Mary McHenry, MSW
TLC Certified Trainer

Mary McHenry is the coordinator of the Child & Youth Worker Program at Lambton College in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, where she has taught for the past 16 years. Her experience as a social worker began in child protection where she conducted child abuse investigations and became increasing concerned about the traumas so many children experienced in their own homes. Her career then took her to the Family Counselling Centre in Sarnia where, she was a clinical social worker, specializing in the areas of family violence and sexual assault. Mary was also a member of her community's Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team for many years where she saw, first hand, the benefits of debriefing for people exposed to traumatic events. Mary has over 25 years experience as a clinical social worker and instructor, is a Certified Trauma and Loss Consultant through the Institute, and has been a faculty member with The National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC) since 1998. Mary is currently one of the editors of the The TLC Practitioner, a monthly eNews publication put out by TLC.

Mary presents the following courses:

Children of Trauma

This is the first of three TLC core courses that will lay the foundation to help you understand the differences between grief and trauma and to see trauma as an experience rather than a diagnostic category. Learn how to become a “witness” to a child’s traumatic experience to best appreciate the intensity of the experience and the needs of the child; to see what he now sees as he looks at himself and the world around him. Video-taped interviews will demonstrate how TLC’s evidence-based, structured sensory intervention process brings children relief from the terror of their traumatic experiences. This structured process is used in schools and agencies across the country and has been proven, via research, to reduce trauma-specific reactions across all three major sub-categories.

Resiliency in the Face of Day-to Day Trauma Work:
Taking Care of You and Your Client

This workshop will provide suggestions for developing your resiliency in order to meet the demands of working with people who are traumatized. Dealing with the potential for compassion fatigue, and modeling self-care for the people, with whom you work, are important aspects of both your own and their healing. The techniques of relaxation, music, positive self-talk and humor will be discussed as well as demonstrated.  Group discussions will provide the attendees opportunity to share stories, provide peer support and recognize that they are not alone in the challenges that face those in the helping field.

Structured Sensory Interventions

This is the second of the three TLC core courses. You will learn trauma-specific intervention tasks and techniques as well as see them demonstrated. This is a practice day. The presenter engages attendees in an encapsulated demonstration of the major sensory structured processes. Attendees will also participate in additional activities and, by days end, will feel comfortable using any of the TLC intervention programs. A brief presentation of the TLC evidence-based research and outcome will support the value of TLC’s structured sensory programs in schools and agencies.

Trauma Debriefing

The TLC Debriefing Model fits with the uniqueness of school and agency settings. The models address the developmental issues, time and resource constraints, needs of staff as well as students/clients, administrative issues and trauma response issues. Five debriefing models are demonstrated: Debriefing for adolescents and adults, Defusing for K-5th grade, Operational Debriefing for all staff, Debriefing the Debriefers, Crisis Team members or first respondents and Classroom Presentation which is different than debriefing and usually initiated before the start of debriefing. The TLC Debriefing Model is the outcome of work with over 1,500 professionals who have participated in debriefing training.