Rebecca Rampe, Psy.D.Supporting those around you starts with supporting yourself. A new training offering at UAB not only emphasizes this but also teaches participants how to use self-regulation to benefit those around them, specifically in a healthcare setting while being transferable to other areas.
The UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology recently launched its Compassion and Trauma Responsive Practices Trainings, a free training series open to healthcare providers, staff, administrators, and other personnel. The trainings, which are tailored to the groups requesting them, leverage internal expertise to educate individuals on using compassion and trauma-responsive practices in healthcare settings. These practices aim to support individuals, especially those who have experienced trauma, with empathy, safety, and understanding.
“We have an opportunity to create a shared culture around compassion and trauma-responsive practices while targeting individual regulation, which is rarely included in these types of trainings,” explained Rebecca Rampe, Psy.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology. “I am passionate about empowering others to learn more about the power of regulation and presence within their own nervous system in order to support those around them, whether it is coworkers or patients.”
Rampe said the idea was modeled after national groups offering similar trainings; however, the difference here is that the experts conducting the training come from within the institution itself in areas like occupational therapy, social work, and psychiatry.
“At UAB, we have a real opportunity to think creatively about the resources and expertise already within our community,” Rampe said. “Innovative and sustained solutions often come from looking inward, recognizing that we have the capacity and talent here to meet our own needs.”
“What makes this training unique is that it was not only designed by a range of professionals—but developed with them, in true collaboration,” she continued. “The training itself models the very values it seeks to promote: partnership, compassion, and shared wisdom.”
The benefit, Rampe added, is that experts can provide ongoing consultation for participants.
“Each contributor brings a distinct lens and expertise, and together, that creates a richer, more dynamic learning experience,” Rampe said. “In many ways, the process of building this program reflects what we hope to foster across UAB—working together rather than in silos, elevating one another’s work, and demonstrating that our collective knowledge is most powerful when it’s integrated.”
Trainings are offered in one-, two-, three-, and four-hour session options that build upon each other. The one-hour session focuses on nervous system regulation using the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and the window of tolerance concept as a guide, coupled with an introduction to compassion and trauma-responsive practices. Sessions two through four delve further into these concepts and incorporate components of structural and cultural competencies. Case examples and discussions are featured in all sessions.
“In addition to enhancing knowledge and skills in the areas of compassion/trauma responsive practices and self-regulation, we hope that participants carry a new perspective in the way they see themselves and others,” Rampe said. “Within the language chosen of being responsive, actionable steps and examples will assist in supporting a new lens of viewing what happened to a person or didn’t happen for a person that led them to where they are today.”
Supporters and experts who contributed to the launch of the Compassion and Trauma Responsive Practices Trainings include Rachel Ashcraft, M.S., OTR/L, TBRI Practitioner, FAOTA, UAB Department of Occupational Therapy; Laura Hopson, Ph.D., University of Alabama Department of Social Work; and Rachel Fargason, M.D. (who is funding the project), Cassie Wicken, M.D., PGY4, and Danny Kusko, Ph.D., all of the UAB Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology.
Groups can reach out to Rampe to schedule Compassion and Trauma Responsive Practices Trainings through this request form.