CTI Summer Training Institute

The Impact of Complex Trauma on the Brain and Body: Developmental Unfolding of Effects
Presented by Wendy D’Andrea, Ph.D.

Early childhood experiences of trauma and maltreatment have a profound impact on child development, including neurological and biological systems. In this workshop, acclaimed clinical researcher, practitioner and trauma scholar Dr. Wendy D’Andrea will engage participants in a detailed examination of current research illuminating the effects of complex trauma on the brain and body across two “critical periods” of nervous system development: early childhood and adolescence. Dr. D’Andrea will integrate research findings from the fields of neuroscience and cognitive, affective, and social psychology with vivid case examples. She will discuss the effects of complex trauma exposure on the cultivation of safe and healthy attachment relationships and internal systems and on development of self-regulatory and executive functioning capacities. Finally, she will bridge the neurobiological literature and real-life clinical practice, making linkages between neurobiological substrate and phenomenological expression encountered in prototypical complex trauma clinical presentations, and will orient participants on how to view intervention through a neurobiological frame.

 Learning Objectives: (4 CE hours)

Participants who complete this module will be able to:

1. Describe the biological and psychological systems implicated in the traumatic response, in their immediate and long-term aftermath.
2. Describe ways in which capacities of cognition, emotion, and relational function are biologically inter-related.
3. Identify at least three ways that physiological changes linked to trauma may manifest as emotional or behavioral symptoms.
4. Articulate indicators of hyper-and hypo-arousal.
5. Link DSM diagnoses to biological mechanisms related to trauma responses.
6. Apply at least three techniques used to stabilize physiological responses to trauma and return a client’s arousal level to their window of tolerance.
7. Discuss the psychophysiology of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma and begin to identify self-care methods for the therapist to minimize vicarious trauma in their work with traumatized clients.
8. Create at least three ways of explaining the psychobiology of trauma to clients via layperson explanation.
9. Describe at least one finding of neuroplasticity for recovery from trauma in layperson terms.

*** Required for Track 1 or Track 2 ***

Schedule:
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
8:30-12:45

8:30-10:30                  Understanding the neurobiology of trauma

10:30-10:45                Break

10:45-12:45                Application of neurobiological impact to real-life treatment