What's New
Continuing Our History of Innovation
2010 was yet another banner year for Valor and its growing communities. Our successses would not have been possible without the contributions of talent and expertise from Sheri Miller, LCSW, Board Member and Therapist Advisory Council Chair. Sheri has donated her services in Valor's development for three straight years. Her commitment has been extraordinary in the development of a young pilot organization. Tara Williams, PhD, Board Member and Therapist Continuing Education Sponsor has volunteered countless hours in workshop design and facilitation. Brandy Smith, Ed.S., LPC, NCC, Board Member and Support Peer Program Chair has generously donated hours of program editing for the Peer Community and serves as our designer and instructor for the Support Peer Education Program. Chris Noble, MA, MS, LPC, NCC, Board Member and Peer Meeting Programs Contributor has volunteered to approve our monthly peer-designed agendas for the Sharing Sanctuary Forum. Rebecca Burgette, LAPC dedicates her trauma and eating disorder experience to our newest program venue, the iCARE About Me Eating Disorder Recovery Forum. Rita Patel-Garcia, RYT, LCSW, introduced us all to the meaningful benefits of our newest initiative, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Classes for Peers. We are deeply appreciative of the time our therapist members have dedicated to the development of our programs and organization as a whole. We also thank our Peer Advisory Council Members and the entire Peer Community for their ongoing support and immeasurable contributions.
This past year, our therapist continuing education workshops focused on collaboration between Peers healing from Dissociative Disorders and the Therapist Community. Both communities enjoyed an opportunity to define meaningful recovery tools for therapy endeavors (Navigating Therapy Starts, Stops, and Stalls) and meaningful integrative tools for Eating Disorders recovery within dissociative communities. By piloting educational forums that reflect both sides of the healing equation, our therapist and client communities have an opportunity to learn from one another and improve healing journeys.
We designed and introduced the first Peer-Led Eating Disorder Recovery Program for clients recovering from a dissociative disorder concurrently with an eating disorder. The new iCARE About Me Eating Disorder Recovery Platform was introduced in November, 2011 and has been successful in each of its integrated and innovative components. For the first time, our Peer Community has access to meaningful meeting forums that discuss the impact of personality structures, dissociative mechanisms, and the complexity of eating disorder recovery all in one self-empowerment venue. Our meeting forums are designed by Peers with topics and discussions presented by Peers engaged in eating disorder and dissociative disorder recovery. Our Peer-designed agendas are pre-approved by therapist facilitators who are also on-site to offer meaningful contributions to our meeting frames. We further developed on-line tools and knowledgebase support within our secure technology frame so that out-of-state Peers and others locally could participate in on-line tools for healing.
Last year also marked the development of our new iCREATE for Healing Program designed by a local Peer for activity-based meeting frames utilizing art as an expressive medium and a tool in our recovery. The Peer Community has an opportunity to teach and share their artistic talents and tools in a variety of creative media.
In October, 2010, we piloted Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Classes in our Peer Community. The results of our pilot generated unexpected successes as well as expected outcomes. Our successful pilot has confirmed our commitment to providing these classes throughout the year for our Peer community members. We could not have piloted this program without the expertise, compassion, and care presented by our yoga instructor, Rita Patel-Garcia, RYT, LCSW.
For our Support Peer Education Initiatives, we introduced a quarterly series of education classes for the general public, families, and friends supporting the healing journeys of an individual recovering from a dissociative disorder. Taught by Brandy Smith, MEd, LPC, NCC, our DID/DDNOS 101, 102, 103, and 104 programs allow educational presentation and warm, open discussions of common challenges for understanding and supporting healing journeys.
In November and December, 2010, the Peer Community continued its commitment to our Annual Community Service Project initiatives. Using the artistic talents of the community, we decorated and filled ten boxes for young children as Christmas Gifts through Samaritan's Purse. Our decorated, toy-filled boxes were sent to Haiti and Southeast Asia. We also adopted two very special children through World Vision and provide for their support throughout the year. Our Christmas shoppers and wrappers in the Peer Community went out once again to fill shipments for holiday warmth and cheer for the two newest members of our Peer Family. Our adopted children reside in Columbia, South America and Sri Lanka.
