Trauma Processing Foundation Course

Lesson 1 • Trauma Across the Lifespan

Examines how developmental stage shapes trauma impact and presentation. Prepares practitioners to adapt assessment and treatment to age-specific needs.

Lesson 2 • Defining Trauma and Its Scope

Covers the clinical and experiential definitions of trauma across populations. Grounds subsequent chapters in shared terminology and conceptual clarity.

Lesson 3 • Trauma Typology and Classification

Differentiates trauma by origin, duration, and relational context. Enables accurate case conceptualisation before selecting interventions.

Lesson 1 • Standardised Trauma Screening Tools

Introduces validated self-report and clinician-administered screening instruments. Equips practitioners to select appropriate tools for diverse clinical settings.

Lesson 2 • Case Conceptualisation for Trauma

Integrates assessment data into a coherent trauma-informed case formulation. Bridges assessment findings to individualised treatment goals.

Lesson 3 • Risk and Safety Assessment

Addresses suicidality, self-harm, and dissociation risk within trauma populations. Ensures practitioners can triage safety before initiating processing work.

Lesson 4 • Core Trauma Symptom Clusters

Covers intrusion, avoidance, negative cognition, and hyperarousal symptom clusters. Links symptom patterns to the neurobiological mechanisms from Chapter 1.

Lesson 1 • Avoiding Retraumatisation

Identifies practitioner behaviours and system practices that inadvertently retraumatise clients. Provides concrete strategies to maintain a reparative environment.

Lesson 2 • Informed Consent and Ethical Practice

Covers consent processes specific to trauma treatment, including risks of processing. Ensures practitioners meet ethical and professional standards before beginning interventions.

Lesson 3 • Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Care

Introduces safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment as foundational pillars. Sets the ethical baseline for every intervention taught in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Internal Resourcing and Safe Place

Guides clients in developing internal positive resources and imagery anchors. Creates psychological reserves that buffer distress during later processing work.

Lesson 2 • The Stabilisation Phase Rationale

Explains why stabilisation precedes processing and how to assess readiness. Prevents premature exposure that could destabilise vulnerable clients.

Lesson 3 • Affect Regulation Skills

Covers breathing, progressive relaxation, and emotion labelling to modulate arousal. Builds the internal capacity clients need to tolerate processing sessions.

Lesson 4 • Grounding Techniques

Teaches sensory, cognitive, and somatic grounding methods for acute distress. Provides clients with immediate tools to return to the present moment.

Lesson 1 • Written Trauma Accounts and Impact Statements

Guides clients through structured written narratives to process traumatic events cognitively. Reduces avoidance and facilitates meaning-making through written exposure.

Lesson 2 • Consolidating Cognitive Gains

Covers techniques for reinforcing new beliefs and preventing cognitive relapse. Prepares clients to maintain cognitive shifts after formal treatment ends.

Lesson 3 • Challenging Sheets and Worksheets

Introduces structured worksheets that guide clients through belief examination between sessions. Extends cognitive work beyond the therapy hour for accelerated change.

Lesson 4 • Socratic Questioning for Trauma Beliefs

Teaches guided discovery questioning to examine evidence for trauma cognitions. Develops the practitioner's ability to challenge beliefs without invalidating experience.

Lesson 1 • Theoretical Basis of Exposure Therapy

Explains inhibitory learning, emotional processing theory, and extinction mechanisms. Provides the scientific rationale that guides all exposure-based decisions.

Lesson 2 • Written Exposure Therapy Protocol

Introduces a brief, structured written exposure approach for trauma processing. Offers an efficient alternative for clients with limited session availability.

Lesson 3 • Imaginal Exposure Techniques

Teaches structured imaginal revisiting of traumatic memories to reduce distress. Covers session structure, pacing, and processing of emotional responses.

Lesson 4 • In Vivo Exposure Planning

Guides practitioners in designing real-world exposure hierarchies for avoided situations. Translates in-session gains to functional recovery in daily life.

Lesson 1 • Somatic Theory in Trauma Treatment

Explains how trauma is encoded in the body and why talk therapy alone may be insufficient. Establishes the theoretical basis for somatic interventions introduced in this chapter.

Lesson 2 • Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness

Adapts mindfulness practices to avoid retraumatisation in trauma-affected clients. Provides a structured approach to present-moment awareness that supports processing.

Lesson 3 • Integrating Somatic Work into Sessions

Demonstrates how to weave somatic techniques into cognitive and exposure sessions. Ensures coherent, multimodal sessions rather than disconnected technique application.

Lesson 4 • Somatic Regulation Techniques

Covers breath-based, movement-based, and touch-based self-regulation strategies. Expands the practitioner's toolkit for clients who struggle with purely verbal approaches.

Lesson 1 • Termination and Transition Planning

Covers the therapeutic process of ending treatment and transitioning to ongoing support. Addresses separation anxiety and ensures continuity of care after discharge.

Lesson 2 • Relapse Prevention Planning

Teaches clients to identify triggers, warning signs, and coping responses for future stress. Produces a personalised relapse prevention plan before treatment termination.

Lesson 3 • Identity Integration After Trauma

Addresses how trauma disrupts self-concept and how processing restores coherent identity. Helps clients develop a survivor identity that incorporates but is not defined by trauma.

Lesson 4 • Measuring Outcomes and Treatment Effectiveness

Introduces outcome measurement practices to evaluate and communicate treatment effectiveness. Supports evidence-based practice and continuous quality improvement.