Decoding the Impact of Trauma: Level One
Learn to Hold the Ground When Trauma Memories Arise
Discover how to remain deeply grounded, fully present, and profoundly connected so your clients feel safe enough for healing to begin—without You absorbing their fear, becoming overwhelmed, or losing yourself in the process.
Decoding the Impact of Trauma: Level One gives you the essential foundation every excellent trauma training should provide. It explains the science, the different types of trauma, the impact on the nervous system, developmental trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and trauma responses such as fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.
But this master class doesn't stop there.
Understanding trauma and how it affects the brain, body, and nervous system is an important part of becoming a trauma-informed practitioner.
Because when someone carrying trauma is working with you, they aren't wondering how much you know.
Their nervous system is asking a far more important question:
"Am I safe with you?"
That question is answered long before you speak.
It is answered by your presence.
Decoding the Impact of Trauma gives you much more than an understanding of how trauma affects the brain and body.
It teaches you how to hold the ground.
How to remain calm when another person's nervous system is activated.
How to stay deeply connected without getting pulled into the trauma.
How to create profound safety while maintaining healthy boundaries.
And how to become the kind of practitioner whose steady presence becomes part of the healing itself.
Become the steady presence every nervous system longs for.
Prerequisite: Read or listen to Full Body Presence and Reclaiming your Body by Suzanne Scurlock
This course is approved by NCBTMB for 10.5 CE Hours
WHEN A CLIENT'S TRAUMA BEGINS AFFECTING YOU
Every practitioner has experienced it: a client begins sharing a painful story, and you feel your breathing change, your chest tighten, and your thoughts start racing.
You begin searching for the right words, or the right technique, worrying about what the right intervention should be.
And suddenly, without realizing it, you've stopped simply being with the client.
You've started trying to rescue them. Or solve the problem. Or carry what they're carrying.
And in that moment, something subtle changes, and your nervous system becomes activated alongside theirs.
Now there are two dysregulated nervous systems in the room. The client rarely has the words to describe this change. But they feel it.
When a practitioner becomes anxious, overwhelmed, emotionally pulled into the story, or afraid of saying the wrong thing, clients often begin protecting the practitioner instead of allowing themselves to be supported.
They sense they are "too much” and hold back from sharing more. Or they disconnect. This isn’t your fault; it’s not because you lack compassion or because you aren’t skilled.
But trauma doesn't heal through information alone.
Trauma begins to heal when another human being can remain fully present, deeply connected, and completely grounded in the midst of it.
This is what we call holding the ground.
It is one of the most important skills a trauma-informed practitioner can develop.
Holding the ground doesn't mean becoming emotionally detached, overly clinical, shutting down your empathy.
What it means is you become so steady in your own body that another person's nervous system begins recognizing safety in yours.
That difference changes everything.
Learn the skills that transform knowledge into healing presence.
WHAT BECOMES POSSIBLE WHEN YOU LEARN TO HOLD THE GROUND
Imagine sitting with someone who is experiencing profound grief, or fear, or shame? Or the overwhelming effects of unresolved trauma.
Instead of becoming emotionally pulled into the experience...you remain:
Present.
Calm.
Grounded.
Deeply connected.
Your compassion doesn't disappear, rather it deepens, because you’re no longer trying to rescue or fix that person. You’re not trying to carry what belongs to someone else.
You simply become a safe place for healing to unfold.
Your presence quietly communicates:
"You're safe here."
"You don't have to carry this alone."
"I'm not afraid of your experience."
That is what creates true trust and connection and it’s what allows the body to begin releasing long-held patterns of protection.
As this becomes part of your practice, you'll notice profound changes.
Personally, you'll experience:
Greater steadiness during emotionally intense situations
Less fear of "getting it wrong"
Healthier energetic boundaries
Greater trust in your own body and intuition
More confidence navigating complex emotional dynamics
Less emotional exhaustion after sessions
Professionally, you'll discover:
Clients settle more quickly into a sense of safety.
Sessions become less about fixing and more about facilitating.
You recognize trauma responses with greater clarity.
Your therapeutic presence becomes one of your greatest clinical skills.
You stop absorbing what belongs to your clients while remaining deeply connected to them.
Discover what becomes possible when your presence becomes part of the healing.
TRAINING OVERVIEW
Decoding the Impact of Trauma: Level One gives you a strong foundation in trauma-informed care while taking you far beyond theory.
