Phase Oriented Trauma Treatment Program

Course Description

Do you find yourself struggling to know where to start when creating a treatment plan with your clients who have significant trauma histories and/or multiple co-occurring diagnoses and/or behaviors of coping?

Perhaps your client is on the waitlist to see trauma specialist, and you have agreed to work with them in the interim? ….and in the meantime, you have agreed to be a bridge for your client until their new therapist has openings on their schedule.

Perhaps you’ve gotten trained in a trauma treatment modality (such as Brainspotting, EMDR, IFS, Havening Technique, or Flash Technique, to name a few), and you aren’t quite sure when and/or how to use these powerful modalities within the context of someone’s overall healing journey.

Phase-oriented treatment is an approach to therapy that addresses domains of functioning impacted by developmental trauma in a sequential manner, emphasizing establishment of client safety and coping prior to working directly with traumatic memories.

In a 2011 survey conducted by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Complex Trauma Task Force regarding best practices for the treatment of complexpost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), “84% of the PTSD experts endorsed a phase based or sequenced therapy as the most appropriate treatment approach with interventions tailored to specific symptom sets” (Cloitre et al, 2011).

This phase-oriented approach is a process that allows for the creative use of various treatment modalities and interventions. It also prevents us from glossing over an often over-looked aspect of the therapeutic journey: grief, personality integration and renewal of identity, meaning and purpose.

By learning how to incorporate this phase-oriented approach into treatment planning, you will be able to plan for and navigate your professional development while maximizing client outcomes more effectively.

Objectives

• Apply the Phase-Oriented Trauma Treatment approach to addressing the sequalae of developmental trauma symptoms to your clients
• Apply four approaches to Phase One: Symptoms Stabilization and Resourcing
• Become knowledgeable in four approaches to Phase Two: Re-processing Trauma Memories
• Recognize the importance of grief to Phase Three: Integration and Rehabilitation
• Gain three Phase One skills that you can use immediately to enhance treatment outcomes