Transform Your Clinical Practice: Master Trauma-Informed Care with Starr Commonwealth’s Certified Trauma and Resilience Specialist Certification
Are you ready to advance your expertise in trauma-informed care with a Certified Trauma and Resilience Specialist certification from Starr Commonwealth? Dr. Caelan Soma answers all your questions about Starr’s new Clinical Foundations for Trauma and Resilience packages below.
About Dr. Soma
Dr. Caelan Soma, PsyD, LMSW, Chief Clinical Officer, oversees all clinical operations and research at Starr Commonwealth. Dr. Soma provides trauma assessment and trauma-informed, resilience-focused intervention for youth utilizing evidence-based practices, including Starr’s SITCAP© model programs.
She has been involved in helping with the aftermath of disasters such as Sandy Hook, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and others. She has authored several books, the most recent, 10 Steps to Create a Trauma-Informed Resilient School and Healing the Experience of Trauma: A Path to Resilience. She is an internationally acclaimed speaker and trainer, and is the instructor for many Starr courses, including Clinical Foundations of Trauma and Resilience. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at California Southern University, where she received the 2013 CalSouthern President’s Award.
What are the new clinical packages?
The new clinical certification is called Clinical Foundations for Trauma and Resilience. The packages combine didactic and experiential training, focusing on trauma and resilience in children and adolescents. Every package includes comprehensive training with lecture-style videos and opportunities for participants to practice what they learn; demonstrations of interventions are included. Case examples are also shared. The packages differ only in the number of resources each includes.
Who is this certification for?
This certification is for any adult who works with children who have experienced too much stress or trauma. All adults, licensed and non-licensed professionals, can benefit from this certification. You will benefit from this training if you are a social worker, counselor, therapist, psychologist, youth care specialist, child life specialist, nurse, pastor, corrections officer, occupational therapist, or speech pathologist. The interventions taught in this training can be implemented in brief interactions or within traditional groups or individual therapy sessions. Interventions apply across all settings regardless of the type of trauma a child has experienced, from one specific event to complex trauma such as maltreatment.
What will they learn?
First, participants learn the importance of resilience. This is a critical component in establishing a strength-based mindset rooted in hope that supports the fact that stress and trauma do not seal a child’s fate. Stress and trauma are only one part of a child, and we can do many things as adults to help children experience interactions and activities that will build and strengthen their resilience while assisting them in managing the symptoms and reactions they experience.
Participants will learn the common themes experienced with trauma and alternate themes supporting resilience. The focus is on not just how a child feels psychologically but also how they feel physically. Interventions to use immediately will help get to the root of how stress and trauma impact a youth’s nervous system. Resilience-building strategies offer professionals strategies for children to have experiences that reinforce connection and a sense of belonging, emotional regulation, value, and self-esteem.
Every package includes strategies and interventions. Participants will receive everything they need to begin working with youth immediately after training. With hundreds of interventions and reproducible worksheets, professionals don’t have to wonder what to do with youth who need relief from stress and opportunities to feel empowered – they will have many tools at their fingertips.
What types of resources are included?
Each of the clinical certification packages includes a variety of excellent resources. All packages include a textbook, activities packet, trauma education booklets, and a behavior support plan complete with 3 assessment tools and strategies to foster and nurture resilience while healing trauma.
How is it different from other certifications?
This certification differs from others because it doesn’t stop at theory – it goes far beyond. It provides practical, easy-to-implement, evidence-based interventions for children of all ages across all settings. Many interventions rely solely on talk or cognitive processes. However, the sensory-based interventions provided in this certification have been designed to be used with children who are operating from a place of stress and terror. The interventions help regulate their nervous systems, help them find the words to explain their experiences, make youth active participants in their healing, and provide new ways of looking at themselves as empowered and survivors rather than victims. This certification will restore self-efficacy in child-caring professionals, providing them with agency and hope that their work with youth makes a difference regardless of how traumatic the experience.
Starr’s Clinical Foundations of Trauma and Resilience is not just a certification; it’s a gateway to becoming part of a legacy that has shaped the field of trauma-informed care. With over 110 years of experience, Starr empowers you to make a lasting difference in the lives of those you serve. Start your journey today!
Have more questions? Email us at info@starr.org.