The Neuroscience of Trauma:
How trauma is held in the body and mind
- When acute trauma turns into PTSD and the difference with complex PTSD
- Early attachment wounds and the patterning of the nervous system
- How transgenerational trauma, collective trauma, and epigenetics shapes the autonomic nervous system
Assessment and Differential Diagnosis:
Address co-morbidities in trauma treatment
- How trauma might underlie other presenting diagnosis
- Differentiation between bipolar, ADHD, major depressive disorder, personality disorders and trauma
- How the autonomic nervous system shapes the health of our immune system
Applied Polyvagal Theory to Trauma Treatment:
Resource the client’s nervous system
- Psychoeducation on how the nervous system is wired to keep us safe
- Key assessment tools for the applied polyvagal theory model
- Strategies for co-regulation as a biological imperative
- Strategies for proximity awareness and relational resourcing
10 Natural Vagus Nerve Stimulation Techniques
Promote regulation, relaxation, and calmness in the body
- Promote regulation, relaxation, and calmness in the body
- Enhance the tone of the vagus nerve to improve health outcomes
- How heart rate variability (HRV) is related to stress management
- Ways to measure health of the autonomic nervous system
- How fascia or the connective tissue matrix is essential for mind-body communications
- Conscious breathing for stress reduction
An Embodied Path for Trauma Recovery
Apply somatic and body psychotherapy principles
- Safely prepare clients for the deeper work of trauma recovery with mindbody resourcing strategies
- Bilateral stimulation techniques for brain-body integration
- Help a client safely work through traumatic material at a pace they can tolerate
- Research, risks, and treatment limitations
Consider Client’s Internal Systems to Overcome Treatment Barriers
- Navigate “resistant” parts of a client’s inner system
- Attend to competing biological needs for closeness and separateness
- Polyvagal perspectives on approachavoidance attachment dynamics
- Work mindfully with rupture and repair cycles
Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery
Apply the principles of polyvagal theory with mind-body awareness
- Intersection of neuroplasticity research applied to trauma treatment
- Facilitate trauma sensitive mindfulness practices
- Strategies for self-compassion and loving kindness
- The science of neuroplasticity as applied to mindful mobilization
- Trauma-informed meditation and yoga nidra practices
- Empower growth post-trauma and help clients build resilience


