What is trauma and why focus on it?

Many of the symptoms for which people seek psychotherapeutic and psychiatric services arise from having experienced highly stressful or traumatic events. The common myth of trauma is that it only happens to people in war zones or to people who have suffered severe bodily harm. This is simply not true, trauma can be caused by common everyday occurrences like car accidents, surgery, domestic violence, and most notably, childhood abandonment or abuse. In fact, the research (see acestudy.org) is very clear on the matter: the earlier, more familial and more chronic the stress or trauma was in a person’s life, the more they will be affected by it as an adult and the less they will be able to recall any specific events that may have created it. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, disproportionte anger, feeling disconnected or numb, disturbed boundaries, painful relationship patterns, and especially addiction are common signs of trauma. At the Love and Trauma Center, training therapists and students how heal the resulting wounds is our primary focus and what we do best.

What is Trauma Recovery Protocol?

Trauma Recovery Protocol (TRP) is a highly technical, experience focused, strategic, body-based therapy that brings together current neuroscience research (I.e memory systems, learning theory, Peter Levine’s modeling of the autonomic nervous system) and the best elements of other therapeutic modalities (such as DBT skill building, attachment theory, family systems and psychodynamic transference work). Trauma Recovery Protocol is a precise, coherent, tested and teachable model that allows the student to feel supported in a structured approach to treating trauma and yet maintains the sophistication, fluidity, warmth needed to work with complex PTSD.

Our Trainings

We offer different levels of trainings. Please contact us at parad@loveandtrauma.com for more information on any of these programs.

• 1 Day Trauma Recovery Protocol Intensive

Burlington, VT
Wednesday Nov. 5, 2014 | Pesi sponsored event
Manchester, NH
Thursday Nov. 6, 2014 | Pesi sponsored event
Portland, ME
Friday Nov. 7, 2014 | Pesi sponsored event
Shiloh House
Wednesday Dec. 3, 2014 | Littleton, CO
Colorado Springs
Saturday Dec. 6, 2014 | Insight Services
Balboa Addiction Treatment Center
Thursday Nov. 20, 2014 | Newport Beach, CA

• Trauma Recovery Protocol Level 1 Certification Training

University of Colorado Hospital CeDAR
Anschutz Medical Campus, Denver | 4 weekends: Feb. 20 – 22, March 6 – 8, March 27 – 29, April 17 – 19 |
Newport Beach, CA | 4 weekends: Feb 13 – 15, March 6 – 8, March 27 – 29, April 17 – 19 |

• Trauma Recovery Protocol Level 2

This is our most advanced course. It builds on the Level 1 TRP course by further developing the student’s ability to work with traumatic transference, attachment parenting styles, and family system roles. It is a five weekend course and requires the completion of the TRP Level 1 training as a prerequisite.
950 S. Cherry St. Denver, CO. | Fall 2014

All of the trainings are skill development focused and body based intended for mental health professionals and graduate students. The primary purpose of the training is to develop highly skilled trauma therapists. To do this, we focus on integrating theory, research, and strategic thinking with very experiential, hands-on, skill development. In fact, a full 50% of our trainings are dedicated to practicing skills under supervision. Many students find the trainings to be demanding insofar as they require a high level of intellectual engagement, working with one’s own personal history of stress and trauma, and mastering a set of skills that are beyond the scope of what is taught in traditional counseling programs.

Next Steps

To learn more about this topic and our approach, a good starting point is the watch The Map video listed above. It will provide a good introduction to how the autonomic nervous system effects mental health and the Trauma RP process (we have other lecture and demonstration videos that you can stream).

You can also visit our redesigned resourcing page. Resourcing, or the ability to shift and calm one’s own nervous system, is a useful and essential first step in beginning to work with one’s own stress and trauma symptoms. Multi-language versions of this page are available.

You are welcome to download four prepublication chapters from the Trauma RP training manual, Trauma Recovery Protocol: Healing trauma and its effects on ourselves and our relationships

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Lastly, follow us on Facebook as we release videos, research results and other news items.