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ForwardFrom Complex Trauma to Dissociative Disorders | Lovern 2025
This course was created to give clinicians a solid education in how to identify and work with complex trauma and dissociation. The first part of this course covers guidelines for treatment and how to fulfill those guidelines in the process of therapy. Students will learn how to recognize the signs of complex trauma and dissociation, and understand the effects of trauma on the development and functioning of adult clients. They will be taught the relevant assessment tools to use, and how to structure therapy to be most effective for clients with all levels of traumatic experiences. Students will also learn how working with traumatic material challenges both client and therapist, and how to meet the relational challenges that may emerge in therapy. Special features that are common with dissociative clients will be covered, along with the skills necessary for the successful treatment of dissociation in clients. The course includes literature review and discussion, lecture and the explorations of a teaching case, “The Case of Harold.”
The second part of this course is a continuation of the Part I course. This course covers opening treatment of dissociative disorders, disorganized attachment, neurobiology, self (ego) states, treatment and techniques, self-care, suicidality and self-injury, affect and sensate regulation, and integration techniques. Students must be prepared to discuss theories as applied to the treatment of their own client. Each student will be expected to select one or two clients to discuss in class. The case of Harold used in Part I may also be utilized during class discussions.
Course Format: 16 sessions Live Teleseminar; 2.5 hour sessions each.
Course Dates: Thursdays, "2025: Apr 10, Apr 24, May 8, May 22, Jun 5, Jul 17, Jul 31, Aug 14, Aug 28, Sep 11, Sep 25, Oct 9, Oct 23, Nov 6, Nov 20, Dec 4
Meeting Time: 5:30 PM-8:00 PM US Eastern Time
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Course Completion Requirements
Course completion requires live attendance, participation in sessions, and completion of session and overall evaluations. APA and ASWB credit cannot be awarded for watching the recording of a session. Please be advised that all courses have a course closure date, which is the last day of the month following the last session. All requirements must be completed by the course closure date. At that time, the course will no longer be accessible to participants who have pending tasks and credit cannot be retrieved at a later date.
APA: Participants must attend all sessions live (at least 50 minutes of every 60 minutes | For a 2.5 hour session participants must be present for at least 125 minutes out of the full 150 minutes). APA Credit is not awarded for any missed sessions, nor for partial attendance that does not satisfy the aforementioned criteria. Credit will only be awarded for individual sessions in which live attendance requirements are successfully met and session evaluations are complete. At the end of the course, certificates will be automatically populated upon the completion of the final overall course evaluation.
ASWB: Participants must attend all live sessions (at least 50 minutes of every 60 minutes | For a 2.5 hour session participants must be present for at least 125 minutes out of 150 minutes). If you are absent for an individual session or do not meet the aforementioned criteria, you are no longer eligible to earn ASWB credit at the completion of the course. *ASWB participants must be present and meet minute criteria for every single session throughout the course. ASWB certificates are manually processed by ISSTD staff and will be awarded via email approximately two weeks after the course closure date.
ISSTD Certificate Program: Participants must attend 12 out of 16 sessions (at least 50 minutes of every 60 minutes | For a 2.5 hour session participants must be present for at least 125 minutes out of 150 minutes). Those who attend the required number of sessions will be awarded 30 ISSTD Certificate Program credits. No certificate is awarded for certificate program credits.
For additional course policies please visit this page.
Target Audience
Licensed mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, mental health counselors, accredited psychotherapists, etc.) who are interested in developing their skills in treating clients with complex trauma and dissociative disorders.
This course content is at the beginning/intermediate level.
Additional Information
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 From Complex Trauma to Dissociative Disorders Updated 2024 Syllabus.pdf | 405.05 KB |
John Lovern, PhD
Email: [email protected]
John Lovern is a clinical psychologist licensed in California since 1977, currently working for the Atlanta, Georgia Veterans Healthcare System focusing on Trauma, Stress, and Anxiety. He received his bachelors degree in psychology from the University of California in Berkeley and his MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut when Julian Rotter was program chair. Before moving to Georgia, he served as professor and coordinator of the Human Services Program at Allan Hancock College for 18 years. Early in his career he worked for the State of California, for the Veterans Administration, for several private hospitals as a clinical supervisor and clinical director, and finally in private practice. He has published one book, several book chapters, and a number of journal articles, and he has made professional presentations nationally and internationally. He is trained in Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and extensively in clinical hypnosis, a portion of which he received from Milton Erickson, M.D. He has extensive clinical experience with persons who have substance use disorders, dissociative disorders, PTSD, and eating disorders, and he is strongly interested in consciousness and states of being. He has actively treated persons with dissociative identity disorder since 1990.
Fees for in-person and teleseminar courses include continuing education (CE) credits. Continuing education credits are available for all teleseminar courses as well as US and Canada-based in-person courses.
Please note that APA certificates will automatically populate upon the completion of the course. ASWB certificates are manually processed by staff and will be sent to eligible participants approximately two weeks after the course closure date.
Available Credit
- 40.00 APAThe International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- 40.00 ASWB ACEThe International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD), #1744, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 08/20/2024 – 08/20/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 40.00 continuing education credits.
- 40.00 ISSTD Certificate ProgramThis program is eligible for 40.00 credits in the ISSTD Certificate Program. No certificate of completion is generated for this type of credit.
Price
"Your Price" above reflects your final price based on your membership status.
ISSTD Cancellation Policy: Cancellations will only be accepted up to 14 days prior to the first course session. Cancellations are subject to a $45 cancellation fee plus the cost of copyrighted materials. The course fee is not refundable if you withdraw from the course less than 14 days before the start of the course. Once the course starts no new students can be accepted more than one week after the course begins. Please note that to receive ASWB ACE credit, all sessions must be attended. All materials used for this course are subject to copyright laws and are not for duplication or distribution by course participants. Fees must be submitted with registration, and must be submitted in US dollars.
The cost of the copyrighted materials for this course is $30.
Required Hardware/software
ISSTD uses Zoom for our live teleseminar courses. Information on system requirements can be found here. A guide to live teleseminar courses is available below and in each session of the course in the course portal.
