Become a certified trauma informed relationship therapist
having a truly trauma informed approach to relationship issues is essential.
According to the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention, 60% of American adults report experiencing abuse or other difficult family circumstances during childhood. That’s nearly 200 million adults in the US alone.
Research suggests that approximately 10% of those who’ve experienced trauma go on to develop PTSD.
A far greater number of trauma survivors experience the aftermath of trauma in other ways: through anxiety, depression, and significant difficulties in intimate relationships.
Yet traditional treatments for trauma have overwhelmingly focused on reducing the symptoms of posttraumatic stress—namely reducing the intrusive thoughts, physiological hyperarousal, avoidance of trauma triggers, and dissociation related to traumatic events.
Treatments for PTSD that focus on reducing trauma activation (including EMDR, exposure modalities, EFT/tapping, Brainspotting, etc.) can be vital for trauma survivors.
But none of these approaches is designed to address the ongoing impact early trauma has on intimate relationships or change ingrained, destructive relationship patterns that continue to affect our clients long after the traumatic experience has ended … and even after symptoms of posttraumatic stress have been successfully treated.
This leaves a huge gap in support and healing for trauma survivors who desperately want to have healthy, fulfilling intimate relationships.
It shouldn’t be this way.
Clients with childhood trauma want and deserve hope—hope that their past experiences aren’t a life sentence for unhealthy relationships in adulthood.
This program offers a fresh approach to trauma training—one that focuses on the impact trauma has on intimate relationships—whether or not a client’s traumatic experiences ever developed into PTSD or C-PTSD.
Research estimates that 1 in 3 women, 1 in 3 men, and 1 in 2 nonbinary people will be in an abusive relationship at some point in their lives.
As helping professionals, we know that intimate relationships are often a primary casualty of unhealed childhood trauma.
Studies consistently highlight trauma’s devastating impact on intimate relationships. And we see evidence of this in our offices every day.
In our survey of over 1700 adults, 93% agreed with the statement, “I think it’s inevitable in relationships that each person’s past relationship wounds come up sometimes.”
More than ever before, clients are arriving at our offices already aware that their past experiences are negatively impacting their current relationships. They just don’t know what to do about it.
That’s where you come in.
Our certification in Trauma Informed Relationship Counseling is unique. We go beyond what’s taught in other trauma treatment modalities about how to work with the Big T Traumas (the ones that often result in diagnoses of PTSD or C-PTSD) to address the effects of relational trauma that interfere with people’s quality of life and ability to create healthy, happy relationships.
The reality is that being effective in your work with individuals with difficult or traumatic childhood histories requires a nuanced understanding of how small t traumas from childhood exert a powerful, detrimental influence on adult intimate relationships.
With the rapid increase in public awareness about trauma over the last few years, far more people are desperately seeking guidance as they now recognize their own trauma for the first time …
Trauma Informed Care Is the Wave of the Future.
Are you ready to meet it?
Here’s what you can expect when you sign up to become Certified AS A Trauma Informed Relationship THERAPIST:
▫︎ Confidence that your work with clients is highly effective
▫︎ Rapid, accurate insights into the roots of clients’ relationship issues
▫︎ Fresh skills that build trust with clients quickly, as you recognize patterns in their relationships and help them understand why they repeatedly get stuck in frustrating cycles
▫︎ Intuitively recognize the meaning of specific patterns clients exhibit, which allows you to do great work with those who’ve had a string of ineffective or less-than-ideal therapy experiences
▫︎ Deeper appreciation for challenging clients (and their difficult partners) as you identify the traumatic underpinnings of defensive behaviors
▫︎ Greater success with clients who have a long history of toxic or abusive relationships, helping them step out of old patterns and create healthier relationships
▫︎ More fulfillment and less anxiety in your work as you develop a whole new toolbox of clinical skills
☞ Our certification program is designed to be straightforward, so you can get the training you need without extra costs and hoops to jump through.
☞ Receive the complete certification program, with lifetime access, without the requirement of additional levels of training in order to be fully certified.
BEGINS OCTOBER 2024
program highlights
What you’ll receive when you sign up
6 Modules of Clinical Training
Lessons are delivered via recorded video with on demand access, so training fits with your schedule. Each module includes handouts of the highlights so you don’t even need to take notes, unless you want to. See below for detailed descriptions of what each training module covers.
