Trauma-Informed Approaches to Working with Clients
March 28, 2023
Muenster University Center Ballroom, Vermillion, SD
9am to 3pm
Please join us for the 2nd Annual Legal Workshop. This FREE workshop is intended for law students, legal professionals, and others interested in better understanding trauma-informed approaches in legal proceedings. Light breakfast and lunch will be provided.
Registration has closed at this time.
The 2nd Annual Legal Workshop is sponsored by the South Dakota Unified Judicial System Court Improvement Program. CPCM and the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law are partner organizations for the event.
9:00 Welcome by Chief Justice Steven Jensen
9:20 Workshop Introduction by Dean Neil Fulton
9:30 Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Introduction to Trauma-Informed Courts by Cassie Nagel, Children’s Home Society
The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study findings represent a paradigm shift in human understanding of the origins of physical, social, mental, and societal health and well-being. We now know that leading causes of disease and disability, learning and productivity problems, and early death have their roots in the cumulative neurodevelopmental impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
The key goal of this training is to build a common language and understanding of ACEs and the related research. Attendees will understand the impact on children of exposure to ACEs (adverse childhood experiences; adverse community environments); and to develop strategies for addressing adverse consequences within our court system.
10:45 Break
11:00 Responsive and Trauma-Informed Legal Services (Part 1) by Olga Trujillo, Author and Speaker
Victims and witnesses of crime have experienced trauma when they are exposed to violence, physical or sexual abuse, neglect, natural disasters, accidents, or any other events that induce powerlessness, fear, recurrent hopelessness, and a constant state of alert. These victims and/or witnesses appear in court as parties to, or witnesses in, civil or criminal legal proceedings as a result of the crime.
A trauma-informed court practice enables all parties and witnesses to participate in civil and criminal legal proceedings. Knowing about trauma and how it affects people will help courts respond to reasonable requests of accommodations for participation in legal proceedings and determine credibility of parties and witnesses more accurately.
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Responsive and Trauma-Informed Legal Services (Part 2) by Olga Trujillo, Author and Speaker
2:00 Break
2:15 Trauma-Informed Legal Practice by Carrie Sanderson, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment
Just as important as trauma-informed response to our clients, is recognizing our own trauma-response. USD Law alum and CPCM Director, Carrie Sanderson will discuss the importance of establishing good self-care habits.
CHIEF JUSTICE STEVEN R. JENSEN
South Dakota Unified Judicial System
Justice Jensen was appointed to the Supreme Court by Governor Dennis Daugaard. He was sworn in on November 3, 2017. Justice Jensen represents the Fourth Supreme Court District consisting of Union, Clay, Yankton, Hutchinson, Hanson, Davison, Bon Homme, Douglas, Aurora, Charles Mix, Gregory, McCook, Turner and Lincoln Counties. Justice Jensen grew up on a farm near Wakonda, South Dakota. He received his undergraduate degree from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1985 and his Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1988. He clerked for Justice Richard W. Sabers on the South Dakota Supreme Court before entering private practice in 1989 with the Crary Huff Law Firm in Sioux City, Iowa and Dakota Dunes, South Dakota. In 2003, Justice Jensen was appointed as a First Judicial Circuit Judge by former Governor Mike Rounds. He became the Presiding Judge of the First Judicial Circuit in 2011.
CASSIE NAGEL
Education and Public Awareness Specialist Advocacy and Prevention Program Director,
Children’s Home Society, Rapid City
Cassie Nagel joined Children’s Home Society as the Education and Prevention Awareness Specialist in March of 2021. Ms. Nagel has an Associate of Arts degree in Business Administration and recently completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice Studies at the University of South Dakota. Her passion for helping vulnerable populations is driving her education and inspired her to begin work at CHS.
OLGA TRUJILLO
Author and Speaker
Olga Trujillo is an internationally renowned speaker and author who has devoted her career to helping advocates, first responders and others in the field better understand the impact of trauma on survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and human trafficking. Her memoir, the “The Sum of My Parts,” for New Harbinger Publications, was released in October 2011, has sold more than 10,000 copies, and has been translated to Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. Olga holds the distinct position of being one of only a handful of speakers in the United States to address the issue of Dissociative Identity Disorder (a condition formerly known as multiple personality disorder) from a lived experience of diagnoses and healing.
Over a thirty-five-year career, Olga worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Charles McC. Mathias, in private practice for the law firm of Seyfarth, Shaw, Fairweather and Geraldson, at the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) where she served as the General Counsel of the Office of Justice Programs, and as the Legal Counsel and then Director of the Special Projects Division for the Office for Victims of Crime. Since leaving the DOJ in 2001, Olga has consulted with hundreds of national, state and local organizations addressing gender-based violence and has traveled to 49 states, 4 US territories, and 3 countries to deliver presentations and provide training on the impact of physical and sexual violence. A staple of her work, Olga weaves the role of culture, and in particular Latino culture, into every presentation, training and technical assistance opportunity.
CARRIE SANDERSON
Director, Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment
Carrie Gonsor Sanderson is a Pierre, South Dakota native. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of South Dakota. Immediately after receiving her education, Ms. Sanderson served as the Executive Director for the South Dakota Association for County Officials where Ms. Sanderson represented South Dakota’s Auditors, Treasurers, and Registers of Deeds on a state and national level and coordinated training opportunities for officials. Ms. Sanderson soon entered private practice with the Moreno, Lee & Bachand, P.C. Law Firm in Pierre, South Dakota. Ms. Sanderson’s law practice focused on civil litigation and support of alternative sentencing courts. Ms. Sanderson served as the Chairperson for Mental Health Boards in 12 rural counties and assisted in management of the South Dakota State’s Attorneys Association. In 2014, Ms. Sanderson accepted a position with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Dakota, where she prosecuted violent crimes. As an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Sanderson became intimately familiar with the services many victims require but are hard to come by due to the rural nature of our state and recognized that South Dakota has the potential to do more for people who experience trauma in their lives. In 2017, Ms. Sanderson became the inaugural Director of the Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment as USD.
