Trauma-Informed Approaches to Empathic Communication

Name: Trauma-Informed Approaches to Empathic Communication
Start: 2026-01-16T10:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-01-16T14:00:00-07:00
Location: 1495 East Osborn Rd., Phoenix, AZ, United States, Arizona 85014

Schedule

Fri Jan 16 2026 at 10:00 am to 02:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

1495 East Osborn Rd., Phoenix, AZ, United States, Arizona 85014 | Phoenix, AZ

This workshop echoes self-awareness and principles of trauma-informed care, then turns outward to explore empathy in the context of helping professions.
The workshop presents trauma-informed care and self-awareness where skills and techniques will be learned, practiced, and internalized. These focus on the internal processes that form foundations for developing empathy and promote highly engaging encounters.
Participants will:
- Discuss how generational, historic, cultural, environmental, and other macro-level trauma influences affect the body's processes – such as epigenetics
- Explore core components of empathic active reflective listening within the context of emotionally validating and autonomy-supportive communication practices such as motivational interviewing
- Learn to structure conversations to reduce fear, shame, or defensiveness in others – including a participant-driven discussion of using these techniques with specific populations or those with specific needs
- Strategize communication practices that support psychological and emotional safety through autonomy, competency, and relatedness by exploring self-determination theory (presented as an underlying theoretical foundation of evidence-based communication frameworks such as motivational interviewing)
- Apply trauma-informed principles to de-escalation, conflict navigation, and relationship repair
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe how macro-level trauma influence affects communication patterns and responses
- Demonstrate foundational techniques in empathic listening, attunement, and autonomy-supportive communication
- Identify strategies to promote verbal deescalation, emotional safety, improve engagement, and strengthen interpersonal trust
Items to Note:
- Lunch will be provided.
- Space is limited.
- This workshop is $45 for AZHC members and $60 for non-members.