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FREE: 1.5 IDFPR CEU for LSW/LCSW, LPC/LCPC, Psychologists, and IAODAPCA (Pending)
SUMMARY
This training covers basic trauma-informed principles. It distinguishes developmental trauma—chronic, relational, and attachment-based—from shock trauma, caused by sudden overwhelming events. Participants learn how each influences emotional, cognitive, and physiological functioning.
The presentation covers the normal stress-response system and how trauma disrupts it, leading to hyperarousal, hypoarousal, and dissociation. It highlights the roles of biology, genetics, epigenetics, and environment, emphasizing that trauma reactions stem from neurobiology rather than character or willpower.
Attendees are introduced to mindful, expressive, and somatic interventions that support stabilization and nervous-system regulation. The training concludes with an overview of effective and evidence-based trauma therapies.
Participants leave with an understanding of trauma foundations and some practical tools to support clients safely and effectively.
OBJECTIVES
- Differentiate between developmental trauma and shock trauma, including their origins and clinical presentations.
- Explain the functions of the normal stress-response system and its role in maintaining safety and regulation.
- Describe how the stress-response system becomes altered under traumatic conditions.
- Discuss how biology, genetics, epigenetics, and environment interact to shape trauma responses.
- Apply mindful, expressive, and somatic-based interventions to support trauma recovery in clinical settings.
- Identify evidence-based therapeutic approaches effective in treating both shock and developmental trauma.
PRESENTER
Gary Rukin, LPC, MA, MS, has worked in Community Mental Health for the past thirteen years. He serves as the Trauma-Informed Coordinator for the McHenry County Mental Health Board, and has presented trainings on Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Understanding Psychosis, Understanding and Treating Emotional Trauma, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Thresholds, The Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Recovery Conference, Northwestern University Hospital, and the Illinois Department of Human Services.
