The certified Trauma specialist program
About the program
For five years The International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching has been offering courses to those wishing to become Trauma Recovery Coaches. Lately, we’ve had people ask for a certification course for those who don’t want to coach, but that still offers the high-quality education about trauma and how it impacts individuals that the Association is known for and has a track record of providing.
In response to those requests, the Association is launching its Certified Trauma Specialist program in January of 2023. These courses are specifically designed to provide students who don’t wish to offer healing interventions, but who instead wish to incorporate a knowledge of trauma into their existing profession – teachers and other school staff members, clergy people and church staff, non-profit agency staff, those who work in medical and dental offices…the list is limitless.
Sadly, trauma surrounds us everywhere. If your business serves people, it serves trauma survivors. Knowing how to best support your customers and create policies, procedures and processes that make you able to serve them more effectively is what the Certified Trauma Specialist course is all about
What You Will Learn:
The definition of trauma, its subtypes, and classifications, including moral injury
The biological aftereffects of trauma on the brain, nervous system and the body systemically including Polyvagal Theory
The psychological aftereffects of trauma
The emotional aftereffects of trauma
The relational aftereffects of trauma
The Parish Trauma Response Model – a framework for how people respond to and recover from trauma
The intersection of trauma, attachment and childhood psychosocial development
Healthy and toxic shame
Somatic trauma responses including Fear and Shame Adaptation
Understanding and de-pathologizing trauma coping strategies
Intergenerational trauma
Understanding the multi-dimensionality of trauma survivors, being able to understand trauma in the context of social, gender, racial, ethnic and historical frameworks
Relationship rupture and repair in the context of trauma
What is trauma informed care and how can you incorporate it into your business’ policies, procedures and processes as well as understanding the needs of your clients who are trauma survivors
How to work with trauma survivors safely
How to remain centered, grounded and anchored in your work which benefits you as well as the clients you work with who have experienced trauma
Some of our Certified Trauma Specialist course instructors have included additional specialized areas of knowledge into their classes – such as Parts Work, Racial Trauma and Mindful Self-Compassion. Please see the individual course descriptions for those additional elements.
Content and Technology
All of the courses are offered online.
Who is teaching these courses?
The Association has accredited a group of our most qualified coaches to teach these courses. Not only are they coaches credentialed as Supervisors, our highest level of coaching certification, but they have years of experience working in the field of trauma. Please see their individual course descriptions and corresponding websites for information about them and their specific qualifications.
When are these courses being offered?
Each course instructor has chosen a time and date for their course. Please see the individual listings for each course to choose one that best fits your schedule. There are courses offered throughout the week, during different times of the day.
How long does the course last?
Most courses are ten weeks long, meeting once a week. But some courses that are offering additional specialized information are longer. Please see the different descriptions for each course. No matter how long they are, each course offers the same basic content described above and results in the same Certified Trauma Specialist credential.
What is the cost?
The course tuition has been set by each individual instructor. Please see the individual course descriptions for the cost.
What are the certification requirements?
Each course has required reading and homework. The Association requires specific homework assignments and that you read both Bessel Van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score and Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving. Your individual instructor may have additional homework and reading requirements. Those should be specified on their individual websites.
After you have completed the course, your instructor will let the Association know that you have completed all your homework to a satisfactory level and paid your tuition in full. Then you will take an examination through the Association, which you must pass with a score of at least 80%.
After you meet those three requirements you will be credentialed as a Certified Trauma Specialist. Your credential will come from The International Association of Trauma Recovery Coaching, not the individual instructor.
Once you are credentialed you will be listed on our new directory of Certified Trauma Specialists.
Your credential will be good for two years. If you wish to renew your credential you must obtain 15 hours of Continuing Education credits, complete a Code of Ethics Review and pay a certification renewal fee of $50.
You can review the Certified Trauma Specialist Code of Ethics and the Guiding Principles.
Limitations with the Certified Trauma Specialist credential
The Certified Trauma Specialist course gives an individual an in depth knowledge of trauma, the various forms that it takes, how it might impact an individual as well as ways that this information can be integrated into a career or business in order to provide trauma informed services. You may offer trauma informed interactions, psychoeducation and formulate policies and procedures that are trauma informed in your and other’s businesses.
For example, if one is a teacher they can use their certification as a Trauma Specialist to make their classroom experience more trauma informed as well as having the ability to understand the behaviors and responses of their students through a trauma informed lens.
If one is a business owner, they can use their certification as a Trauma Specialist to develop policies and procedures that make it safer and easier for trauma survivors to access their services, as well as understanding why some of their customers may have the needs and responses they do in interacting with your business.
However, certification as a Trauma Specialist does not give you skills to serve as an interventional helping professional in any manner. You may not use it to coach, treat or help a trauma survivor heal in any capacity. This would be a breach of the Certified Trauma Specialist Code of Ethics and could jeopardize your credential. If you wish to offer interventions you should enroll in our Certified Trauma Recovery Coaching course. You can access that course here.