Assessments, Forms, & Interventions
Our library of intake forms and specialized assessments will be yours—to use in your own practice with your clients. Assessments are copyrighted by the Institute while you are free to adapt intake forms to suit your own clinical preferences. You’ll also receive detailed instructions for interventions you can use with clients.
Marketing, Business, & Media Training
You’ll receive access to a bonus module dedicated to helping you reach your ideal clients and become known as an expert on trauma & relationships in your area. Once you complete the certification process, you’ll have the option of being included in the Directory of Certified Trauma Informed Relationship Therapists on our site.
Our certification program includes:
▹ The whole certification program in one price. No extra levels of training necessary (and no additional paid supervision!) in order to be fully certified. You can view the requirements for certification HERE.
▹ Six modules of training on Trauma Informed Relationship Therapy that’s equally effective whether you see individuals, couples, or both. (See below for complete description of modules.)
▹ On demand trainings with lifetime access. This gives you the flexibility to complete training on your own schedule. Lifetime access means you can rewatch videos anytime you’re in need of a refresher.
▹ Interventions (with detailed instructions) specifically designed for working with individuals and couples with histories of relational trauma.
▹ An entire bonus module devoted to business and marketing. This includes guidance on connecting with local and statewide networks (for potential referrals), as well as insider tips for garnering statewide and national media attention for your practice. You’ll also learn how to tap into the power of Google to set your business apart from the rest and help your ideal clients find you quickly.
▹ Once you’re certified, you have the option of being listed in our directory as a Certified Trauma Informed Relationship Therapist. For those in the US, listings will be grouped by states, so you can be included under each state in which you’re licensed. Listings are free for those who’ve completed the program.
▹ A library of assessments and intake paperwork to support you in your work with clients.
▹ A certification logo you can place on your website, business cards, and paperwork once you’ve completed certification. See the logo HERE.
Certification Program Overview
This is a self-study program, so you can work through the lessons at your own pace.
Here’s what you’ll learn
Module one
UNDERSTANDING RELATIONAL TRAUMA
‣ Relational trauma: what is it, why it matters, and how it affects clients
‣ Relationship templates: how they form in childhood and the influence they exert in adult relationships
‣ Identifying clients’ working models of relationships & how these develop in childhood
‣ Understanding the two fundamental needs in human relationships & what happens when one or both of these needs are missing early in life
‣ Identifying clients’ core wounds from childhood and how these are activated in adult relationships
‣ Working with trauma repetition in intimate relationships
‣ How relational trauma and relationship templates drive the development of adult attachment styles
Module two
TRAUMA & INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
‣ Understanding and working with the core tension in all intimate relationships
‣ Authenticity, belonging, and vulnerability: identifying where things go wrong in relationships
‣ Uncovering the relationship metaphors causing problems in clients’ relationships
‣ Working with trauma fragmentation, shame, and trauma repetition in relationships
‣ Supporting clients in toxic, karmic, and abusive relationships with trauma-informed interventions
‣ Helping clients develop the five essential elements of healthy relationships
‣ Using the healing power of the therapeutic relationship effectively
Module three
FIVE CORE RELATIONSHIP STYLES
‣ Understanding the Five Relationship Archetypes and how they develop from relational trauma
‣ How to identify your clients’ core relationship style
‣ Understanding the specific tendencies, challenges, and patterns of each relationship archetype
‣ Identify and work with core wounds and defenses underlying repetitive relationship patterns
‣ How to use your assessment of clients’ relationship style to effectively guide your therapeutic work
‣ How to identify client’s growth opportunities and support them through this process
‣ Help clients access and build on gifts of their particular relationship archetype profile
Module four
THE INDIVIDUAL IN RELATIONSHIP
‣ Uncovering Secret Relationship Contracts operating under the surface of relationships
‣ Understanding how individual relationship archetypes/styles interact in intimate partnerships (and other relationships)
‣ Recognizing problematic interactions between partners’ relationship templates from childhood
‣ Anticipating sources of conflict, tension, and stuck points in relationships, based on partners’ primary relationship archetypes
‣ Understanding underlying causes of repetitive relationship patterns and problems
