
COURSE DETAILS
Working with Complex PTSD can be, well, complex. It requires a large toolkit to help clients learn ways to regulate and soothe, and to feel feelings and sensations. It also requires advanced skill on the clinician’s part to navigate treatment plans and desensitize targets in a way that doesn’t destabilize or overwhelm the client’s nervous system. This advanced course will help you help your clients struggling with complex trauma symptoms. We’ll use a neuro-informed approach to case conceptualization, using Polyvagal Theory and the AIP model, to help you plan interventions. You'll learn to use the Preparation Hierarchy, developed by Rebecca Kase, to align interventions with the client's functional capacity. You'll learn several of Rebecca's go to techniques for CPTSD that can bring your client significant relief. You'll learn resourcing techniques, somatic therapy interventions, mindfulness skills, and Polyvagal Theory inspired techniques. Clinicians will learn a variety of methods for assessing and enhancing dual awareness, assessing for dissociation, and using Ego States to stabilize complex symptoms. Constricted processing techniques of EMD & EMDr will be reviewed, and accompanied by a demonstration. Finally, you will learn the powerful and game-changing technique of taxing working memory, which can produce quick relief with highly charged targets.
Some experiential practice is included, however no group work is incorporated into this course.
What You’ll LearnÂ
- Go beyond standard EMDR protocols – Learn when to follow the traditional approach and when to adjust for clients with complex trauma histories.
- Master trauma-informed pacing – Discover how to assess your client’s readiness, establish safety, and prevent dissociation before jumping into reprocessing.
- Work with dissociation & fragmentation – Understand the nuances of structural dissociation and how to modify EMDR for clients with significant parts work needs.
- Navigate stuck points & looping – Get strategies for when EMDR isn’t progressing, including how to reframe, restructure, and re-engage your client in the process.
- Improve client outcomes – Walk away with practical interventions that make EMDR more effective and accessible for clients with complex PTSD.

AGENDA
Day 1
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Orientation and welcome
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Review of CPTSD, research, and usefulness of EMDR
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Polyvagal Theory interventions
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Therapeutic presence as an intervention
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Phase 1
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Dissociation & dual awareness
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Introduction to Ego States
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Ego States Interventions
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Mindfulness Interventions
Day 2
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Q&A
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 Somatic Interventions
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Treatment planning with CPTSD
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EMD & EMDr techniques
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Targeting symptoms for increased stabilization
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Fractionating a memory
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Taxing working memory
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Wrap up

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
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Assess the usefulness of EMDR with CPTSD presentations and review contraindications for EMDR-based interventions.
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Evaluate research and recommendations for the treatment of CPTSD, common clinical symptoms, and treatment guidelines.
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Analyze core principles of Polyvagal Theory and appraise their application to EMDR Phases 1 & 2.
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Utilize interventions to resource and stabilize clients with CPTSD.
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Determine interventions to increase somatic awareness.
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Integrate at least two techniques into your clinical practice with clients to increase dual awareness.
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Appraise the usefulness of EMD & EMDR techniques for working with CPTSD clients and reducing intrusive and destabilizing symptoms.
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Develop an EMDR treatment plan for CPTSD clients using the fractionated target technique.

ABOUT YOUR TRAINER, REBECCA KASE

Trauma Therapist Institute founder Rebecca Kase is recognized as one of the foremost EMDR trainers in the U.S. An LCSW, professional EMDR consultant and trainer, and a registered yoga teacher, Rebecca has been practicing in the field of trauma counseling since 2006. She is the author of Polyvagal Informed EMDR: A Neuro-Informed Approach to Healing, and the Applied Polyvagal Theory Flipchart. She’s an expert in working with complex trauma and dissociation and has practiced in both nonprofit and private settings. In her therapy practice, Rebecca incorporates yoga therapy, ego states, somatic approaches, Polyvagal Theory, and EMDR into her work with clients, which includes veterans and adults with Complex PTSD. Rebecca is known as a skillful, clear, and enthusiastic teacher. She’ll keep you engaged and make you giggle, even in an online trauma training course!
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION