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Certificate in trauma counselling for mental health professionals: Level 2 advanced clinical training
Advance your clinical expertise with cutting-edge trauma interventions and practical strategies for complex trauma recovery.
The Certificate in trauma counselling for mental health professionals: Level 2 is an advanced clinical training designed for professionals who provide psychotherapy and counselling to clients who have experienced traumatic exposures.
Building on foundational trauma concepts, this training provides deeper exploration of clinical attachment processes, trauma assessment, case conceptualization, treatment planning, and advanced therapeutic approaches for trauma-related conditions.
Participants will develop a structured clinical framework for working with trauma, moving from understanding relational dynamics within the therapeutic relationship to conducting trauma-informed assessments, developing case formulations, and implementing advanced treatment strategies.
The program introduces key therapeutic approaches including polyvagal-informed interventions and ego state therapies, such as schema therapy and structural dissociation models, providing clinicians with practical strategies for supporting clients experiencing complex trauma presentations.
This training is designed as an applied clinical learning experience, incorporating lectures, breakout discussions, dyads, and experiential practice opportunities that allow participants to engage directly with the theories and therapeutic models presented.
Program learning objectives:
- Understanding the role of clinical attachment as the foundation of safety in trauma therapy
- Recognizing transference reactions in clients with PTSD and managing the risks of negative countertransference responses
- Applying structured trauma assessment approaches to guide case conceptualization and treatment planning
- Developing individualized treatment formulation strategies for trauma-related presentations
- Applying polyvagal-informed therapeutic approaches to support regulation of the autonomic nervous system
- Understanding and applying ego state therapeutic approaches including schema therapy and structural dissociation models
This program is offered as an open module series, allowing the flexibility to register for any of the five individual modules or the entire series, depending on your learning objectives. Whether you choose to join one module or all five, this series aims to provide advanced knowledge and practical clinical skills in trauma counselling.
Individual modules
Module 1: Transference and countertransference in trauma therapy – Understanding therapeutic attachment dynamics and managing countertransference in trauma work.
When: January 25, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Learning objectives:
- The manifestation of transferences and countertransferences
- “Use of self” as an approach and yet the challenges and even risks with this approach
- The historical evolution to the understanding of countertransference as a concept
- Overview of Transference Reactions and PTSD
- Overview of Countertransference Reactions – Type 1 & 2
- The benefits and messiness of empathy in the clinical work from a TR/CTR lens
- Empathic Strain including withdrawal, repression, enmeshment, disequilibrium and overidentification
- Power of healthy clinical attachment from a TR/CTR perspective
- Trauma Reenactment Syndrome
- The countertransference “traps” in the treatment of trauma
- Overview of strategies for the helping professional to recognize, contain & heal event counter-transferences
Module 2: Stabilization, trauma assessment, and treatment planning – Structured assessment approaches for PTSD and developing individualized trauma treatment plans.
When: January 26, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Learning objectives:
- Addictive behaviours as adaptive responses to trauma
- Where addiction and trauma intersect neurobiologically
- Stabilization of addictive behaviours, and other symptoms as Phase One for trauma work.
- Introduction of the clinical assessment process in trauma treatment
- Introduction of structured assessment tool for symptom severity, degree of dissociation, avoidances, and physical symptoms
- Histogram mapping
- Traumagram mapping
- Pulling it all together to create a case conceptualization/formulation
- Developing the “Problem list” for individualized treatment planning
Module 3: Introduction to polyvagal theory and clinical applications in trauma treatment – Applying polyvagal theory to understand autonomic nervous system responses and support regulation in trauma treatment
When: February 1 and 2, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Learning objectives:
- Three organizing principles of polyvagal theory
- Understanding the adaptive response patterns to safety, danger and life-threat
- Applying the three autonomic nervous states of polyvagal theory within the stage one treatment of trauma in practice
- Integrating the polyvagal mapping process into practice
- Applying polyvagal strategies to shift autonomic states
- Mapping out the nervous system
- Exploring triggers to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) triggers
- Developing a resourcing planning for the ANS
- Exercises that strengthen the ventral vagal nerve
Module 4: Working with dissociative parts of the self in trauma therapy – Understanding dissociation and applying ego state approaches to support integration.
When: February 8, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Learning objectives:
- Conceptualizing inner states
- Singular vs. split subconscious states
- Dissociation as a division of the personality
- Dissociative parts of personality
- The role of “phobic reactions” within parts
- Understanding the “self-protective” roles of different parts or ego states including shame
- Tools to support relationship with fragmented ego state/parts of one’s inner world, foster a means to integration, inner coherence, regulation, and the capacity for self-soothing
- Treatment interventions for overcoming the phobia of dissociative parts
- Specific interactive strategies and exercises working with ego state parts
Module 5: Schema therapy for trauma and PTSD – Applying schema-based approaches to shift maladaptive coping patterns in trauma recovery.
When: February 9, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Learning objectives:
- Schema therapy: concept model
- Schema assessment
- Schema model mapping
- Altering behavioural patterns of the child, inner critic, and coping modes.
- Cognitive techniques
- Imagery experiential strategies
- Building the healthy adult mode
- The therapy relationship
Equip yourself with essential skills to confidently assess, formulate, and treat trauma survivors. Register now to elevate your trauma-informed practice and improve client outcomes.
Live webinar series
January 25, 26, February 1, 2, 8 and 9, 2027 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET
Ian Robertson, MSW, RSW
