Rethinking Trauma: The LIVE Workshop

The 5 hour workshop for perinatal professionals supporting clients through birth trauma.

I GET IT...

Working with trauma can
be daunting - 

Particularly if you feel it's out of your scope...

But it's something that just keeps reappearing!  
You see trauma in SO MANY of your clients.

There's so much to consider, where do you even start?
How do you ensure you're not causing harm by doing or saying the wrong thing?
How can you support these clients without crossing the boundaries of your role?
If you're not a therapist, how can you even work with trauma at all? 

So you're constantly...

Wondering if you're doing or saying the wrong thing.
Wondering if you're doing enough.
Wondering how you can do more.
Or avoiding the whole issue.

I'VE BEEN THERE TOO...

Hey!  I'm Fiona

I began my work with perinatal clients 12 years ago as a newborn photographer, then moved to becoming a birth and postnatal doula, then a childbirth educator, before training as a specialised perinatal trauma counsellor.  

I know how challenging it is to work with this client population and feel under-resourced to be able to support them through their hardest times.  Even now my work still branches out into areas outside of counselling as I continue to provide group antenatal classes - I ensure that my offerings are trauma-safe and trauma-responsive.

I've now supported hundreds of perinatal health and support professionals in confidently doing the same...

You want practical and effective strategies to support your clients who’ve experienced perinatal trauma in an impactful way…

 And the clarity and confidence that comes with this knowledge.  

INTRODUCING...

Rethinking Trauma: The LIVE Workshop... A live, 5 hour, interactive online workshop, designed to move you from confusion to clarity, so that you can gain the confidence you need to effectively support individuals who have experienced trauma during pregnancy or childbirth. Rethinking Trauma gives you the tools, strategies and techniques to not only will you improve your clients' experience with your services, but to also allow you to find greater satisfaction in your work - all within the scope of your role...

... yes, even if you're completely new to learning about trauma.

Endorsed by the Australian College of Midwives for 5 hours of CPD

"I believe training such as this should be a core competency of clinical education. "

Ebony Benzie 

Registered Midwife


As clinical staff and health care professionals, we encounter and unintentionally contribute to trauma regularly. It is essential that we comprehend this and go on to develop practical approaches to hearing and responding to a person's experience. I believe training such as this should be a core competency of clinical education.

The counsellor/social work approach to trauma is distinctly different to the clinical health professionals' approach and Fiona was able to draw the parallels between the psychosocial and biomedical models. 

I wish there was someone like Fiona at every hospital, birth centre, and in every clinical education program in Australia.  I can now support someone to breastfeed in one room and then in the next room be caring for a family who are grieving.

"This course completely exceeded my expectations. "

Julia Bassis

Birth Doula, France

 Prior to the course the most challenging thing for me was to make sure that I won't retraumatize my clients. I don't want to cause any more harm to them, and I hope to guide them to a state of peace and wellbeing, if/when possible.  This course completely exceeded my expectations. 

I am an avid learner and I would like to acknowledge the quality of this course.  I appreciated the right balance between theory and practical tools.

"If it's something your thinking of doing you definitely should. "

Jami Twine

Birth Photographer


I have heard Fiona speak before and she has such a warm, calm energy about her. She is also very well-known in the birth world in Perth and I wanted to learn from the best.

 I cannot thank you enough for creating this course, learning about trauma, how it body responds to it and how to work with it made me feel so much capable, not only to help my clients but myself.


"There was so much information to learn on each element. It was a really good insight and I feel most people in general need to know this information, not just those in our field."

Megan

Student Doula



IN THOSE EARLY DAYS I ALSO MADE MY SHARE OF MISTAKES...

I've filled the silence after the disclosure of trauma with toxically positive comments... "at least your baby is here, healthy and safe"... dismissing her emotions and causing her retreat.

I've not known what to say, so I've remained silent.. .causing her to question herself and the validity of her emotions.

I've questioned my clients for further information... encouraging her to sit in distressing memories, retraumatising her as she spoke. I've related my client's experience back to my own... unaware that I was invalidating her experience by comparing it to my own.