If you complete the Certified Trauma Specialist course and decide you wish to continue on with your education through the Association to get your coaching credential you may join our Certified Trauma Recovery Coaching Course for a reduced tuition rate of $1650. We will make a link available to complete that registration to you after you have enrolled in your CTS course.
Registering for a Certified Trauma Specialist Course
After you review the available courses, you may register for the one that best meets your needs. When you register you will pay a non-refundable deposit equaling 25% of the cost of the course. The Association will collect initial registration information from you, ask you to complete our course agreement (which you can review here) and invite you into our learning platform, Mighty Networks. From there your instructor will contact you and provide you with information specific to your course, set up remaining payments and request any additional information they might need from you.
Questions?
If you have general questions about the Certified Trauma Specialist, you may reach out to Bobbi Parish, MA, CTRC-S at Bobbiparish@iaotrc.com.
If you have questions about specific courses, please reach out to the instructor. Their contact information is on their website.
available cts programs:
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Cost: $2,000
Course: Tuesdays at 7pm EST starting 1/23/24
As a seasoned instructor with the IAOTRC since 2018, Jennifer has been mentoring, instructing and guiding budding trauma recovery coaches to bring trauma responsive and informed care out into the world. Jennifer's CTS course offers an inclusive space which includes the course description, combining additional lenses of shame, codependency, and addiction, taught within the framework of attachment trauma, nervous system capacity, somatic/emotional health and brain science.
The protective nature of shame always follows trauma. Codependency and addiction are adaptive responses to trauma, with shame ever-present.
Within developmental trauma, shame is the great protector and trauma survivors carry internalized toxic shame into adulthood, relationships, and into the workplace. It can show up as self-sabotage, perfectionism and discomfort personally and professionally.
Jennifer's credentials include being a Certified Trauma Recovery Coach Supervisor, Certified Healing Shame Practitioner, Trauma Informed Certified Coach, Certified Life Coach, also having completed courses on Trauma & Addiction with Dr. Stephanie Covington, Somatic Embodiment with Dr. Linda Thai, Trauma Research Foundations course in Traumatic Stress Studies, Trauma & Attachment with ATTCH, and IFS & Polyvagal Intro & Advanced, IFS-Cycle of Addictions with Dr. Alexia Rothman. Additionally, Jennifer coaches privately, and has created educational and coaching programs to work with trauma and addiction groups.
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Cost: $2,000
Course: Thursdays at 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm EST starting May 9 - July 25, 2024
Amy Lloyd’s Certified Trauma Specialist training brings you the full content from the course description while also bringing intuitive instruction and awareness of the process of reconnecting to authentic self. We begin by identifying your type through a physiology-based identification system, what that means for you in terms of personal strengths and how the system supports authentic reconnection.
From there, Amy’s 4 Pillars Foundation Model offers specific tools and a step-by-step guide that can be used to support deep and lasting reconnection to self. It is from that place of reconnection and authenticity, that deep healing becomes more accessible in a safe and sustainable way, minimizing flooding, overwhelm and shutdown.
Additionally, taking a zoomed out, big picture approach, you will learn what the spectrum of trauma is and how it impacts lives. From this 30,000-foot view, we are able to see both the roots and pervasiveness of trauma, including how it silently weaves throughout families and cultures, often attacking one’s very identity.
Amy’s knack for questioning everything and intuitively rebelling against the status quo bolster her work as a coach and educator. You too will learn to recognize and strengthen your own intuition, to honor your body’s brilliant wisdom and to stand in your truth with confidence.
It is Amy’s vision that every individual realizes their own potential so that collectively we may transform our world into the magical place of endless possibilities she knows it to be. With curiosity, equity, beauty, authenticity and loads of fun creativity, this training will help you hold the both / and. Trauma is painful and we can still feel joy. Trauma is heavy and we can bring a lightness in our energy. People suffer and people experience mind blowing love, excitement and success.
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Cost: $2200
Course: Thursdays at 10 am EST starting March 28 - May 30, 2024
Julia’s Certified Trauma Specialist course follows the course description as well as incorporates a resilience and strength based approach to advocacy, peer and community support. Informed by interpersonal neurobiology and Polyvagal Theory, we will explore both the impacts of trauma AND the potential to promote healing within supportive relationships and communities when we are trauma informed and equipped to resource ourselves and one another.
Julia is a Supervisor at the IAOTRC, a Victims Advocate for sexual assault survivors, a 1-1 Trauma Recovery Coach, as well as a co-creator of trauma informed educational programs.
In addition to her IAOTRC certifications, Julia has also pursued continuing education on Polyvagal Theory (Stephen Porges), Trauma in the Body & Memory (Bessel van der Kolk), IFS (Frank Anderson and Richard Schwartz) and has additional experience working with survivors of Spiritual Abuse/Cults as well as those who have experienced Childhood and/or Adult Sexual Assault.