Format
Immersion-style training with guided experiential practices, skill building, and conceptual learning designed to help you embody the work — not just intellectually understand it.
This training includes:
Guided teachings and experiential practices
Grounding and filling exercises
Live demonstration
Self-reflection and journaling prompts
Nervous system awareness and therapeutic presence practices
Practical frameworks for trauma-informed healing work
Embodiment tools for working with stress, activation, and overwhelm
Included Companion Resources
To support continued learning after the master class, you'll receive a collection of carefully selected resources, including:
ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Questionnaire and trauma-awareness materials
Curated bibliography and trauma resource list featuring leading voices in trauma healing including Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Daniel Siegel, and others
Companion readings on embodiment, therapeutic presence, and nervous system regulation
Practical exercises for grounding, resilience, and self-regulation
Additional Healing From the Core® learning resources to support ongoing integration
These materials are designed to help you continue developing your understanding long after the training is complete.
Who This Training Is For
This immersion is designed for practitioners and professionals who want to deepen both their trauma knowledge and their therapeutic presence.
Including:
CranioSacral Therapists
Bodyworkers and manual therapists
Somatic practitioners
Coaches and counsellors
Healthcare professionals
Massage therapists
Energy practitioners
Caregivers and helping professionals
Anyone committed to understanding trauma through a more embodied, compassionate lens
Whether you're supporting clients professionally or navigating trauma within your own life, these principles can profoundly change the way you relate to yourself and others.
WHAT MAKES THIS TRAINING DIFFERENT
There are many excellent trauma trainings available today. Most teach you how to recognize trauma and explain the research and the science. That is important and Decoding the Impact of Trauma: Level One teaches you that, too.
But a different question is then asked of you:
What happens after you understand trauma?
When someone is sitting in front of you crying, frozen, ashamed, terrified, reliving an experience they cannot yet put into words.
What allows healing to begin? It's your ability to remain present, grounded, and to create safety.
In other words, to hold the ground.
This master class training teaches you how to develop the capacity to remain deeply connected while maintaining healthy, compassionate boundaries.
HEAR WHAT PRACTITIONERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE
Amazing class for deeply healing, practical applications to self and clients and incredible space holding!
An absolute MUST for every person working in the medical field or healing arts!
Decoding the Impact of Trauma was able to meet me where I was and to help me. To do that for one student is a success. To do that for many students is helping to achieve an enormous ripple effect of education. In the case of this class it is also a ripple effect of peace and healing.
Great curriculum allowing you to become more connected inside your own body and as result becoming a much better/grounded therapist with deeper healing for your clients. Pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
I would encourage everyone who has an interest in learning about themselves more deeply, to take a dive in to this work with the curiosity of an open LENS and experience the lightness of being that is available through these teachings about Decoding the Impact of Trauma in your own life!
Suzanne's courses are the perfect mix of experiential and instructional -- and all of it first-rate material. Each course has left me deepened: more aware, more embodied, and more trusting in my own resources for healing and being healed. I highly recommend learning from Suzanne and her team.
This class, Decoding the Impact of Trauma, guided me to the places that hadn’t healed, particularly around the places I couldn’t trust myself. With the class work and the guidance, I feel like I know why I couldn’t trust myself, I have the tools to heal internally if something else comes up, and it feels like trusting myself is now how I move in the world.
A wonderful way to learn a lot more about yourself as well as gaining many tools and knowledge for client use. Learning from incredible teachers, a truly enriching experience.
Life saving info - who can live a truly safe... and full life without a good and integrated navigational system!
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
Practical Skills for Becoming a Safe, Grounded Presence in the Midst of Trauma
This master class combines a comprehensive understanding of trauma with the embodied skills practitioners need to create greater safety, maintain healthy boundaries, and remain grounded in the midst of emotionally complex sessions.
In this training, you will...