Our iCARE About Parenting Forum project is being prepared for introduction. This innovative forum will be taught by a local therapist with expertise in parenting skills and over thirty eight years of dissociative disorder expertise. Ellen P. Klein, MSW, has graciously agreed to share her talents and expertise in the design and instruction of this innovative skills program for the Peer Community. Our goals for this program are to empower self-parenting skills, self-nurturance practices, and traditional parenting skills within our community. We believe building better relationships within ourselves enables the capacity for stronger and healthier interrelationships in our traditional family structures. Self-parenting and self-nurturance skills also significantly contribute to the healing process for dissociative disorders. Our program is also supported by our secure technology frame for Peers who are unable to attend our pilot classes or who may wish to engage in further education and development outside of our traditional classroom component.
In 2011, we are also designing for introduction several additional educational and recovery venues including: iCARE About Financial Independence, a program for teaching financial management skills to our Peer community. Our course will be taught by a local financial planning professional and a dissociative disorder therapist together.
Our iCARE About Safety, A Protection, Prevention, and Response Program will provide a frame for learning verbal and non-verbal self-defense skills in basic, intermediate, and advanced classes for our Peer Community. Our instructors will encompass therapists with experience in dissociative disorders accompanied by professionals in the art of verbal and non-verbal self-defense. The innovative structure of this program is designed to offer a resource for Peers in a modular frame where they can safely and comfortably choose the component that best fits their present needs and stage in the dissociative disorder healing process. Its component-based design focuses on building self-confidence, a sense of personal safety, self-awareness, and empowerment in day-to-day living.
We look forward to continuing our history of rich, innovative program designs for healing and recovery. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our communities and are deeply appreciative of the therapists, professionals, and peers who continue to support our innovative approaches in service to adult survivors of traumatic child abuse, public education, and mental health advocacy.
NetBiz & NetCare Developments (Ongoing Development)
We're growing at a deliberately slow pace with new additions to our NetBiz and NetCare support networks which opened this past November. Your referral of professional services organizations is so very meaningful. These professionals surround our communities with extraordinary compassion and care in the delivery of their services. We thank you for your referrals to this growing and vital network. If you have not had an opportunity to recommend a resource to these community support networks, please consider sharing a referral of those who have meaning to you in business and personal services. Contact info@valorinstitute.org.
New Forums and Initiatives for Our Communities
Click and play! To view our upcoming initiatives, click on the hotspots below for an overview of your community. You can also access more additional information in the What's New – Programs, News and Initiatives section of our website.
Just for Peers
Special thanks to our Peers who are participating in the design of new programs and assisting with the enhancement of our existing programs. We're growing both in terms of our membership and new resources. Watch for our upcoming Parenting Skills Classes, Yoga for Trauma Survivors Class, Self-Defense Classes, Eating Disorders Group, Self-Injury Resources, our Annual Weekender Retreat in September, and our annual Peer Survey.
We sincerely appreciate all participants in our regular monthly Peer meetings and our social venues. Your courage and willingness to share have inspired us all. Our fun continues this year under our most popular program, RSVP Outdoors. Join us for excursions in hiking, road trips for go-cart racing, and visits to places like the Kangaroo Conservation Center, to name a few. Our Community Quarters events with Support Peers continue the badminton tournaments and gaming fun. Playing in the Wii-Lympics has been wonderful as well.
We are also grateful for our Peer Advisory Council Chair and Vice Chair members. This year has been dedicated to formalizing the structure of the Peer Advisory Council, building a Peer Charter to support new chapters next year, and developing ideas for meaningful resources and programs for the Peer Community. We could not have accomplished so many goals for the community this year without this dedicated group of Peers.
