1. Articulate the cause of posttraumatic stress and how events turn into posttraumatic symptoms;

2. Discover the “active ingredients”/common elements for treating posttraumatic stress advocated as best practice for treatment of PTSD by leading agencies and organizations (e.g., APA, VA/DoD, ISTSS, Phoenix Project)​.

3. Employ a staged “active ingredients/common elements” appro​ach to evidence based practice for treating survivors of trauma. This is contrasted with current practice of utilizing only EBT model-driven approaches;

4. Conceptualize, articulate and utilize specific evidence-based treatment tasks within each of the (dynamic elements/active ingredients) of treatment that resolve symptoms of posttraumatic stress;

5. Learn and employ the Empowerment & Resilience Treatment Structure (Rhoton & Gentry, 2021) for delivery of treatment with trauma survivors;

6. Efficiently and effectively facilitate resolution and healing of posttraumatic conditions;

7. Learn specific psychoeducation and cognitive restructuring techniques for maximizing engagement and participation in early treatment;

8. Explain the symptoms of traumatic stress to clients in a way that helps makes "good sense" of their experiences, that facilitates self-compassion, and helps them to understand their symptoms as adaptations to past painful learning experience instead of a pathological affliction;

9. Develop insight into the importance of developing/maintaining positive expectancy and skills to achieve this therapeutic task;

10. Maximize engagement and collaboration in the healing process utilizing evidence based skills of data collection and feedback processing with clients,

11. Succinctly articulate the role that perceived threat and subsequent autonomic nervous system dysregulation plays in the etiology and perseverance of symptoms with trauma survivors;

12. Acquire insight into the Polyvagal Theory and how this explanation of ANS functioning assists clients with understanding their symptoms and clinicians to conceptualize tasks of treatment with trauma survivors;

13. Develop, practice and master skills of interoception and acute relaxation to monitor and self-regulate clinician’s own autonomic nervous system as primary intervention to facilitate rapid return to comfort in body (i.e., stress amelioration), maximize neocortical functioning and the ability to remain intentional instead of instinctual reactivity. (Note - This is a primary skill for professional resilience and the prevention of compassion fatigue. This course teaches participant to develop mastery of this skill BEFORE beginning to teach clients this skill.)

14. Teach clients skills for self-regulation of their own autonomic nervous system and then to employ these skills to catalyze reciprocal inhibition and Direct Therapeutic Exposure to lessen their anxiety symptoms immediately;

15. Develop CBST skills for helping trauma survivors to rapidly develop stability, self-efficacy, anxiety management, and relational capacities;

16. Learn the 20 symptoms of PTSD and utilize the Posttraumatic Checklist – 5 (PCL-5) to make an accurate diagnosis;

17. Learn empirical markers to know when it is both necessary (i.e., Criterion B symptoms still present) and safe to transition from the safety/stabilization phase of treatment into the trauma memory processing phase without guesswork and minimal crises;