Community Initiatives Workshops
Building Authentic Relationships Part 1: The Why and How of Relationships
In this workshop, we will draw upon a combination of neurobiology and our own personal
experiences to build and strengthen our understanding of the crucial role relationships play in
learning and resilience. We will identify both obstacles and possibilities for building trust and
connection in our classrooms, schools, and communities.
Building Authentic Relationships Part 2: Building Rapport, Authenticity, and Partnership
In this workshop, we will practice and reflect upon specific practices for building authentic
relationships including listening without an agenda, building rapport, intentional vulnerability,
and sharing commonalities and experiences. In the process, we will reflect together upon the
identities and experiences we each bring to our relationships and how we locate ourselves and
strive for authenticity with young people, colleagues, and other community members.
Restoring Connections Part 1: Conflict and De-escalation
In this workshop, we will explore conflicts that occur in our learning environments. Using a tool
called “the conflict cycle,” participants will reflect upon their role in escalating conflicts. We will
identify strategies for de-escalating, modeling, and teaching social and emotional skills and
disrupting harmful cycles of conflict.
Restoring Connections Part 2: Recognizing and Exploring Triggers
In this workshop, we will identify adult and youth triggers that impact our learning
environments. In particular, we will examine how our triggers are shaped by our self-concept,
identities, beliefs, and experiences. Participants will create plans for recognizing and managing
their own triggers and default response to challenges, conflicts, or crises.
Developing Skills: Social-Emotional Skills for Self-Management
In this workshop, we will share and experience routines for grounding and calming, focusing
and energizing, and increasing engagement in virtual settings. We will identify the importance
of the brain-to-body connection. We will explore ways routines and practices can support
learning virtually and in-person, as well as experience and practice specific exercises that can
be used in K-12 classrooms.
Developing Skills: Supporting Learning & Skill-Building
What skills are needed for successful participation and engagement in your community? How
can we develop these skills together? In this workshop, we will identify practices for supporting
learning by teaching skills and building partnerships. We will consider strategies for meeting
varied learning needs, modeling intentionally, and developing shared goals.
Team Building
Participants will develop their team-building skills, participants will explore Ramapo's
experiential learning model and be exposed to a variety of team-building exercises that can be
quickly adapted to use during their programs.
Strategic Supervision Series (4 session series)
Youth service directors will focus on teaching critical supervisory skills to managers in
educational, recreational, and residential programs. Participants will utilize Ramapo’s Coaching
Model to identify and create the conditions necessary for the adults they supervise to develop
skills, improve job performance, and experience success. Participants will explore the
importance of modeling desired behaviors, observing staff in action, and providing specific,
behavioral, and effective feedback that supports behavioral change. In addition, participants will
learn to recognize and respond when staff are resistant to coaching and supervision through
building relationships, identifying obstacles, and collaborative problem-solving.
Intro to Trauma-Informed Practice (2-session series)
In this two-part workshop, we will explore commonly held beliefs about trauma and resilience.
Deepening our understanding of how trauma and resilience impact our whole being, we will
identify the critical considerations in creating caring educational environments. Since we are all
navigating traumatic times, we will highlight the necessity of relationships and collective care
for resilience.
Intro to Trauma-Informed Framework (Session 1)
Intro to Resilience-Informed Framework (Session 2)
Self-Care for Staff
In this workshop, we identify societal and cultural messages about self-care. We explore
obstacles to consistently implementing our individual self-care strategies, and we discuss how
we can be better role models for self-care in our schools and programs.
Trauma and Resilience Informed Community Working Group
In collaboration with Ramapo, school or network communities will identify and convene a
working group of stakeholders who are committed to creating more trauma and resilience-
informed communities. In addition to building a shared understanding of core concepts and
practices, we will focus on putting these ideas into practice in your specific communities. Over
the course of 6-8 sessions, working groups will create plans for building staff capacity, changing
harmful practices, and uplifting and embedding practices, rituals, and routines that nurture
resilience and are attuned to trauma. Ramapo facilitators will work with the group to tailor the
content, goals, and areas of focus based on emergent needs and priorities.
Positive Youth Development Framework (Line Staff Series)
Deep dive 3 part series in two-hour sessions designed for Line Staff to
develop an awareness of the Youth Development Institutes Positive Youth
Development framework, series centers on the creation of an
environment that supports Positive Youth Development in activities using
the framework as a planning tool.
Introduction of Project-Based Learning
Two-part workshop designed to offer participants an understanding of the
use of projects as a means of youth voice and choice regarding the issues
and challenges they face in the world around them. Participants will
develop strategies associated with the development of soft skills in youth
associated with the world of work.
Family Engagement Series
How can our OST programs build more cohesive relationships with the families we serve? How
can we build and foster better community relationships? Our current climate has brought about
new challenges and we must find a way to stand in the gap and not only support but engage the
families we are in partnership with. Come and join us for a 3 part co-facilitated series utilizing the
models of dismantling barriers and building authentic relationships as a basis to help us identify
and explore opportunities to ameliorate our family engagement efforts. Let's explore how we can
better communicate, be more proactive, and make a more collective conscious effort to hold
space to increase the cohesiveness of our programs through the families we serve who are
indeed the thread who hold together the fabric of our community.