Gain a deeper understanding of:
The many forms of trauma, including developmental, relational, shock, and cumulative trauma
How trauma changes the brain, nervous system, body, perception, and behaviour
The long-term effects of unresolved trauma
Why people respond so differently to similar experiences
The role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in lifelong health and wellbeing
Develop the capacity to remain:
Grounded when emotions become intense
Calm when another person's nervous system is activated
Deeply connected without becoming overwhelmed
Compassionate without carrying what belongs to someone else
Discover how to:
Help clients feel deeply seen and accepted
Build trust through compassionate neutrality
Strengthen and maintain healthy boundaries without creating emotional distance
Stay present with difficult stories without becoming caught in them
Support healing without needing to rescue, fix, or solve
Learn how to:
Recognize when the body is ready for deeper healing
Support nervous system regulation through presence rather than pressure
Work with the body's innate healing capacities instead of against them
Recognize the role of embodiment in long-term recovery
Bring greater confidence into emotionally complex sessions
Reduce practitioner burnout and emotional fatigue
Build stronger therapeutic relationships
Apply these principles immediately in your clinical work and personal life
Become the practitioner clients remember because they felt safe in your presence
Meet your instructors
Suzanne Scurlock, CST-D, is one of the world’s leading authorities on conscious awareness and its transformational impact on the healing process.
For more than 40 years she has empowered people with practical tools that enable them to experience joy in each moment without burning out. These skills help improve every aspect of their lives, from their health and well-being to their relationships, their careers, their creativity, even the growth of their businesses.
After decades of perfecting her methods of awakening the body’s innate wisdom, Suzanne created the comprehensive Healing From the Core® training curriculum in 1994. Today it includes a robust selection of international workshops, webinars, speaking engagements and audio programs.
Suzanne is one of the original instructors personally mentored by the late Dr. John E. Upledger, CranioSacral therapist and founder of the Upledger Institute International.
Known for her honest, grounded, nurturing manner, Suzanne is adept at weaving together mind, body and spirit to create a unique and safe environment that encourages profound healing.
She is a sought-after speaker who inspires healthcare providers, coaches, executives, parents, clergy and others to stay relaxed and energized using her life-changing tools for dissolving stress, pain, overwhelm and confusion.
She is the author of two self-care books, Reclaiming Your Body: Healing from Trauma and Awakening to Your Body’s Wisdom and Full-Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body’s Wisdom.
Lori Chinitz is a Physical Therapist, Healing From the Core® Certified Instructor, and Diplomate Certified Craniosacral Therapist with over 30 years of experience. Lori's strengths as an instructor and practitioner flow out of her capacity to witness and support each person's unique journey. Her gentle, down to earth style has often been a key to unlocking deeper doorways to healing.
One of Lori's gifts is to create a space of safety and connection that allows her clients to feel comfortable and witnessed. Lori combines her keen understanding of the body/mind connection to assist each person in their healing process.
Lori's practice combines the use of CranioSacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation,Myofascial Release, Zero Balancing, TAMO Movement,and various other therapeutic modalities while integrating principles from Healing From The Core. Lori has worked with infants, children and adults in a variety of therapeutic settings which has enabled her to create a private practice integrating eastern and western perspectives. Her practice is family centered, listening to the needs of each individual.
When Lori is not teaching, she maintains a private practice in Syosset, New York and is the Director/Owner of A Step Ahead Therapy Services, a multidisciplinary Early Intervention Agency. Lori can be reached by phone or through email at [email protected]
About Suzanne and Lori
"Both Suzanne and Lori have such a supportive nurturing way to work with a client. Just wonderful to watch and learn from both of you."
"Suzanne and Lori complement each other perfectly! As a PT, I "get" Lori's perspective. Suzanne has a gift of saying exactly the right thing at the right time. I appreciate both of you so much!"
"Always a gift to be learning from Suzanne & Lori. Their knowledge - both informational and experiential is right on & always delivered in a manner that is easy to digest and integrate into my personal and professional practice."
"Suzanne and Lori are a great team and work together so incredibly seamlessly"
"The personal and professional growth offered at each immersion class is outstanding. Suzanne and Lori are unparalleled in their ability to bring the work to life and assist participants in integrating it. I use the core concepts daily and still make positive shifts with every immersion."
Healing trauma requires something more
Knowledge, technique, and understanding trauma all matter.
But healing begins when a practitioner can remain calm, grounded, and fully present while another person's nervous system is overwhelmed.
Someone who can maintain healthy boundaries while holding the ground.
That is the practitioner this master class is designed to help you become.
Become the calm, grounded presence that helps healing unfold.
Prerequisite: Read or listen to Full Body Presence and Reclaiming your Body by Suzanne Scurlock
Or if you have taken DDCSP or the HFC Foundational course, you are eligible.
Interested in other Immersions or becoming certified in the Healing from the Core® Method?
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Healing From The Core – 11110 Sunset Hills Rd., P.O. Box 2534 Reston, Virginia 20195 United States (703) 620-4509 [email protected]