Forum: Quilting as metaphor for theological education

How is quilt‐making both metaphor and pedagogy for early‐career faculty of theology and religion who seek to cultivate critical and creative imagination for teaching, and to probe the challenges and promises of complex identities and vocations within 21st‐century landscapes of theological education? This forum presents essays (with explanatory introduction) by five members of the 2016–2017 Workshop for Early Career Theological School Faculty, who were impelled to story their experience of being “handed over to themselves” by an “arts and craft” project which forced them to think with their hands, speak with found objects, and re‐present themselves in the form of 12 × 12‐inch quilt squares. In self‐reflexive prose, these scholar‐teachers offer through this medium a glimpse of their unexpected moments of revelatory learning, as each was pulled into deeper contemplation of their personhood, experience, know‐how, and practical wisdom, each uncovering valuable hidden sources for more expansive theological query, and each re‐thinking the possibilities for theological education and its pedagogies.     

Trigger warnings,covenants of presence,and more: Cultivating safe space for theological discussions about sexual trauma

Sexual assault is prevalent, but many educators find themselves ill‐prepared to address it in the classroom. This article conceptualizes a trauma sensitive pedagogy that engages the psychological, social, and theological implications of sexual assault for classroom conversations about sex and sexuality. First, the article examines the impact of the classic power disparity between student and teacher as a dynamic that can trigger recall of the abuse of power inherent in sexual violence. Next the article reframes understandings of trigger warnings to consider how they can be used to support educators in taking seriously the vulnerability of those who have experienced sexual assault. The article also presents perspectives on the role of “teacher self‐disclosure” in facilitating conversations that acknowledge sexual assault, followed by a teaching strategy that demonstrates pedagogical sensitivity to trauma. Suggestions on how to support students through and beyond conversations that can trigger traumatic stress conclude the article.     

Treatment of elopement following a latency‐based interview‐informed,synthesized contingency analysis

Using a latency measure during a functional analysis of problem behavior increases the brevity of the assessment period and decreases risks resulting from exposure to contexts intended to evoke problem behavior. In addition, latency‐based functional analyses may be especially suitable for discrete behaviors such as elopement, which require resetting the environment after each instance of the response. We evaluated a comprehensive assessment and treatment package for the elopement of two children diagnosed with autism. We observed short latencies to elopement during the test condition of the analysis and no elopement during the control condition. We then taught the participants multiple forms of functional communication responses of increasing complexity while elopement was blocked. This was followed by the thinning of reinforcement to a terminal goal, creating a treatment package that nearly eliminated elopement and was socially validated by caregivers.     

Enhancing Capacity for Trauma‐informed Care in Child Welfare: Impact of a Statewide Systems Change Initiative

Youth involved in the child welfare system (CWS) are disproportionally impacted by the negative effects of exposure to trauma. While efforts to develop trauma‐informed CWSs are accelerating, little research is available about the effects of these efforts on system capacity to respond to the needs of youth exposed to trauma. No studies evaluate longer‐term effects of these efforts. In 2011, Connecticut implemented CONCEPT, a multi‐year initiative to enhance capacity of the state's CWS to provide trauma‐informed care. CONCEPT used a multi‐component approach including workforce development, deployment of trauma screening procedures, policy change, improved access to evidence‐based trauma‐focused treatments, and focused evaluation of program effects. Changes in system capacity to deliver trauma‐informed care were assessed using statewide stratified random samples of child welfare staff at three time points (Year 1: N = 223, Year 3: N = 231, Year 5: N = 188). Significant improvements across nearly all child welfare domains were observed during the first 3 years of implementation, demonstrating system‐wide improvements in capacity to provide trauma‐informed care. These gains were maintained through the final year of implementation, with continued improvements in ratings of collaboration between child welfare and behavioral health settings on trauma‐related issues observed. Responses documented familiarity with and involvement in many of the CONCEPT activities and initiatives. Staff reported greater familiarity with efforts to increase access to specific evidence‐based services (e.g., TF‐CBT) or to enhance trauma‐related policy and practice guidelines, but less familiarity with efforts to implement new practices (e.g., trauma screening) in various sectors. Staff also reflected on the contribution of these components to enhance system capacity for trauma‐informed care.     

