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Trauma Studies Concentration

  • Credits:
    9

Concentration Description

The master’s concentration in Trauma Studies provides professional training in crisis intervention and trauma treatment, education and prevention, leading to certification. The program has a strong commitment to educating compassionate, ethical and effective trauma specialists. The program emphasizes the role of trauma specialists in implementing trauma informed care across disciplines and utilizing community resources.

A Key Element in Your Counseling Degree. The Trauma Studies concentration provides an important area of knowledge for professionals who work with people suffering from trauma. The concentration is accepted in the following Cambridge College degree programs:

  • Mental Health Counseling
  • School Adjustment & Mental Health Counseling

Learning Outcomes

Students will gain knowledge of crisis, trauma, post-traumatic stress reactions, trauma-specific interventions and disaster mental health in multi-cultural settings. They can apply the learned skills in trauma assessment, counseling and treatment to effectively respond to immediate and long-term needs of survivors, including war veterans, survivors of child abuse, first responders, immigrants and refugees, as well as victims of crime, disasters, domestic violence, sex trafficking and torture.

Careers

Graduates will qualify to work in crisis response teams, provide trauma-informed care in community mental health, addiction treatment and rehabilitation programs in school settings and provide support for veterans, survivors of gender-based violence and refugees.

Curriculum

Take CCP727 or CCP729.

Post Traumatic Stress Reactions
CCP 724 • 3 credit(s)
This course focuses on theory, research and practice of trauma by addressing systemic and cultural aspects of diagnosis, assessment, dynamics, and trauma treatment. This includes acute stress disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and complex PTSD, as well as dual diagnoses. Immediate and long-term effects of trauma on various populations will be explored: trauma in adults, children, and families, sexual and physical abuse survivors; victims of crimes, large scale disaster, war; workplace violence and complicated grief. Other topics include trauma resilience, natural courses of coping; transgenerational aspects of traumatization and life span perspectives on trauma. This course addresses the following Massachusetts State Standard for School Adjustment Counselor/School Social Worker: d: Prevention and treatment of substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and violence in PreK-12 students. This course includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
Clinical Interventions for Combat Stress and Trauma
CCP 727 • 3 credit(s)
This course is taught in the fall only. The content and design of this course is to familiarize students with the history, diagnosis and treatment of combat stress and trauma (CST) in the lives of primarily military people, but also the effects of CST on civilian populations exposed to war operations. The course will further provide information concerning the effects of CST on veterans’ families. Through lecture, class discussion, directed readings and case studies, students will become acquainted with causes and effective treatments of CST. Emphasis will be placed on diagnosis, treatment, referral resources and the support systems. Students will gain knowledge of: 1) the prevalence and complexity of combat stress and trauma; 2) counseling and treatment methods for returning veterans and their families; and 3) referral resources for veterans. Students will demonstrate proficiency in understanding the nature and complexity of combat stress and trauma. Includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
Trauma Interventions in Schools
CCP 729 • 3 credit(s)
This course is taught in the spring term only. Trauma, chronic fear and stress impact children’s neurobiological development which affects critical brain functions (memory, language, problem-solving, higher order thinking, and executive function skills). The support a child/adolescent receives from those around them and the communities they inhabit heavily influences the trauma response and forward growth. Schools are children’s communities. This course will explore the impact of trauma on the child/adolescent’s neurobiological development, relationships, behavior, learning and academic performance. Trauma sensitive approaches in schools are described, including prevention and treatment of physical, sexual and substance abuse, as well as clinical interventions related to stabilization and the development of coping and social skills. School and system-wide crisis prevention, intervention and postvention planning and implementation will also be reviewed. Includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction. This course addresses the following Massachusetts State Standard for School Adjustment Counselor/School Social Worker: d: Prevention and treatment of substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and violence in PreK-12 students. This course addresses the following Massachusetts State Standards for School Guidance Counseling: f. Knowledge of strategies used for the prevention and treatment of substance, physical and sexual abuse, the spectrum of mental illnesses, and violence in PreK-12 students
Trauma Specific Interventions
CCP 728 • 3 credit(s)
Students will learn about assumptions, principles and concepts of trauma-specific treatment approaches and trauma-informed care. Students will gain knowledge of theory and practice of psychological first aid, its application in disaster mental health, crisis intervention and crisis counseling. They will become familiar with major approaches in trauma treatment: individual and group trauma counseling, cognitive, behavioral, psychodynamic, and exposure therapies, psychopharmacological treatments, and newly emerging approaches. The acquired knowledge and skills can be applied in providing individual and group crisis intervention, brief trauma counseling and treatment of survivors of sexual abuse, war trauma, torture, disasters and workplace violence and other. The ethics of trauma work will be thoroughly covered. This course includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
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