Building Trauma-Informed Communities:

Training Series

Free Summer Training Series: Understanding and Responding to Complex Trauma

Join us this summer for a series of free educational trainings designed to deepen understanding of complex trauma and strengthen trauma-informed practice across clinical, educational, and community settings.

Participants will explore the foundations of complex trauma, including its causes, symptoms, and impact on emotional, cognitive, social, and physical well-being. Trainings will cover evidence-based approaches to trauma screening and assessment, creating safe and supportive environments, and understanding the effects of trauma across diverse populations and contexts.

Specialized sessions will examine topics such as:

  • The domains and long-term impacts of complex trauma

  • Trauma-informed assessment and treatment planning

  • Community violence and its effects on youth and families

  • Supporting LGBTQ+ youth through trauma-informed care

  • The intersection of trauma and substance use

  • Recognizing and addressing implicit bias in helping professions

  • Trauma-informed approaches in schools and learning environments

Whether you are a clinician, educator, student, advocate, or community professional, these trainings offer practical tools, current research, and actionable strategies to better support individuals and communities affected by trauma.

All trainings are free and open to the public. More information, schedules, and registration details below.

**Registration for the current sessions is now full. We are grateful for the strong interest in this training series and are working to accommodate the high level of demand. Our lab is currently coordinating additional sessions, which will be added shortly. Please check back soon for updates.

  • This training covers contributing factors that may negatively and positively impact the overall health and well-being of LGBTQ youth, including sociological-intersectionality-focused considerations to form a more nuanced understanding of the unique needs that LGBTQ+ youth

    June 8, 2026 (Mon) 10:00–11:00 AM

    Facilitator: Sam Conner Self

    Registration Full

  • This training discusses why diagnosis is important, since the clinical presentation of complex trauma can lead to differential diagnoses. The management of those diagnoses may include psychotropic medications, applications of which are covered in this training. 

    June 8, 2026 (Mon) 12:00–1:00 PM

    Facilitator: Sam Conner Self

    Registration Full

  • This training establishes a foundational understanding of what is happening in the brain and body in response to a perceived threat. The way the brain and body respond to trauma is universal. This module helps participants identify when a neurobiological response has been activated, so we can better match our intervention approach in the moment.

    June 8, 2026 (Mon) 1:00–2:00 PM

    Facilitator: Sam Conner Self

    Registration Full

  • This module reviews common ACE's that often impact Young People Experiencing Homelessness and how these aggregate experiences frequently culminate in a Complex Trauma (CT) Profile. How social-cultural intersectional dynamics and an extensive history of oppressive structural inequalities factor into how young people may respond to the multiple systems (housing, education, vocation, American Legal System) and providers, is explored through the Social Ecological Model . The session includes an overview of how to incorporate the ARC (Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency) Framework for practice-based recommendations that may be helpful when providing care to this vulnerable but tremendously resilient population. There is a strong emphasis on unorthodox, low-barrier approaches that resonate with the spirit of "Personhood" rather than diagnostic labels and prescriptive treatment. 

    June 9, 2026 (Mon) 11:00 AM –12:00 PM

    Facilitator: Sam Conner Self

    Registration Full

    July 9, 2026 (Thurs) 12:00–1:00 PM

    Facilitator: Yakeisha Scott

    Registration Full

  • This training's purpose is to provide an overview of treatment models which are effective in the treatment of complex trauma for youth and adults. In addition to introducing various treatment models, the module will touch upon considerations for selecting treatment that is the best fit for a client and/or their family.

    June 9, 2026 (Mon) 12:00 –1:00 PM

    Facilitator: Sam Conner Self

    Registration Full

  • This training emphasizes the importance of addressing caregiver needs and skills when working with childhood trauma. Includes techniques for engagement with client caregivers, and outlines strategies for guiding clients on regulation, attunement, and effective responses to youth behavior.

