Do you work with clients with a history of exposure to longstanding traumatic experiences? Do you work with clients who are experiencing psychological, social, behavioral, spiritual, and/or physical distress after exposure to traumatic events that went against their values and morals?
Complex trauma encompasses the struggles associated with adapting to or surviving multiple, often interrelated forms of traumatic experiences. Moral injury, a form of complex trauma, entails the damage done to a person’s conscience or moral compass when they have been exposed to events that went against their personal moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct.
Persons with complex trauma and moral injury experience a loss of connection with themselves, their bodies, and others as they process what has happened to them or others. Trauma-informed clinical approaches equip behavioral health service providers with strategies and tools to better engage those affected by complex trauma and moral injury. This workshop will focus on understanding how a person who has experienced complex trauma or moral injury responds to and deciphers information and can be triggered, as well as evidence-based practices that initiate and support relational and psychological healing.
Learning Objectives: Participants in this workshop will be able to:
- Explore the differences and similarities between PTSD, complex trauma, and moral injury
- Define the development of personal morals, values, ethical codes of conduct
- Describe those environments and professions where a person is likely to sustain complex trauma and/or moral injury
- Describe the disruptions to the brain and body when adversely impacted by exposure to complex trauma or moral injury
- Articulate at least three evidence-based treatment and practices useful for trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive care
Presenter: Dr. Mita Johnson
Dr. Johnson has degrees in biology, counseling and counselor education and supervision. She has been a counselor for 30 years, consultant for 20 years, clinical supervisor for 15 years and higher learning educator for 10 years. She holds several credentials including licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed addiction counselor, master addiction counselor, and certified telemental health professional. Dr. Johnson is a core faculty member at Walden University’s School of Counseling MS program. She teaches, trains, and speaks nationally and internationally on numerous topics including ethics, diagnosis, psychopharmacology, and substance use disorders. Dr. Johnson is the President-Elect and Ethics Chair of NAADAC. She is passionate about understanding how psychopharmaceuticals and illicit substances influence the body systemically.
Eligible for 3 hours Certificate of Completion
