Training Description
Trauma-coerced attachment (TCA)—often referred to as trauma bonding— has been noted and documented across various abusive contexts. Traumatic bonding occurs as the result of ongoing cycles of abuse in which the intermittent reinforcement of reward and punishment creates powerful emotional bonds that are resistant to change. As the methods of abuse become increasingly sophisticated and targeted to exploit the most vulnerable populations, this 3-hour course is designed to equip clinicians and other direct service professionals, with the skills necessary to identify the dynamics of trauma bonding. The signs and symptoms as well as how trauma bonding occurs will be discussed and practical strategies for addressing trauma bonding will be introduced. Participants will gain an understanding of how trauma bonding is present in domestic violence, relationship violence, human trafficking, and other situations involving fear, coercion, and trauma.
This course is appropriate for direct service providers, clinicians, healthcare professionals, and first responders.
Presented by the Chair of the Development Committee for SAFE Coalition for Human Rights and offered exclusively through the Global Institute of Forensic Research, this On Demand training will equip clinicians and other direct service professionals, with the skills necessary to identify the dynamics of trauma bonding while earning 3 hours of valuable Continuing Education Credit.
Trainer Biography
Joy Kelleher, LCSW, CHP, CCEP. With over 25 years of experience as a licensed clinician, social worker and CEO, Joy Kelleher has an eclectic background of professional experiences including extensive international work. While working as a social worker in Ireland, Joy was introduced to the growing epidemic of human trafficking. Spurred to action, Joy has worked extensively in the USA and internationally raising awareness of human trafficking and advocating on behalf of vulnerable people. Joy is a surveyor for CARF, an international accreditation body and she serves as a volunteer assistant swim coach at Brenau University in Georgia, USA.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will be able to…
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- Identify trauma bonding and understand the risk factors of development
- Identify in what scenarios trauma attachments are most prevalent and why
- Describe the complex bonds formed in the presence of coercion, fear, trauma, and the cycle of abuse and the resulting challenges for escaping the dynamic
- Analyze the role of sex in trauma bonding
- Identify the methods that abusers and traffickers utilize to control others
- Discuss the role of biases that contribute to the challenges of identification and treatment
- Identify strategies that you, as health professionals (or first responders) can utilize to engage with people experiencing trauma attachments for the purposes of identification, screening, assessment, and treatment.
- Advocate for the effective treatment of trauma attachments within your organizations and in respect to your professional role.