Essential Relational Microskills for Treating Trauma Survivors

  • 1.25 HOURS

    Course duration

  • 1.25 CE HOURS

    Continuing education

  • 44 USD

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    Who is this for:
    This workshop is intended for licensed mental health providers who are working with a diverse range of clients in a variety of settings. 

    Instructional Level:
    Beginner to Intermediate

    Why You’ll Love this Course:
    Trauma survivors, especially those who have been interpersonally traumatized, tend to struggle relationally, including in the therapy relationship. This course provides clinicians with essential clinical microskills to assess and strengthen the clinical relationship early and often with their traumatized clients.

    Course description:
    Individuals who have experienced traumatic events often struggle with building trust with others, tend to have disrupted interpersonal relationships and have a propensity towards avoidance and withdrawal in relationships (Gobin et al., 2013; Hepp et al., 2021; Eltz et al., 1995; Keller et al., 2010; Resick, Monsoon & Chard, 2017). 

    These relational challenges manifest in the therapy dyad and often lead to significant difficulties establishing and maintaining a strong therapeutic alliance. Barriers to the therapeutic alliance are even more pronounced in clients who have experienced interpersonal traumatization (Cloitre et al., 2002; Eltz et al., 1995; Resick, Monson & Chard, 2017; Stovall-McClough & Cloitre, 2006; Zungu-Dirwayi et al., 2004).

    At the same time, if navigated effectively, the therapy relationship offers powerful, new opportunities for traumatized clients to learn to engage relationally in safe, adaptive and rewarding ways. New and positive experiential data can be garnered in the therapy dyad through the experience of feeling cared for and connected (Dawood et al., 2025), learning about adaptive power-sharing in relationships (Parry & Simpson, 2016) and the development of trust and appropriate boundaries (Dawood et al., 2025). When strengthened, the therapeutic alliance predicts better treatment adherence and treatment outcomes in adults and adolescents with trauma-related distress (Capaldi et al., 2016; Cloitre et al., 2022; Keller et al., 2010; Sijercic et al., 2021).

    But how exactly can clinicians navigate a traumatized client’s biases towards mistrust and potentially tricky interpersonal dynamics? How do clinicians minimize relational distance and maximize invaluable and potentially life-changing opportunities for clients to obtain new relational learning and relational healing?

    In this course, clinicians learn to prioritize the development of a strong therapeutic alliance with traumatized clients by building distinct relational microskills. Specifically, this course teaches clinicians how to effectively assess and enhance treatment alliance and how to inquire and effectively repair treatment ruptures. This course provides clear and practical language and tools that are applicable within any treatment for trauma survivors, including within evidence-based PTSD treatment protocols. Further, clinicians will learn how to utilize these relational microskills in circumstances where treatment dropout is even higher; for example, when working with interpersonally traumatized clients and/or in cross-cultural or cross-racial clinical dyads.

    Featuring:
    • Skill demonstration of the use of relational microskills to strengthen the therapeutic alliance
    • Skills demonstrations of assessing and repairing relational ruptures

    Educational Objectives: 
    By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
    1. Describe at least 2 relational microskills and research supporting their use with trauma survivors.
    2. Identify at least 2 common relational struggles for trauma survivors that may impact the working alliance.
    3. Utilize relational microskills to address at least 4 common clinical scenarios.

      Stephanie Sacks, Ph.D.

      Clinical Psychologist
      Co-founder
      Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
      Stephanie Sacks, Ph.D. is a co-founder and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of MindScience Collective. She is a licensed clinical psychologist (FL PY10014, DC PSY1001172) who is passionate about teaching, training, clinical work, entrepreneurship and the dissemination of evidence-based information to the masses. 

      In her private practice, Dr. Sacks specializes in the provision of evidence-based cognitive behavioral treatment for Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders, OCD-Spectrum Disorders and Anxiety Disorders, with particular expertise providing care to clinically complex clients. She has a sub-specialty working with journalists who are exposed to occupational trauma and has received training from the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma.

      She is a National Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Trainer and Clinical Consultant. She is also an invited lecturer and clinical consultant for many organizations, including the National Center for PTSD. Dr. Sacks is the creator of the Trauma Therapist Training Course, an interactive cohort-based learning experience that enhances therapists’ competence and confidence for working with trauma-affected clients. 

      She is an Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University and a voluntary Clinical Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California. She has proudly served as clinical and research supervisor at a number of academic and medical institutions. Dr. Sacks has authored numerous peer-reviewed research articles and contributed to a book entitled Cognitive Processing Therapy for Complex Cases. 
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      Disclosures:
      Dr. Sacks is a co-founder of MindScience Collective and will receive financial benefit from all course sales. She receives income as a Trainer and Consultant for Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD. Dr. Sacks also receives compensation as a lecturer for the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD).

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      “MindScience Collective is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. MindScience Collective is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists (#PSY-0312). MindScience Collective maintains responsibility for this program and its content.“

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