This course will assist you in developing a trauma informed lens, enabling you to create safer environments in the spaces that you move though. We aim to better prepare you to understand the people you work with, live with, and even yourself.
Julia co-instructs this course with Achara Tarfa.
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Cost: $2,000
Course: Wednesdays at 12pm - 1:30pm EST running 5/8/24 through 7/21/24
In this comprehensive course you’ll learn about Trauma:
- What it is and the aftereffects
- The signs and symptoms:
- How trauma impacts children, and the developing brain
- How trauma imprints on our own personal identity, and our biology
- The backlash of trauma: How it impresses on our capacity to handle our emotions and relate to others.
- Generational trauma – How trauma is passed down
- Understanding shame, the multi-focal aftereffects
This training is for you if,
- You were physically or emotionally neglected as a child
- You were abused: physically, emotionally, sexually, financially, or spiritually
- You’re a parent and want to raise emotionally intelligent children; happy, heathy, content human beings
- You want to break the chains of intergenerational trauma
- The trauma of your childhood has left you feeling broken, abandoned, and disconnected from your own sense of self; if you feel you have no idea who you truly are
- You have a toxic family or come from an unstable home
- You were forced to grow up young and feel your emotional maturity took a blow
- You’re truly exhausted and think there’s no escape
- If you’re an executive, a business owner, in management, or community leadership and want to learn about trauma, to understand it, to gain the knowledge needed to support healthy teams, (staff members, students, clients, patients), navigate the daily emotional highs and lows, manage conflict, and incorporate healthy skills in the workplace.
This could include:
- Leaders in the community
- Doctors or wellness providers
- Civic organizations\societies
- Law enforcement or crisis services
- Teachers, Professors or Coaches of all modalities
At the completion of this course, you will be a Certified Trauma Specialist. This designation is a valuable addition to your current education and/or training and will set you apart from others. It will also enable you to move forward in a healthier way, support your teams, co-workers, clients, friends and loved ones.
There is a way to fearlessly move forward, and you don’t have to do it alone.
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Cost: $2200
Course: Thursdays at 10 am EST starting March 28 - May 30, 2024
Achara’s Certified Trauma Specialist Class will include all of the general information stated in the course description with an additional deep dive into accessing Self- Energy while living with the aftereffects of trauma on a daily basis. All material taught in class will be examined through the lens of Self Energy and Mindful Self Compassion, specifically how trauma affects your relationship to Self, others, and the world around you. This class is designed as an interactive learning experience with skills gained through using tools like curiosity and compassion to support you in personal and professional environments. Achara is not only certified as a Supervisor level trauma recovery coach, received Group Certification training, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders, but has taken courses from Dr. Kristen Neff and Dr. Chris Germer on Mindful Self-Compassion & Shame, the IFS Institute on Internal Family Systems, Dr. Dan Siegel on Interpersonal Neurobiology, Deb Dana, LSCW on Polyvagal Theory applied to trauma, and Linda Thai, LMSW on Somatic Embodiment & Resilience. She has personally been selected to receive 1:1 demonstrations with Dr. Gabor Mate founder of Compassionate Inquiry and Dr. Richard Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems with whom she attends a consultation group through the IFS Institute.
Achara is a former student advisor to the Provost of Multi-Cultural Affairs at Auburn University, a current 6-time panelist for the Trauma Research Foundation’s Book Club, serves as a two term elected supervisor to her local district where she brings a trauma-informed voice to local policy, and a board member of PATH, an IFS informed addiction & recovery global online support group. She is also pursuing her Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher Trainer Certification, Level 1 IFS training, and is Co-Creator of a new IAOTRC course on Polyvagal Theory, Parts Work, and Mindful Self-Compassion with IAOTRC founder Bobbi Parish.
Achara co-instructs this course with Julia Pishko.
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Cost: $1900
Course: Wednesdays - 7pm -8:30pm EST running 1/31/24 - 4/3/24
Alinda Quinn CTRC-S will deliver the CTS course with vigor and enthusiasm as someone who has found her calling in helping trauma survivors and those who serve them. With strength areas such as adult children of toxic parents and survivors of child abuse and neglect, Alinda incorporates creative lessons with open-ended activities to structure the course. This class will be taught through a trauma lens with plenty of opportunities to explore a variety of experiences relevant to those affected by trauma. The focus will be on providing trauma informed modalities for use in the students' personal and professional lives. Alinda has worked in a leadership and mentoring position for the IAOTRC for over two years and has taken many continuing education courses to improve her own understanding of trauma and all its implications. These courses included the Mother Wound, Shame, Creative Writing and Trauma, Domestic Violence, and Suicide Prevention. She has taught workshops and CE courses in topics such as Emotional Literacy, the Inner Critic, and Gaslighting. In addition to being a certified supervisor and trauma coach, she has earned a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in English.