    June 10, 2026 (Wed) 9:00–10:00 AM

    Facilitator: Max Choi-Henslee

    Registration Full

    July 10, 2026 (Fri) 10:00–11:00 AM

    Facilitator: Lucy Miller-Suchet

    Registration Full

    July 9, 2026 (Thurs) 10:00–11:00 AM

    Facilitator: Yakeisha Scott

    Registration Full

  • This trainingexplores community violence as a form of continuous traumatic stress. Participants will discuss the effects of chronic community violence exposures, the intersection with complex trauma and systemic racism, and culturally-specific approaches for working with Black and Latinx youth and families.

    June 10, 2026 (Wed) 10:00–11:00 AM

    Facilitator: Max Choi-Henslee

    Registration Full

    July 10, 2026 (Fri) 11:00 AM–12:00 PM

    Facilitator: Yakeisha Scott

    Registration Full

  • This training explores the nature of complex traumatic stress disorders for immigrant and refugee families as they go through the process of migration. The module covers possible presentations in clinical settings as well as approaches for working with this population. 

    June 10, 2026 (Wed) 11:00 AM –12:00 PM

    Facilitator: Lucy Miller-Suchet

    Registration Full

  • This training illustrates considerations specific to residential caregiving. Discussion will include complex trauma shows up in our milieus, how it impacts our philosophy of care, and how we can build shared language among staff and youth. Participants will then apply their understanding into an active practice model – the Safe Relational Container, and explore trauma-informed strategies guided by an action sequence of Calm, Connect, and Respond.

    June 11, 2026 (Thurs) 9:00–10:00 AM

    Facilitator: Max Choi-Henslee

    Registration Full

    July, 7, 2026 (Tue) 12:00–1:00 PM

    Facilitator: Lucy Miller-Suchet

    Registration Full

  • This training, designed specifically for non-clinicians, reviews the prevalence of complex trauma among justice-involved youth, and applies a trauma lens to “maladaptive” coping strategies such as aggression, substance use, and self-harm. The module includes a focus on identifying and addressing trauma triggers, as well as ways in which direct care staff can create a more trauma-informed environment for youth, and build upon youths' strengths.

    June 11, 2026 (Thurs) 10:00–11:00 AM

    Facilitator: Max Choi-Henslee

    Registration Full

  • This training addresses what complex trauma looks like in young children and how trauma can change the course of early childhood development. The training also covers treatment targets for young children and caregivers, and intervention strategies. 

    June 11, 2026 (Thurs) 11:00 AM –12:00 PM

    Facilitator: Max Choi-Henslee

    Registration Full

    July 7, 2026 (Tues) 3:00PM – 4:00 PM

    Facilitator: Dr. Melany Rivera Maldonado

    Registration Full

  • This training focuses on trauma-informed screening and assessment through a complex trauma lens, providing a comprehensive framework and tools to ultimately support treatment and service planning.

    June 12, 2026 (Fri) 1:00–2:00 PM

    Facilitator: Dr. Melany Rivera Maldonado

    Registration Full

    July 7, 2026 (Tue) 1:00–2:00 PM

    Facilitator: Dr. Melany Rivera Maldonado

    Registration Full

  • This module explores the challenges that face providers during critical moments with clients who have experienced complex trauma, and provides key principles and tactics for handling these crises and preserving clients’ safety.

    July 6, 2026 (Mon) 1:00–2:00 PM

    Facilitator: Dr. Melany Rivera Maldonado

    Registration Full

    July 10, 2026 (Fri) 9:00AM– 10:00 AM

    Facilitator: Dr. Melany Rivera Maldonado

    Registration Full

  • This training addresses how trauma creates a vulnerability to addiction and covers case examples of trauma responses and survival strategies in clients with substance use disorders. This includes discussion about the nervous system impacts of trauma and substance use, and outlines trauma-informed, evidence-based treatment models.

    July 8, 2026 (Wed) 11:00 AM–12:00 PM

    Facilitator: Yakeisha Scott

    Registration Full

  • This training illustrates considerations specific to residential caregiving. Discussion will include complex trauma shows up in our milieus, how it impacts our philosophy of care, and how we can build shared language among staff and youth. Participants will then apply their understanding

    July 10, 2026 (Fri) 1:00–2:00 PM

    Facilitator: Yakeisha Scott

    Registration Full