Use of Trauma‐Informed Care With Incarcerated Offenders

Regardless of preexisting trauma history, offenders regularly experience traumatic events while incarcerated. Current therapeutic approaches focus on coping skills and behavioral responses. The authors recommend integrating the use of trauma‐informed care to address the deeper emotional responses tied to trauma.     

An evaluation of the single‐session interview‐informed synthesized contingency analysis

Functional analysis can often be a lengthy process requiring time and resources not readily available to practitioners working with children who exhibit severe problem behavior. The interview‐informed synthesized contingency analysis (IISCA) was recently developed as an alternative functional analysis format that improved analytic efficiency by requiring only 25 min to conduct. Furthermore, a within‐session analysis of the first test session of the entire IISCA could reduce the process to as little as a single 5‐min session. We extended this previous research by conducting what was termed the single‐session IISCA with three boys who exhibited severe problem behavior. A function‐based treatment package, including reinforcement thinning, informed by the results of the single‐session IISCA nearly eliminated problem behavior for all three participants. We suggest that the single‐session IISCA could be a viable alternative to other functional analysis formats when time is limited.     

Interview‐informed synthesized contingency analyses: Thirty replications and reanalysis

The speed with which a functional analysis (FA) provides a convincing demonstration of the variables that influence problem behavior may be termed efficiency. Multiple FA formats have been developed to improve analytic efficiency while the core components of the Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) procedures are maintained. We attempted to illustrate an alternative efficient process for conducting FAs of problem behavior that relied on modifying those core components. In Study 1, we describe 30 applications of the interview‐informed synthesized contingency analysis (Hanley, Jin, Vanselow, & Hanratty, 2014), which required an average of 25 min of analysis. The first sessions of these analyses were reanalyzed in Study 2 to determine if contingencies that controlled problem behavior could be identified in only 3 to 5 min. This was the case in 80% of analyses.     

Applied and Translational Research on Trauma‐Responsive Programs and Policy: Introduction to a Special Issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology

The special issue highlights work across systems that include child welfare, education, juvenile justice and health, as well as agencies serving adults who are at‐risk for high levels of childhood and adult trauma exposure. While articles appearing in the special issue are not divided equally across these systems, they cover important and overlapping concepts within each. Some articles span more than a single system or domain of research, whereas others fit primarily within single area or domain. Articles provide new insights from research on practices, programs, and policies that help to transform systems so they are increasingly more responsive to the needs of vulnerable populations.     

Trauma‐Informed Supervision: Clinical Supervision of Substance Use Disorder Counselors

Substance use disorder counselors are at risk of experiencing burnout, vicarious trauma, and secondary traumatic stress. These phenomena can lead to counselor impairment. The authors describe how trauma‐informed supervision can mitigate the risks of impairment for substance use disorder counselors.     

A Community's Response to Adverse Childhood Experiences: Building a Resilient,Trauma‐Informed Community

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, may be mitigated by trauma‐informed social environments—programs, services, systems, communities—that offer responses to trauma that promote healing, recovery, and resilience. However, there is currently little empirical evidence to support the use of specific approaches to do so. Guided by a population health perspective, this paper describes a participatory community change process in response to ACEs that seeks to build a resilient, trauma‐informed community in Pottstown, PA. We examine the initial implementation phase of this change process, centered originally on the education sector and the social and behavioral health services sector, and then eventually expanding to 14 community sectors across two years. A variety of data sources and methods are used to track individual and organizational processes, as well as service system network processes. A central feature of this research is the use of data to generate hypotheses rather than test them. Data were also used to guide understanding and decision‐making during implementation. The results show that moving forward the community is well‐positioned to establish stronger inter‐agency and system supports for trauma‐informed practice in the service system and in the broader community. We discuss results for their implications for building resilient, trauma‐informed communities.     

