty, racism and issues of oppression with family dynamics and common behavioral issues.
Participants will be invited to broaden their frames of reference in order to more effectively address the
sociocultural factors that can keep traumatized clients and communities stuck.
Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
 Explain the connection between trauma and sociocultural oppression and how this might affect
client behavior
 More clearly understand their own racial “selves” and how this might impact the client
relationship
 Describe how race-related trauma (personal and historical) contributes to devaluation and
degradation
 Describe sociocultural factors that may keep clients and communities “stuck”
 Develop interventions that help clients heal from devaluations related to race, violence and
oppression
Registration Information:
Early Bird rate (before October 23): Both days - $160 Regular; $130 NASW members; $65 Students (with
ID or persons with financial need)
For each single day: $85 Regular; $70 NASW members; $35 Students (with ID or persons with financial
need)
After October 23, 2015 - please add $15 to all prices
Target Audience: social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, mental health counselors, psychiatrists, marriage
and family therapists, addictions counselors, pastoral counselors, case managers, psychiatric nurses and other human
service professionals.
Cancellation Policy: Full refunds will be issued to those who cancel within 10 working days before the training date
minus a $25.00 processing fee.
ADA Accommodations: If you require any support for your ADA needs in the United States, please contact us by
email at least 3 weeks prior to the event by email at mboucher@sjncenter.org or by phone at 585-325-5260
Customer Service: We are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us by email
at mboucher@sjncenter.org or by phone at 585-325-5260 Michael Boucher, LCSW-R, contact person