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Course information

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When the behavior of children, youth and young adults becomes consequences-resistant and where empathy does not seem to heal broken attachments, caregivers begin to feel hopeless and defeated.

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NonViolent Resistance therapy (NVR) helps clinicians and caregivers recover their diminished sense of agency facing young and adult children who harm themselves or others, withdraw socially, are addicted to digital media or cannabis, threaten suicide, or reject any kind of help, including therapy.

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NVR helps adults reclaim their ability to provide care and promote children’s wellbeing, by augmenting their own presence, rather than trying to change the child’s behavior. NVR goes beyond behavior to a coherent and positive family narrative, that can help children form more secure attachments – even and especially when the young person refuses to engage in therapy.

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​​​​The Foundations of NVR training course offers an overview of NVR’s principles, process and tools, as well as a gateway for further specialisation in its applications. It may be taken as standalone, for the sole benefit of making your existing practice NVR informed, but can also or can serve as the first step in a training process that can take eligible participants all the way to certification in NVR therapy or practice. 

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The course, delivered online, spans four, six-hour study days, or 24 hours in total. The first three days are consecutive and consist of frontal presentations, discussions, and exercises. This part is followed by three months of assignment work, during which participants learn how to integrate various aspects of the NVR approach into their ongoing work, and lead integral NVR interventions. Participants log their learning experiences during these three months; are encouraged to maintain peer-support, and are offered group and individual supervision (for extra charge). At the end of this three-month period, participants attend the fourth study day, during which they reflect on their experiences and discuss cases.

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What you will learn

The Foundation Level module introduces NVR’s core principles and practices. During the course participants will learn about:
 

  • Acquiring NVR’s core concepts and values as a philosophy of self and care

  • Understanding NVR's position in relation to attachment, trauma, and behaviour-based approaches (verify corresponding content in FL storyline)

  • Managing an integral NVR process based on a didactic, step-by-step, process model of transition from caregiver helplessness to empowerment

  • Addressing typical obstacles to change such as parental despair, parental mistrust, anxiety, guilt, shame, accommodation, protectiveness, fear, trauma; beliefs about the parental role, about parental authority and about adult autonomy1

  • Integrating NVR into their own practices, making your practice NVR-informed

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​Asynchronous learning assignments  

  • Implement intervention steps such as:

    • Practicing De-escalation in role play with clients

    • Supporting a client to draft an announcement

    • Initiate and chair a supporters meeting.

  • Take part of a peer support group*

  • Write a reflective log documenting your experience

* A group supervision course is available separately.

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Duration, dates and sequence Let me know when the next course opens

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Delivery

All trainings will take place via Zoom. 

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Group size 

Maxiumum 20 

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Instructors

Dan Dulberger and Mary-Jo Land

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Certification:

A foundation level certificate of attendance will be provided to individuals who attended all four training days.

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Fees:

$1,160 CAD + 5% GST / $899 USD per participant (including fees)

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Eligibility for participation (see also our overall admission policy) 

 

Please note that CNTP's training program is open to participants from the Americas. To applicants from the UK, we highly recommend Partnership Projects UK's programs​. They are exceptionally adept and experienced. 

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  1. Admission to the NVR foundation level course is open to persons who qualify under criteria 1, 2, or 3 below:     Professional qualification in a social work, mental health or educational profession, with eligibility for membership in a recognised professional association, a provisional or full registration with a recognized provincial regulatory college (in Canada), or a state licensing board (in the USA). Typical professions of this kind are nursing, social work, special needs teaching, clinical psychology, counselling therapy, addictions counselling, educational psychology, psychiatry, systemic therapy. In certain cases we may invite applicants for a chat in order to help us refine our criteria, and/or assess, together, how well the course may be suited to their expectations.
     

  2. Academic training and/or a diploma or certificate considered by CNTP as equivalent to a professional qualification, in cases where the applicant has worked in public services or NGO’s that offer organizational support such as supervision and practice guidelines, for the duration of at least two years. Examples include: lived experience practitioners or child and youth workers in residential and other settings. To evidence equivalence, we kindly ask three things:
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    • That you send us a full CV, including your work experience

    • That you attach a cover letter explaining your interest in NVR and the way in which participating in the course aligns with your goals and future plans.

    • That you would be willing to meet with us, on Zoom, for a chat.
       

  3. Persons who do not necessarily qualify as described above – be they community leaders, administrators, social entrepreneurs – are invited to approach us (see below). We will do our best to admit those persons who in our thinking would benefit most from the Foundation Level course, while benefiting other particpants. This open dialog embodies our commitment, as a young organisation, to learn about what people and communities need, that NVR training can address. This practice will continue until more general and refined admission criteria can come into being. ​

    To help us reach the best decision., we kindly ask three things: â€‹

  • That you send us a full CV, including your work experience

  • That you attach a cover letter explaining your interest in NVR and the way in which participating in the course aligns with your goals and future plans.

  • That you would be willing to meet with us, on Zoom, for a chat.

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