Implementing Trauma-Informed Practices: Tools, Trainings, and More
- Nonprofit Learning Lab
- Aug 3
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 4
Table of Contents
At the Nonprofit Learning Lab, we offer daily online nonprofit training on training, facilitation, fundraising, strategic planning, communications, volunteer management, and free resources to help you lead your organization.
These resources are designed to help executive directors, c-suite staff, development directors, program directors, volunteer managers, operation directors, and board members.
We offer a variety of free nonprofit resources from downloadable guidebooks to webinars to blogs!
We’ve compiled a list of all our internal resources relating to trauma-informed practices along with highlighting some of our favorite external resources.
Guidebook: Understanding Trauma-Informed Facilitation
This guidebook is crafted as a resource specifically tailored for trauma-informed facilitation, distinct from trauma-informed care. We anticipate that readers may work on issues related to immigration, education, international relationships, healthcare, women, children, families, food security, or housing. In your work, you may find yourself leading discussions on sensitive topics, even if you don't have a background in trauma-informed facilitation.
Past Free Webinar Downloads
Join us for live free webinars, covering topics from data analytics to fundraising & our diversity, equity and inclusion webinar series. Participate live to ask questions and learn from our expert speakers!
In addition to our live, upcoming free webinars, we provide access to all our previous free webinars! You can download both the recording and slides for our free webinars.
Free Webinars Related to Trauma Informed Practices You Can Access Today
Nurturing Resilience: Fostering Healing and Inclusion Through Trauma-Informed Care and DEI
Trauma-Informed Storytelling in Action
Crafting Inclusive Stories To Move Your Mission
Enhancing Client Outcomes through Connected Case Management
Cultural Humility: People, Community, & Practice.pdf
Get to the Heart of the Matter: Find, Share, and Leverage Stories for Maximum Impact
To gain access, just fill out our short form and you’ll receive an email to browse them all!
Related Workshops
We offer online nonprofit training on supervision, facilitation, fundraising, strategic planning, communications, volunteer management, board management, and more! Check out our upcoming live trainings related to trauma-informed practices below.
This 3-part deep dive workshop explores how to use trauma-informed facilitation practices to create safe, inclusive, and effective group experiences. Participants will learn how to design agendas, structure discussions, and navigate challenges like disclosures or disruptions. Ideal for facilitators leading community-based conversations or trainings on difficult topics, this session offers practical tools to enhance your approach. Come prepared with a specific gathering or training in mind to apply what you learn.
Nonprofits often struggle to move beyond performative Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) statements and create meaningful, sustainable change—especially when equity work triggers organizational trauma (e.g., resistance, burnout, or retraumatization of marginalized staff). In a time when this work is more important than ever, yet facing misinformation and resistance, passionate leaders in this field must be intentional and engaging. This interactive workshop guides participants through a trauma-informed DEIB action planning process, blending strategic frameworks with healing-centered practices to ensure equity initiatives are effective, inclusive, and sustainable.
Many human service staff support clients without formal case management training or titles – this workshop is for them. You'll learn how to clarify your role, set boundaries, make effective referrals, and manage client interactions with empathy. We’ll explore tools for de-escalation, sustainable support, and reducing burnout. Whether you're new to the work or have been figuring it out on the fly, you'll leave with practical strategies you can use right away.
Even when names and faces are protected, stories can still speak volumes. Anonymity doesn’t weaken a story, it challenges us to tell it with more creativity and integrity. When safety, consent, or privacy are at stake, anonymizing a story can be the most trauma-informed and ethical path forward. This training will guide you through how to share anonymous stories that are still rich and emotionally resonant. Through case studies of real nonprofit examples, you’ll explore how other organizations have used anonymity with intention and impact. You’ll also learn how to navigate consent conversations, craft compelling narratives without identifiers, and build trust with your audience by clearly communicating the context behind anonymous storytelling.
This interactive 3-part workshop equips participants with practical tools to become more effective facilitators—whether online or in person. You'll learn to design engaging, inclusive trainings using adult learning theory, manage participant dynamics, and create content that meets both learning objectives and participant needs. Topics include instructional design, managing public speaking anxiety, equity-centered curriculum development, and trauma-informed facilitation. Ideal for anyone who leads trainings, orientations, or workshops and wants to improve their skills in delivering impactful, inclusive learning experiences.
Use code friend10 for $10 off any of our trainings!
Blogs on Trauma-Informed Practices
Weekly blog posts on fundraising, nonprofit marketing, donor management software, nonprofit storytelling, volunteer management, social media and more!
Our favorite blogs relating to trauma-informed practices:
Trauma Informed Facilitation: The Power of Reflection in Training, Workshops and Experiences
Understanding Trauma-Informed Facilitation: Community Conversations as Nonprofit Leaders
Prevent Burnout: How Managers Can Support Staff in Self-Care
How to Design Curriculum for a Volunteer Orientation Using the ADDIE Model of Instructional Design
Recognizing Personal vs Organizational Limits: An Accidental Case Manager’s Checklist
External Resources Related to Trauma-Informed Practices
Bloom, S. L. (2021). Creating Presence: A trauma-informed online organizational approach for creating trauma-responsive organizations. www.creatingpresence.net.
Bloom, S. L., & Farragher, B. (2011). Destroying sanctuary: The crisis in human service delivery systems. Oxford University Press.
Bloom, S. L., Foderaro, J. F., & Ryan, R. A. (2021). S.E.L.F.: A Trauma-Informed Psychoeducational Group Curriculum, Third Edition.
Cook, A., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., & van der Kolk, B. (2003). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals, 33(5), 374–381.
Covington, S. S. (2008). Women and addiction: A trauma-informed approach. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 40(5), 377–385.
Ford, J. D., & Courtois, C. A. (Eds.). (2014). Treating complex traumatic stress disorders: An evidence-based guide. Guilford Press.
Galvin, E., et al. (2021). Implementation of The Sanctuary Model in residential out-of-home care: Enablers, barriers, successes and challenges. Children and Youth Services Review, 121, 105901.
Harris, M., & Fallot, R. D. (Eds.). (2001). Using trauma theory to design service systems: New directions for mental health services (No. 89). Jossey-Bass.
Hopper, E. K., Bassuk, E. L., & Olivet, J. (2010). Shelter from the storm: Trauma-informed care in homelessness services settings. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, 3(2), 80–100.
Najavits, L. M. (2002). Seeking safety: A treatment manual for PTSD and substance abuse. Guilford Press.
Prochaska, J. O., & DiClemente, C. C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3), 390–395.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2014). SAMHSA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. SAMHSA.
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Other Helpful Resources
Continue Learning…
Job Boards
A central hub for national, international, Canadian, and local job boards
Nonprofit Learning Lab Job Board
Featuring jobs posted by our members, all over the U.S.
Browse volunteer job boards and get involved in your local community or in national volunteer leadership opportunities.
Tip Sheets
Download free tip sheets on topics from nonprofit fundraising, board development, nonprofit marketing & volunteer management.
Worksheets
Free printable worksheets to help you brainstorm on nonprofit topics such as strategy & planning, fundraising, and volunteer management.
Nonprofit Learning Library
Our nonprofit library contains hundreds of recordings and slides for nonprofit professionals on a variety of topics from marketing, fundraising, program management, diversity equity and inclusion, volunteer management and more.
Membership provides you with access to our library. Interested in seeing what's in the resource library but not a member? Click here to see an abbreviated list of resources in our library.
Our library is filled with hundreds of sessions pre-approved for CFRE and CCVA credit! Additionally, as a CAE registered provider, many of our workshops qualify for ASAE credit as well!