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ForwardThe Complexities of Complex Trauma | Sage 2025
Course Description
The first half of this course will focus on the etiology of chronic trauma, its clinical picture, tools of assessment, the phase oriented approach to trauma and treatment pitfalls and therapeutic alliance. The course is partly didactic, based on the assigned readings, and partly discussion of the “Case of Erica”, a teaching case which unfolds in a naturalistic progression over 4 classes.
The second half of this course then continues the information learned and will focus on betrayal and memory, treatment modalities, the role of attachment, applications of theoretical models, and secondary trauma. The course is partly didactic, based on the assigned readings. In addition, students must be prepared to discuss theories as applied to treatment of their own clients.
Course Format: Twelve Sessions Live Teleseminar; 2.5 hour sessions each
Course Dates: 2025: Apr 15, May 6, May 27, Jun 24, Jul 22, Jul 29, Aug 26, Sep 30, Oct 14, Oct 28, Nov 11, Dec 2
Meeting Time: 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM US Eastern Time
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Required Texts
Required textbooks are listed below and must be purchased by the participant. Additional materials including journal articles will be provided at no cost via this online course portal upon registration.
- Courtois, CA, and Ford, JD (2013) Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach. NY, NY: The Guilford Press.
- Courtois, CA, and Ford, JD, eds. (2020) Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Adults, second edition. NY, NY: The Guilford Press.
- Herman, JL (2022) Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence – from domestic abuse to political terror. NY, NY: Basic Books.
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 8 out of 12 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 chronic trauma related disorders.
This course content is at the beginning/intermediate level.
Additional Information
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Level I Accelerated Syllabus 2024.pdf | 364.46 KB |
Rachel Sage, LCSW-C
Email: [email protected]
Rachel Sage, LCSW-C, licensed clinical social worker in private practice located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, is licensed to practice in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Rachel received a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland (2019) and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from Towson University (2012). Rachel is an EMDRIA Approved Provider and Consultant-in-Training (CIT), an ASCH Certified Hypnotherapist, is fully trained in Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) and actively pursuing certification, and often blends hypnotic interventions throughout their clinical work.
They primarily provide therapy to folks who experience symptoms of complex dissociation (primarily DID/OSDD) and/or who have experienced severe/complex trauma. Rachel has experience working with a wide variety of populations in various settings such as harm reduction mobile services, Baltimore City Hall, Community Out Patient Clinics, shelters, and private practice.
In addition to their clinical work, Rachel also provides consultation to other mental health practitioners on both EMDR and complex dissociation. When Rachel isn’t engaged in their clinical practice, you can often find them hanging out with their dogs, doing hot yoga, or at a local metal or folk punk show.
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
- 30.00 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.
- 30.00 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 30.00 continuing education credits.
- 30.00 ISSTD Certificate ProgramThis program is eligible for 30.00 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 $40
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.