CTRI ACHIEVE

You don’t have to burn out to help others.

The CTRI Summit is a half-day virtual event for social service and helping professionals who are navigating the impact of helping work and the growing needs of wholistic community care.

Join the Summit

  • Earn 3 CECs

  • FREE

  • 3 expert speakers

You hold space for others every day. Who holds space for you?

Helping work asks a lot from people – not just professionally, but emotionally.

Many helping professionals carry heavy workloads, deal with complex client needs, and experience ongoing exposure to trauma, all while navigating systems that don’t leave much room to process the impact of the work itself.

The CTRI Summit will give you the tools you need to:

  • Recognize and respond to vicarious trauma
  • Apply trauma-informed practices in everyday work
  • Integrate decolonized practices into your approach
  • Build a workplace culture of safety, trust, and resilience

You’ll leave with grounded strategies, fresh perspective, and ideas you can immediately bring back to your team, organization, and community.

Join the Summit

July 8, 2026 | 10 AM-1 PM CT

Live online via Zoom – join from anywhere!

  • Free admission
  • Limited to 1,000 participants
  • Earn 3 continuing education credits
Register Now

What You’ll Learn

This three-part virtual event is designed to support both you and the work you do every day.

Each session builds on the next, strengthening your ability to care for others without wearing yourself down.

Photo of Joddie Walker in a circle for Summit

Session 01 | Vicarious Trauma – Strategies for Resilience

With Joddie Walker, MSc, RP

Helping work can affect how we think, feel, and show up – often before we fully notice it ourselves.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

  • Recognize early signs of vicarious trauma and emotional overload
  • Manage stress and create healthier boundaries around helping work
  • Build sustainable practices that support resilience and well-being
Photo of Melanie Bazin in circle for Summit

Session 02 | Decolonizing Your Helping Practice

With Melanie Bazin, Niigaani Makade Makwa Ikwe, Ma’iingan Doodem (Leading Black Bear Woman, Wolf Clan)

Helping well means understanding the colonial systems, histories, and lived experiences that shape people’s lives.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

  • Recognize colonial systems and barriers that unintentionally impact helping relationships
  • Incorporate decolonized approaches into your work
  • Build a helping relationship based on reciprocity, relational accountability, and respect
Photo of Nathan Gerbrandt in circle for summit

Session 3: Trauma-Informed Care in the Helping Professions

With Nathan Gerbrandt, Melanie Bazin, and Joddie Walker

Trauma‑informed care is more than an approach – it’s how we shape the environments we work in, together.

In this moderated, discussion‑based session, you’ll learn how to:

  • Apply trauma-informed thinking in real workplace situations
  • Support both clients and colleagues through stress and difficult moments
  • Build a healthier, safer, more supportive and resilient workplace culture
CTRI summit blue bar with wave lines divider

Who This Event Is For

This event is for social service and helping professionals – including counsellors, social workers, frontline mental health workers, and anyone in a helping role – who are:

  • Feeling stretched, numb, or exhausted
  • Looking for practical approaches that fit real work conditions
  • Wanting to deepen their practice without taking on more pressure

Whether you’re experiencing burnout, re‑examining your approach, or simply want to reconnect with why you do this work, this event offers a grounded, supportive space to learn and reflect.

Register Now

Why Helpers Choose CTRI

“I [liked] the ease of the presentation style and attentiveness to participants.”

Brenda Bercovitch, Lester B. Pearson school board member

“Nathan is a great facilitator . . . I loved how interactive [the training] felt and the breakout discussions.”

Amy Jones, YWCA Muskoka

“CTRI was very flexible and worked hard to find trainers to work with us on the only four days we had available for our staff to attend training.”

Jessica Tait, Nine Circles Community Health Centre

Learn from experienced clinicians who blend traditional wisdom with contemporary therapeutic practices.

Meet Your Faciliators

Joddie Walker, MSC, RP

Clinical Director

As CTRI’s Clinical Director, Joddie (she/her) oversees the development of our trainings. She provides clinical guidance to ensure the materials embody trauma-informed principles and are consistent with our values. Joddie also has her own private practice, where she supports people of all ages through grief, loss, stress,…
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Nathan Gerbrandt

MSW, RSW

Nathan is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of CTRI and ACHIEVE. He holds a Master of Social Work degree and is the author of the CTRI Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder workshop and resources. Before coming to CTRI, Nathan implemented treatment and rehabilitation planning for repeat offenders with an FASD diagnosis.
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Melanie Bazin, MSW, RSW

Director of Indigenous Services

Niigaani Makade Makwa Ikwe, Ma’iingan doodem (Leading Black Bear Woman, Wolf Clan) Melanie (she/her) is the Director of Indigenous Services at CTRI. She works alongside the leadership team to envision the future of our organization and provide direction for our training services. She has a passion for decolonizing…
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Reserve Your Space

Seats are limited.

Join us to learn, connect, and build more sustainable, trauma-informed ways of working together.

CTRI summit blue bar with wave lines divider