We hope you will consider authoring an article and contributing to our secure knowledgebase for Peers. Share what has helped you and inspired you along your healing path. Co-author an article for Peers with your therapist. Recommend a book that has meaning to you. Share artwork, prose, poetry and expressions of gratitude for those who decorate your lives. Some of our greatest submissions in the Gratitude section have involved anonymous expressions of thanks for therapists and their contributions to our healing.
Please remember to refer business professionals for our growing NetBiz and NetCare networks. We all benefit from the talents and gifts of these professionals who surround our journeys in meaningful ways. We sincerely appreciate everyone who has referred members to our support networks. If you have experienced extraordinary care in the delivery of personal or business services, please let us know who you would like to refer to our networks.
For additional Peer information, please contact info@valorinstitute.org.
Just for Therapists
Join us this year for our next continuing education workshop. Our topic is "Working with Self-Injury: DID/DDNOS Perspectives." Dr. Tara Williams and her colleagues are sponsoring a dynamic, interactive agenda for our therapist attendees and we are incorporating collaboration from the Peer Community. Thank you to all attendees of our interactive and collaborative workshops last year. Valor's vision is the design of therapist workshops which reflect the spirit and collaboration of both the Peer and the Therapist communities as we learn from one another. This year was the first year we could pilot further collaboration as a specific initiative. Our workshops were among our best CEU workshops to date as we shared experiences from both sides of the therapy endeavor.
Contribute to your on-line secure forum for colleagues! Your 167 Hours for Therapists secure website is under construction with features on-line discussion forums, educational presentations and articles, and so much more. Our secure on-line discussion forums are already in operation. If you would like to contribute an article to your professional knowledgebase currently under development, please contact therapist@valorinstitute.org. Co-authoring an article with a Peer is also a wonderful way to contribute to both the therapist and peer secure knowledgebases at the same time. Support a Peer’s interest in helping other members of their community. Co-author an article today!
Please remember to refer colleagues and business professionals for our growing TAPS, NetBiz and NetCare networks. We all benefit from the talents and gifts of these professionals who surround our journeys in meaningful ways. We’re growing and sincerely appreciate everyone who has referred members to our support networks.
Just for Family/Support Peers
Having a Support Peer assist with the journey and take interest in the journey makes such a difference in the life of a Peer. The path of the Support Peer can often be equally as challenging and isolating as it is for a Peer. We hope our resources in community will open new avenues that honor the spirit and personal journeys of our Support Peers who grace our lives. We are completely re-engineering our service frame for Support Peers this year. We introduced in September, 2010, a quarterly education forum for Support Peers. We are continuing the success of our Community Quarters and RSVP Outdoors fun and fellowship forums for Support Peers in conjunction with the Peer Community.
Please remember to refer business professionals for our growing NetBiz and NetCare support networks. We all benefit from the talents and gifts of these professionals who surround our journeys in meaningful ways.
Just for NetCare & NetBiz
For our NetCare and NetBiz professionals, welcome to Valor and thank you for your support of our members and initiatives. We look forward to introducing your organizations to our members slowly over the coming months and to providing you with your own technology tools within our secure community on-line facilities.
If you would like to author an article on your specialty services, please contact info@valorinstitute.org. We appreciate the opportunity to share your message and your expertise in meaningful ways. NetBiz and NetCare professionals will also have their own knowledgebase for tools and services that can help you strategically grow your business and collaborate with one another. We look forward to introducing you to this unique venue this Spring.
Just for NetVolunteers
For our NetVolunteers, there aren’t enough words to thank you for your tireless efforts in reviewing materials, website developments and supporting all of our events. For all of our NetVolunteers, we sincerely appreciate your time, your talents and the gift of your creativity.
Explore!
We hope you will take the time click around our What's New areas. Explore meaningful education topics, industry news, new network members and program initiatives. If there is an area you would like more information about, let us hear from you. Contact info@valorinstitute.org or click on the Request Information tab on our site. We appreciate the opportunity to be of service.