Jesse Looney, Angela Russell, Carole Ramsey, Vandora Henderson, Becky Lloyd, Jessica Tripp, Kelly Kimmerling
Not pictured: Jen Auel, Lindsey Piersall, Marc Russell, Brandon Rader and Destiny Newon.
Local TBRI® Practitioner Force – Trust-based Relational Intervention®
Since the fall of 2021 we have had eight complete the training and three more currently in training for 2023. Bringing our total number of TBRI® Practitioners to 12, including Becky. Ten are local, with one in San Diego and one in Liberia, West Africa.
In 2014, God made it possible for Becky to attend TBRI® Educator Training with the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development (KPICD) at Texas Christian University. God had introduced Karyn to Becky at the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Summit in 2009 at Erving Bible Church in Erving, Texas. Becky knew this was God’s answer to her question, “Why are You calling me ‘to coordinate the adoption of Deaf orphans in the world’. You know I know that fostering and adopting does not end in happily ever after stories.”
TBRI® is Trust-based Relational Intervention. TBRI® is an attachment- and evidence-based, trauma-informed intervention designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children or children who have experienced trauma/toxic or chronic stress, neglect and/or abuse. TBRI® addresses the child’s physical needs and attachment needs, and provides tools to disarm fear-based behaviors; helping create an environment of felt-safety, based on mutual trust and respect. TBRI® is based on years of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research and practice. TBRI® is just another way to spell…GRACE!
In the beginning Becky began coordinating American Sign Language Interpreters for the annual CAFO Summit and for the Empowered to Connect Conferences across the US for Deaf parents wanting to adopt. Empowered to Connect (now Hope for the Journey) was a collaborative event between Show Hope, Focus on the Family and KPICD where Karyn Purvis, initially, and her colleagues would share TBRI® principles and strategies over a 2-day conference.
Becky was not a professional and she did not feel she could attend this sought after training, until Herbie Newell of Lifeline Children’s Services, in 2014, contacted her and told her she should attend and offered her a spot, one of theirs, in the next training that fall. Focus on the Family offered her a scholarship for the training and Becky raised the funds for her travel expenses to Texas. What an honor and a blessing!
Who would be next to attend this coveted training?
At CAFO Summit 2018 God made it clear Signs for Hope had to be trauma-informed from the top down. This was the same year God had made it clear to Becky He would be turning Becky’s attention to a local presence.
In 2018 and 2019 Becky, along with Vandora Henderson, Nann Anderson and Jana Lechner (Signs for Hope board members) attended at least one of the following, Back2Back Ministries’ Advanced Trauma Competent Care Training at CAFO or in Cincinnati (Back2Back’s headquarters) or Empowered to Connect. Some of them attended all three.
As God began to add missionaries to Signs for Hope in late 2019 and 2020, Carole Ramsey and Marc and Angela Russell & family, the opportunity for us to grow our TBRI® Practitioners, locally, began. Since the fall of 2021 we have had eight complete the training with three in training now (2023). Bringing our total number of TBRI® Practitioners to 12, including Becky. Ten are local, with one in San Diego and one in Liberia, West Africa. KPICD has graciously accepted Signs for Hope applicants since 2021 and Show Hope has graciously provided scholarships for each of them.
We have been working in conjunction with KPICD to develop a more Deaf-friendly approach to TBRI® for Deaf children who have experienced language deprivation while utilizing the Developmental Milestones 0 – 5. They know this will benefit not only Deaf children, but children of all backgrounds.
Also, Back2Back Ministries has made available to Signs for Hope their Advanced Trauma Competent Care Training, which includes TBRI® practices and strategies. We are seeking skilled ASL Interpreters to translate this for Deaf attendees.