... BEFORE I LEARNED HOW TO DO BETTER

Rethinking Trauma is based on the approach that...

  • Due to the prevalence on perinatal trauma, ALL perinatal professionals need tools to be able to work with trauma, within the scope of their practice - not just counsellors and therapists
  • Trauma support is needed BEFORE clients make the decision to seek out therapy
  • Simple, consistent trauma-responsive actions can lead to greater client engagement and retention in perinatal services, improved success of mental health referrals, generating more successful outcomes overall
  • Building clarity and confidence around trauma-responsive care can lead to improved career fulfilment and work satisfaction for perinatal professionals 

""I will be recommending this to all of my colleagues."

Jillian R

Registered Midwife


I got so much out of the live workshop. I now have much more clarity around how I can support clients in the perinatal space whilst working safely within my scope of practice, and not putting anyone at risk of further harm. 

I believe that this education should actually be a fundamental component of study for all perinatal professionals, so that we can all practice in a way which protects women and birthing people and their families from unnecessary trauma. 

WORKSHOP CONTENT

MODULE 1 - Understanding Trauma

  • Defining exactly what trauma is
  • Understanding the types of trauma perinatal clients experience
  • Acknowledging the prevalence of trauma 
  • Understanding the need for trauma-responsiveness in perinatal care
  • Three primary factors that influence trauma
  • The overlapping impacts of trauma for perinatal clients
... so that you gain a deeper understanding of WHY this work is vital to the outcomes of your clients and the provision of your services.

MODULE 2 - How Trauma Works

  • How trauma forms and functions in the brain
  • How trauma forms and functions in the body
  • Recognising the seen and unseen signs of trauma
  • Understanding the cognitive, emotional, behavioural and physical symptoms of trauma
... so that you have a clear awareness of the experiences of your clients and a realisation of how trauma may be impacting their successful engagement with your services.

MODULE 3 - Working With and Without Trauma Disclosure: Part 1

  • Understanding your scope when working with trauma
  • Working with unspoken trauma through implementing the pillars of trauma-informed practice 
  • Implementing trauma-sensitive language into work practices
...so that you have a clear framework to implement within your scope of practice that will give you confidence in supporting those that do not disclose their experience of trauma. 

MODULE 4 - Working With and Without Trauma Disclosure: Part 2

  • Practical tools for working with emotional and somatic trauma responses that arise for your clients
  • Working with Polyvagal Theory and the Window of Tolerance within your clients
  • Expanding your client's tolerance of distress so that they can maximise their outcomes in your services
  • Debriefing skills - how to safely work with disclosure

... so that you have simple yet practical tools for supporting your clients (and yourself) through the disclosure of trauma.

MODULE 5 - Supporting Referrals

  • Indicators of when referral is necessary
  • Barriers to successful referrals
  • Trauma-responsive care as the missing piece in a successful referral
  • A framework for ensuring effective referrals

...so that you can feel confident that your referral will be successful and will improve the outcomes for your clients.

MODULE 6 - Trauma in Perinatal Professionals

  • Vicarious (VT) and Secondary Trauma (ST)
  • Avoiding VT and ST
  • Internal and external boundary setting
  • Dimensions of self-support
  • When and where to seek external support
  • Barriers to health professionals seeking support...

... so that you are able to recognise the impact this work can have on you, with a clear direction of what to do to support yourself.

WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY...

Thanks so much, it's a great resource. Your work is amazing and so needed, thank you for what you do to support families and mothers.

Kylie

Perinatal Mental Health Nurse

Thanks Fiona, this will be invaluable for all the mothers we teach! I really appreciate that you've shared your work with us, thanks so much.

Dominique

HypnoBirthing Educator

The content was really informative and relevant.
The handouts and resources will be really handy.

Rhiaan

Student Doula

Amazing presentation Fiona! Brilliant! Loved the way you covered all aspects. Thank you for sharing valuable knowledge!

Sarojini

HypnoBirthing Educator

Thank you so much again. This area of support is SO needed for mothers, fathers, doulas, midwives, etc.