Toward science‐informed supervision of clinical case formulation: A training model and supervision method

Case formulation is a core competency in the practice of clinical psychology and although many component skills can be taught in lectures, supervised clinical practice is a key step in moving from knowledge about case formulation to knowledge of formulation. The present paper outlines a model of science‐informed clinical practice and the ways in which clinical supervision may play a role. In addition, a methodology for assessing and benchmarking skills in case formulation is described to assist clinical psychology training programs to provide supervisees with normative feedback about their skills in case formulation. In so doing, the supervision of case formulation can become more informed by science and responsive to evaluation.     

Trauma‐Informed Care for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: An Avenue for Community Psychology's Involvement in Community Mental Health

Individuals with serious mental illness are at particularly high risk for trauma; however, service environments with which they interact may not always be trauma‐informed. While community mental health and other human services settings are moving toward trauma‐informed care (TIC) service delivery, a variety of TIC frameworks exist without consensus regarding operationalization, thereby leading to challenges in implementation. TIC is principle‐driven and presents substantial overlap with community psychology values and competencies, including ecological frameworks, second‐order change, empowerment, and citizen participation. One way to address barriers to TIC implementation is to draw on the strengths of the field of community psychology. With a particular emphasis on the applicability of TIC to individuals with serious mental illness, this paper identifies key implementation issues and recommends future directions for community psychologists in clarifying the service framework, its adaptation to specific service contexts, and improving delivery through consultation and evaluation. Community psychologists may work with various disciplines involved in the TIC field to together promote a more conscious, actionable shift in service delivery.     

The Legacy,Leadership, and Hope of Pan‐African Women as a Missional Focus for Theological Education

This article analyzes the experience and self‐understanding of Pan‐African women of faith, who have often been viewed at the margins of church history and in the larger context of this history. This article challenges this marginal location. It argues that through the theological lens of the ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace—and under the tenets of via positiva, via negativa, and via transformativa—the historical, present, and future pilgrimage of Pan‐African women of faith and their vision of hope needs to be further examined for a more inclusive embrace and accompaniment of the ecumenical community. Theological education should be a priority in preparing leaders for advancing the agenda of justice and peace. The article concludes by detailing the past, recent, and future work of the Pan‐African Women's Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) and its partners.     

Spiritual sensitivity in the classroom: a teaching experiment in Finnish upper secondary religious education

The interest to research spirituality in the classroom has been constant over the last decade. However, empirical research into classroom pedagogy and the lived experience of religious education has been scarce. This study describes a small-scale intervention that aimed to promote students’ spiritual reflection in Finnish upper secondary school RE classes by using stimulating tasks. One class (N?=?23) of upper secondary school students (16–18?years of age) participated in the study. Analysis of students’ responses after the silent reflection moments suggested that the tasks were successful in eliciting some level of spiritual reflection for most of the students. In this article, we describe the experiment and the content and nature of this reflection, as well as discuss the advantages and challenges of spiritually sensitive teaching methods in a classroom of heterogeneous worldviews.     

Toward the science‐informed practice of clinical supervision: The Australian context

Although supervision of clinical practice is mandatory for trainee psychologists, surprisingly little is known about the key ingredients of effective supervision and the relationship between supervision and patient outcomes. The purpose of this paper was to review current regulations that shape supervision in Australia and explore the links between these regulations and the components of effective supervision. Although recent developments including supervisor training and other quality control programs are an indication of progress, there are several empirical and conceptual issues in the supervision literature that require resolution. The second part of this paper identifies the gaps in the supervision literature and suggests steps to advance the development of a mature science of clinical supervision. The main areas requiring attention include the identification of the mechanisms by which supervision produces change in supervisees and their patients, the refinement of measurement methods and instrumentation, and the need to pursue collaborative research that maximises the generalisability of research findings.