CTI Summer Training Institute
Complex Trauma-Informed, Spiritually Aware: Considering Spirituality in Client Care
Presented by Jana Pressley, Psy.D.
This workshop will explore the way in which one’s spiritual identity and experience can be deeply impacted by complex trauma. With the understanding that spirituality resonates differently from one person to the next, this session will guide therapists in exploring: 1) spirituality as painfully interwoven with trauma exposure and impact, 2) spirituality as a resource for coping and meaning making, and 3) spirituality as a source of significant ambivalence for those who hold both difficult existential questions and ongoing commitment to spiritual practice. Workshop themes will include the tension between individuals’ conflicted experiences of spiritual abandonment and connection, loss and renewal, disillusionment and hope. Clinical intervention incorporating spirituality themes will be discussed, with reflection on therapist spirituality in client-therapist parallel processes.
Learning Objectives: (2.25 CE hours)
Participants who complete this module will be able to:
- Distinguish between the positive and negative intersections of trauma and spirituality in diverse client experiences.
- Examine spirituality as a resource for maximizing client coping and meaning making, when applicable.
- Appraise their own biases around religion and spirituality in light of best therapeutic practice in integration of spirituality as holistic trauma care.
Schedule:
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
8:15-10:30 am