Kayla

Midwife

Fiona, thank you for sharing your wisdom and knowledge. I appreciate your dedication to making a change for all involved. 

Barbara

Childbirth Educator

Very interest content and good to hear a different point of view. Fiona has a beautiful presence and made me feel at ease talking about a touchy subject.

Ashleigh

Student

Very informative. I learnt so much that will be so valuable and useful. I have worked as a nurse for years and never been told this... it needs to be told. Such important information.

Britt

Nurse

I was very impressed with the content and felt safe to learn this topic to become informed.  I felt it was delivered with compassion, love, knowledge and gentleness. It has opened me up to start thinking of how I can support women with trauma.  

Flow

Student 

LET ME GUESS...

You're very curious but not quite sure if
RETHINKING TRAUMA is the right fit for you?

I get it, wanting to work with trauma can be daunting!  And there are so many courses out there right now.
It makes sense to think about your options before you join. So let me help you out....

First of all, Rethinking Trauma isn't right for you if...

  • You don't feel trauma is your problem - let's leave it to the experts
  • You already work within a trauma-responsive approach
  • You work alone and don't interact with clients

BUT, Rethinking Trauma - IS 100% right for you even if...

  • You want to work more effectively with these clients, but you're not sure where to start
  • You don't know the first thing about trauma
  • Even if you know a lot about trauma
  • You want to support your clients who have disclosed trauma, but you feel anxious at causing unintentional harm by retraumatizing them
  • You want to help more clients, but you can't find the time in your current role
  • You're still a student in your chosen field
  • You want to learn more about working with trauma, but you're worried you're too time-poor to even do a course 
  • You want to actively support your clients that have experienced perinatal trauma, but you feel it's out of your scope of practice
  • And you want to do all of this with less anxiety and hesitation, and with more clarity and confidence

HOW DO YOU WANT TO FEEL WHEN YOU'RE WORKING WITH A TRAUMATISED CLIENT?

Because, if you join Rethinking Trauma you’ll soon be feeling pretty different to how you feel right now...

How would you feel if you:

  • Had a DEEPER UNDERSTANDING of how trauma works and its impacts on the clients you serve
  • Knew exactly how to respond with CONFIDENCE when a client discloses their experience of trauma to you
  • Knew that your work practices TRULY support those that have experienced trauma - whether they disclose or not
  • Had the CLARITY to know when and how to successfully refer your clients to seek external support
  • Had a kit of TOOLS and STRATEGIES to effectively support not only your clients, but yourself in this work too

HAVE QUESTIONS?

freQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Yes.  If you work with perinatal clients at all, this course will be suitable for you. It is designed for you to be able to take what you learn and apply it to your specific line of work. Doulas, midwives, photographers, educators, physios, GPs, nurses, nutritionists, coaches, personal trainers, obstetricians, dieticians, parenting educators, sleep support specialists... if you work with perinatal clients, this is for you.

Yes, absolutely.  From the very first module we gain a greater understanding of trauma as a whole, as well as the types and varying factors involved, so what you will learn from there can be applied across the board.

No, don't wait!  This course will set you up with a strong foundation for understanding the intricacies of trauma that will allow you to build on top of this knowledge for the remainder of your studies and beyond. 

You will gain access to your client portal immediately on registering.

The course content itself, the additional worksheets and ebooks, as well as the live group discussions, equates to 5 hours of professional development.
The Australian College of Midwives endorses this course with 5 hours of CPD.

Great! Send me an email at fiona@fionarogerson.com.au and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

FEB 22

4x PAYMENTS

$150

OR

$599

  • 5 hour interactive workshop
  • 6 modules of content
  • 20+ pages of printable resources

MAY 24

4x PAYMENTS

$150

OR

$599

  • 5 hour interactive workshop
  • 6 modules of content
  • 20+ pages of printable resources

AUG 9

4x PAYMENTS

$150

OR

$599

  • 5 hour interactive workshop
  • 6 modules of content
  • 20+ pages of printable resources

NOV 1

4x PAYMENTS

$150

OR

$599

  • 5 hour interactive workshop
  • 6 modules of content
  • 20+ pages of printable resources

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