Myrna offers customized courses for lawyers, judges, officers, administrators, investigators, regulators, and leaders on trauma-informed engagement.

The trauma-informed lawyering framework she developed for lawyers is influenced by the principles underpinning cultural humility and informed by the teachings she received from (direct and intergenerational) Indigenous survivors of the Indian Residential School genocide.

Myrna ran a successful 2-day course on trauma-informed lawyering for Nunavut justice participants in Iqaluit on November 3rd and 4th, 2022. The agenda below reflects the content she delivered. If you would like Myrna to customize and deliver a similar course for you, please contact her with details about your event and audience.

DAY ONE

9:00am — OPENING

9:30am — What is Trauma? Triggers? (60mins + Q+A 15mins)

  • What is the trauma-informed lawyering framework?

  • How is trauma defined?

  • Our assumptions about big and little traumas

  • The Brain and Trauma

10:30 — BREAK

10:45 — Emotional Intelligence (60mins + Q+A 15mins)

  • Identifying triggers

  • The Four F’s

  • What is emotional intelligence?

  • Window of Tolerance & Boundaries

12pm — LUNCH

1:30 — Empathy and Connection (60mins + Q+A 15mins)

  • Distinguishing empathy from sympathy

  • Active listening

  • Self-awareness & empathy in action

  • Connection + relationship-building

2:45 — BREAK

3:00 — Safety, Empowerment and Choice (70mins; Q+A 20mins)

  • Acknowledge and validate

  • Creating a safe and welcoming space

  • Trust and transparency

  • Compassionate Inquiry and Compassionate Communication

4:30pm — END

DAY TWO

9:00am — OPENING / CHECK IN

9:15 — What is Cultural Humility? (60mins + Q+A 15mins)

  • Defining cultural humility

  • The gift of a self-awareness and self-critique practice

  • Importance of lived experience

  • Power, privilege, bias and accountability

10:30 — BREAK

10:45 — Group Exercise (75mins)

  • Scenario #1: Centering Choice

  • Scenario #2: Self- Regulation and Co-Regulation

  • Scenario #3: Boundaries

  • Scenario #4: Lived Experience and Active Listening

12pm — LUNCH

1:30 — Justice is Traumatizing (60mins + Q+A 15mins)

  • Group Trauma (sobering stats for the legal profession)

  • Implicit Trauma v Vicarious Trauma

  • ACES for justice participants

  • Learn to Cope and Connect without Alcohol

2:45 — BREAK

3:00 — Self-Care, Self-Compassion and Collective Care (70mins; Q+A 20mins)

  • Skin Care is not Self-Care

  • Compassion Starts with You

  • Vicarious Resilience

  • Promoting Trauma-Informed Transformation at the Systems Level

4:30pm — END