Introduction to Trauma Awareness and Coaching

CPD Programme

According to the National Center for PTSD, about 6 of every 10 men (or 60%) and 5 of every 10 women (or 50%) experience at least one trauma in their lives. Some people may recover within a few months after the event, but for others, it may take years or may even begin long after the events occur. Coaching is not a therapeutic intervention to treat Trauma, but it can be a modality that best supports clients by being Trauma-Aware. A coach with an awareness of Trauma can aim to provide their clients a safe and inclusive space. 

This starts with information: What is trauma? Where does it come from? How does it impact the brain, body and behaviour? For a coach, understanding these questions and working with awareness gives valuable insight into stress, burnout, self-limiting talk, and self-sabotaging behaviours. 

New data and research acknowledge that as leading Trauma specialist Dr. Gabor Maté says "Trauma is not what happens to you. Trauma is what happens inside you due to what happens to you." This includes generational, community, historical experiences, and shock event Traumas. When talking about trauma, we are talking about dysregulation within the nervous system – trauma for some representing chronic stress as well as many other physical, mental, or behavioural challenges. 

Using The Missouri Model: A Developmental Framework for Trauma-Informed Approaches as a guide and the 6 key SAMHSA principles: safety, trustworthiness & transparency, peer support, collaboration & mutuality, empowerment, voice, and choice and cultural, historical and gender issues. The first step for an individual to becoming Trauma-Informed is to become Trauma-Aware ie. “Have become aware of how prevalent trauma is and have begun to consider that it might impact their clientele and their staff”.[2]

One of the skills of being a coach is understanding scope of practice. What falls out of the coaching remit would be attempting to heal past wounds by doing trauma-specific processing. However, understanding trauma and how it impacts individuals’ neurobiology, mind-set, and behaviour in order to build rapport, contract and support them are important for any coach. Developing Trauma Awareness is a superpower both for you as a coach and for your clients.

In this CPD session, we will cover:

• Bridging our understanding on what trauma is and where it comes from.
• Trauma, Mental Health, and Adaptive Coping Behaviours.
• The Survival States – Fight, Flight, Fawn, and Freeze – how they manifest in the body, mind and behaviour.
• Polyvagal Theory and the autonomic nervous system in Trauma Awareness.
• Understanding the principals of Trauma-Informed Care.
• Neurobiology of Stress and tools to support clients.
• Looking after yourself as a coach: contracting, mentoring and supervision.
• Feeling confident in your scope of practice. When to refer.
• Developing a Trauma-Aware strategy in your business.

This session is part of our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for Coaches Programme. This training is aimed towards those wishing to advance their coaching knowledge and therefore you will need to have previously engaged in foundational coach training.

About your trainer:   Mandy is a highly respected coach, trainer and mentor.  She is a certified professional life and recovery coach, a She Recovers ® designated coach, author and speaker.  She specialises in mindset and recovery coaching, focusing on the impact of trauma and mental wellbeing.

Session One (2hrs)

• Understanding the trauma.
• Trauma and the Mindset/Body and Behaviours
• The Missouri Model of Trauma-Informed Institutions

Session Two (2hrs)

• The survival states – fight/flight/fawn and freeze
• The Body Keeps the Score - Polyvagal Theory and the Autonomic Nervous system
• Strengthening the Window of Tolerance and Building Resilience

Session Three (2hrs)

• Scope of Practice & when to refer.
• The SAMSHA 6 principles of Trauma-Informed Care
• Why Coaching works as a Trauma-Aware modality and tools to support.