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The Reach
Hurting Kids
Workshop

Children's Ministry Trauma Training

Train your own team with our research-based curriculum!

Kids are struggling like never before. Anxiety, depression, suicidality, trauma, behavioral problems. There’s no way around it. To be relevant in a broken world, we need to reach hurting kids.

That’s why we created the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop, an engaging, evidence-based curriculum that allows you to teach your own team how to:

  • Minister to kids from hard places
  • De-escalate behavioral problems
  • Teach all kids more effectively
  • Create safe, life-changing small groups

Kids are struggling like never before. Anxiety, depression, suicidality, trauma, behavioral problems. There’s no way around it. To be relevant in a broken world, we need to reach hurting kids.

That’s why we created the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop, an engaging, evidence-based curriculum that allows you to teach your own team how to:

  • Minister to kids from hard places
  • De-escalate behavioral problems
  • Teach all kids more effectively
  • Create safe, life-changing small groups

Listen to a real-life testimonial!

Questions & Answers

Absolutely! In 2022, researchers at California Baptist University conducted a study evaluating the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop in sixteen church congregations. After completing Module 1 (“How Trauma Affects the Kids We Love and What to Do About It”) and Module 2 (“Discipline: Obstacle or Opportunity”), participants had a significantly better understanding of trauma and were statistically more likely to respond supportively to problem behaviors. Two months later, almost everyone shared specific stories about how the workshop improved their ministry.




Furthermore, in a 2023 pilot study, children reported significantly higher levels of received church-based social support three months after their small group leaders completed Module 4 of the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop (“How to Create a Life-Changing Small Group”).

The workshop is divided into four modules. Each module is designed to take about 75 minutes. We recommend keeping your team after church, providing lunch, and then going through one module. (The workshop is so engaging that the time just flies by.) Then do another module about three months later, which will give each module time to sink in, and it won’t feel overwhelming. This will provide you with a full year’s worth of team development materials.

Nope. We give you the videos, the worksheets, and the activity instructions. All you have to do is follow the manual. It’s just like the children’s ministry curriculum you’re used to. If you can teach a Sunday school class, you can lead the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop.

Not necessarily. In our research study, we compared workshops that were led by a trauma expert with workshops led by a children’s pastor. Both groups used our curriculum. It turned out that the pastor-led workshops were about 90% as effective as the expert-led workshops. In other words, doing it yourself is almost as good, and it is way less expensive than hiring someone to come to your church.

The standard license allows you to train staff and volunteers within your organization (e.g., church congregation) an unlimited number of times in perpetuity. In other words, you can lead the workshop over and over again as often as you’d like. There is no subscription fee or additional cost as long as you are only training individuals within your organization.

Childhood trauma is shockingly common, even among “good Christian families.” Research conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 2 out of 3 kids will experience at least one potentially traumatic event before their 18th birthday. Tragically, suicide attempts among children aged 10 to 12 increased 450% from 2000 to 2020. And childhood anxiety and depression doubled during COVID-19, with 1 in 4 experiencing clinical depression and 1 in 3 experiencing severe anxiety. Chances are, you have kids in your ministry right now who are struggling with trauma and associated mental illness.

However, it’s important to note that trauma-informed strategies aren’t just helpful for kids who have experienced trauma. They are best practice for all kids. The Reach Hurting Kids Workshop will help all your kids engage in the ministry, learn more, build supportive relationships, and draw closer to God!

The Reach Hurting Kids Workshop was developed by Robert Crosby, Ph.D., a research psychologist with nearly 30 years of children’s ministry experience, Lori Crosby, MFT, RPT-S, a registered play therapist who specializes in treating childhood trauma, Erin Smith, Ph.D., a cognitive developmental psychologist, instructional design expert Torria Davis, Ph.D, and children’s pastor Kayla Smith. Robert and Lori Crosby are co-authors of Trauma-Informed Children’s Ministry: A Practical Guide to Reaching Hurting Kids.

This video provides an in-depth demonstration of the Reach Hurting Kids Workshop training materials. Learn exactly what you get when you buy the workshop and how everything works.

Empower your team to change the lives of the hurting kids in your community!

Module Descriptions

Module 1

How Trauma Affects the Kids We Love and What to Do About It

$199  LIFETIME LICENSE

Make sense of the most frustrating, confusing, and heartbreaking child behaviors, and discover practical, research-based strategies to help children who have experienced trauma heal and succeed at church.

  • Realize the widespread impact of trauma.
  • Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma in the children’s ministry.
  • Respond to children’s needs in a way that helps them heal and succeed at church.

Theme Verse: Psalm 34:18

The curriculum includes a PowerPoint presentation with fully-animated embedded videos, a printable presenter’s manual (.pdf), printable participant workbooks (.pdf), a template for creating four “Signs & Symptoms of Trauma” posters (.pdf), and bonus materials for promoting your workshop. The module takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

Module 2

Discipline: Obstacle or Opportunity

$199  LIFETIME LICENSE

Use discipline problems as an opportunity to create a more supportive ministry environment, strengthen relationships, and minister to hurting kids who express their pain through their behavior.

  • Identify specific ways that you can create a more supportive ministry environment.
  • Create a strategic plan to build a relationship with a struggling child.
  • Apply trauma-informed discipline strategies to behavioral problems in your ministry.

Theme Verse: Psalm 103:8-10

The curriculum includes a PowerPoint presentation with fully-animated embedded videos, a printable presenter’s manual (.pdf), printable participant workbooks (.pdf), five printable “Ministry Area” posters (.pdf), and bonus materials for promoting your workshop. The module takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

Module 3

Reaching and Teaching Hurting Kids

$199  LIFETIME LICENSE

Recognize the trauma in the learning environment, minister through teaching, and apply teaching strategies that reduce behavior problems, increase engagement, and help struggling kids succeed.

  • Recognize the impact of trauma in the learning environment.
  • Examine three principles of trauma-informed teaching in the children’s ministry.
  • Evaluate the benefits of trauma-informed teaching strategies.

Theme Verse: 1 Cor. 13:13

The curriculum includes a PowerPoint presentation with fully-animated embedded videos, a printable presenter’s manual (.pdf), printable participant workbooks (.pdf), a printable “Signs & Pages” document (.pdf), and bonus materials for promoting your workshop. The module takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

Module 4

Creating a Life-Changing Small Group

$199  LIFETIME LICENSE

Understand what it takes to create a life-changing small group, implement step-by-step small group leadership strategies, and foster intimacy, healing, and growth within a community of faith.

  • Distinguish the features and benefits of a life-changing small group.
  • Diagram a five-point strategy for leading a life-changing small group.
  • Demonstrate a brief check-in routine using follow-up questions that foster intimacy, healing, and growth.

Theme Verse: Galatians 6:2

he curriculum includes a PowerPoint presentation with fully-animated embedded videos, a printable presenter’s manual (.pdf), printable participant workbooks (.pdf), four printable “Facts, Opinions, & Feelings” posters (.pdf), and bonus materials for promoting your workshop. The module takes approximately 75 minutes to complete.

The Reach Hurting

Kids Workshop

Modules 1-4 Bundle

$499  LIFETIME LICENSE

4 previews of video modules in the reach hurting kids workshop

Empower your staff and volunteers with a year’s worth of world-class ministry team training materials. With the Module 1-4 bundle, you will receive:

  • All four easy-to-deliver modules
  • Start-to-finish leader facilitator guide
  • PowerPoint presentation (.pptx) embedded with high-quality fully-animated teaching videos
  • Printable participant workbooks for interactive group learning activities

Get more information

Not ready to buy? Fill out this form to receive a printable .pdf with more information to share with your leadership team.