Welcome to Module 1 of the Story-Informed Trauma Therapy Core Training. Whether you're a new student starting your journey toward becoming a SITT-Certified therapist or Trauma Mentor, we're glad you're here. Please read this document for our best practices for this training.

Understand the scope & bring your best self.

Because of the comprehensive nature of the Story-Informed model, this is a long and heavy training. Don't expect to power your way through the videos and learn what you need to make a difference for your clients. You will not get what you need from this training from a single watch with only partial attention. This on-demand training format has unique strengths and weaknesses that you need to consider.

Because you are on your own, you don't have to face the distractions of learning in a group, but you aren't benefiting from the peer modeling and pressure of learning in a group all focused on the same task. That means you will need to provide your own sense of focus. Because you can watch and learn at your own pace, you run the risk of dropping off and not completing the training, but that also means you can work on the training when you are in the best mindset and energy level. While you don't have the benefit of being "in the room" with the trainer, you do have the freedom to pause the video to reflect and take notes, and go back to listen again to things that seemed confusing at first. Make the commitment now to bring your best to this training so that you can learn well and serve your clients better. Here are some of our recommendations for how to apply this commitment.

Give yourself a deadline.

Students who take this module live experience it over the course of three back-to-back eight-hour training days. That is a very intense experience, but it also guarantees that students complete the material. Because you have the freedom to complete this training at your own pace over the course of thirty days, you run the risk of trying to "fit it in" between other elements of your life. This means you will never be fully focused on the training. For that reason, we recommend that you give yourself a designated Training Window so that you can come to this training with focus. You could take three back-to-back training days and emulate the live experience. You could schedule a 2-3 hour block of time every day for a week as your training window. If your life is particularly full, you could set aside three Saturdays in a row for your training time. However you choose to do it, please don't attempt this training in a random or piecemeal way just to complete the material. Your learning will be better with focus, and your clients will be better served.

Give yourself a focused environment.

The students who attend the live training have the benefit of participating in a room that is dedicated to learning. Students who attend live events remotely or who take the on-demand training run the risk of having the noise and hubbub of their home or office interrupt their focus. Your best outcome for this training will happen if you make the effort to create for yourself a focused space for the training. Maybe this is your office, or you sign up for a silent work room at the library, or find some other non-distracting space. If you take this course in your own home, make sure to do it at a time and in a way where, as much as possible, the demands of home don't interrupt your chosen training time.

Turn off digital distractions.

You are watching this training on a computer. But that's where all your other work resides. When you sit down to do this training, limit digital distractions. Close down your email client and any apps that generate notifications. Put your phone in Do Not Disturb mode. Many of us have gotten into the habit of 2nd-Screen style entertainment, where we watch a show on a larger screen, while we scroll social media on our phones. This sort of split attention will undermine your learning and limit the training's impact. If you find yourself wanting to do this sort of 2nd-Screen watching, consider whether this is a coping mechanism to limit your exposure to the intensity of the trauma topics we are discussing. If you need to stabilize your limbic system, do that by taking a full break and doing something like taking a walk rather than scrolling social media.

Be an active Student.

The biggest risk of taking an on-demand training like this, which is mainly composed of pre-recorded video, is that your brain will shift into passive spectator mode. You've already spent years of your life watching television, movies, and internet videos. Your brain knows the familiar comfort of shifting into passivity as you receive this content. If you watch these videos in that mindset, you will not learn deeply. To be an active student, we invite you to do the following.

1. Take good notes.

Your manual has extensive note pages that follow the sequence of the training. Use those pages. Write detailed notes. Pause the video when needed to make sure you get what you need. Take screenshots where that would be helpful. Refer to the Slide Notes pages that you can download for additional note space.

2. Record your questions along the way.

Students at live trainings get the opportunity to ask questions. That's much harder to do in an on-demand training. Here's how we recommend you proceed. As you go through the training, when a question comes up, write it down. Maybe write it on a separate page or document that is just for questions. As the training proceeds, you will find that some of these questions get answered. When they do, take notes and check off that question. At the end of the training, if you have remaining questions that still feel important, do the following. For questions that seem general enough to be of interest to other students, post them in the "Discussions" tab of this course so that they can be answered by our team, and the answer can remain available for future students. If the questions are too specific to be of use to other students, email them to Byron for a response at byron.kehler@gmail.com.

3. Participate in the Exercises.

There are several places where Byron asks the students in the room to answer a particular question, to reflect on some aspect of their own lives, or to give their therapeutic feedback on particular scenarios. When this occurs, pause the video and take the time necessary to fully respond to the question. In situations where Byron asks the live students to share their response, pause the video and complete your own response before listening to the responses that were recorded. You will be tempted to shortchange these moments. Please don't. Give these moments of interaction your full attention since they are also a crucial part of the learning.

Take Care of Yourself.

This is an intensive training. Some of what you hear may be activating for you. If you find that you are activated by the material being presented, feel free to take a break to process your experience. We want the training to be instructive but not overwhelming. Return when you are ready, knowing that you can revisit that material when you want to through the archive recording. Take careful note of those places in the training where you are activated or where you find yourself dissociating. That will be instructive for you about your own story. (Key note: One of the most obvious forms of dissociation when watching video like this is the sense of fuzzy-mindedness that we think of as being bored).