‣ Effecting change in relationships while working with individual clients (i.e. couples therapy for one)
‣ Mapping the change in clients’ primary relationship archetype from one relationship to another
Module five
TRAUMA INFORMED COUPLES THERAPY
‣ Understanding qualities of an intimate relationship that can be a healing container for past trauma
‣ Supporting the development of essential skills in communication as the foundation for healthy relationships
‣ Working with a couple’s secret relationship contracts and unhelpful relationship metaphors
‣ Healing relationship wounds, both past and present
‣ Identifying a couple’s specific vulnerability cycle and using it as a path to helping a couple repair ruptures in their relationship
‣ Recognizing trauma-based barriers to developing trust in intimate relationships & supporting the couple’s ability to lean toward each other
‣ Supporting couples in developing empathy, vulnerability and deeper connection
Module six
RECLAIMING WHOLENESS
‣ Understanding how one’s relationship with self is the foundation for all relationships with others
‣ Guiding clients in recovering and integrating parts of themselves they lost touch with as a result of trauma
‣ Helping clients reconnect with their innate goodness and why this is so healing
‣ Working with the ambiguous losses caused by relational trauma
‣ Building clients’ self-appreciation, self-compassion, and authentic self-love
‣ Helping clients learn the healthy relationship skills they missed out on early in life
‣ Navigating challenges in the therapeutic relationship on the path to healing and trauma recovery
Module SEVEN
EXPANDING YOUR IMPACT: MARKETING & MEDIA
‣ Effective ways to find your ideal clients
‣ Developing relationships with potential referrals at the local and statewide level
‣ Sharing your message through local, regional, and national media coverage
‣ How to tap into the power of Google to help your potential clients find you quickly
‣ How to find media opportunities to be featured as an expert on relationships and trauma
‣ How to pitch media outlets and podcasts (with email templates!)
‣ Access to our library of specialized assessment tools and intake paperwork
Hey there … I’m Angela Amias, lcsw.
We all know that relationship difficulties are one of the most pressing issues that clients bring to therapy. I estimate that 90-95% of my adult clients over the course of my career had a history of painful childhood experiences that negatively impacted their ability to create meaningful, satisfying intimate relationships.
I developed the Trauma Informed Relationship Therapy model to help those with relational trauma from childhood create the kind of healthy, happy adult relationships everyone deserves.
It’s the first comprehensive therapy model that integrates a trauma informed approach to relationships, helping both individuals and couples overcome relationship struggles and create more satisfying connections.
I’ve had such a powerful response in my own clinical work with this approach that I knew I had to teach other helping professionals how to bring a trauma informed lens to the kinds of relationship issues that clients bring to counseling.
There’s nothing more satisfying than the confidence that you’re highly skilled and effective in your work with clients.
Our bet is that—whether you work with individuals, couples, or both—a large number of your existing clients are in need of the skills and fresh understanding you’ll gain from Trauma Informed Relationship Therapy training. Even before you finish the first module, we think you’ll instantly see where this approach will benefit your clinical work.
This program is the missing piece. Traditional trauma treatments are designed to reduce symptoms of traumatic stress. They’re not designed to address the problematic relationship patterns learned in childhood that continue to create difficulties in adult relationships. Trauma Informed Relationship Therapy is the perfect complement to other approaches to trauma treatment as well as other relationship counseling modalities.
Becoming a Certified Trauma Informed Relationship Therapist is a necessary step toward meeting an unmet need for those struggling with the effects of relational trauma from childhood. It offers new hope for your existing clients as well as potential clients in your area … who are desperately searching for relief.
People need effective therapy that helps them address underlying trauma-related issues from childhood that are impairing their adult relationships. With this training, you’ll be able to help clients understand what they learned about relationships early in life (that’s not helping them now) as well as quickly identify what they missed out on learning about relationships (that they need to learn) in order to have the kind of fulfilling relationships they deserve.
If you’ve ever felt at a loss when it comes to helping clients free themselves from repetitive, destructive patterns in their relationships, this is the training for you.
We believe so strongly in the effectiveness of this program, that we confidently offer a 45 day satisfaction guarantee. If this program doesn’t meet your needs, we’ll happily refund your money.
FAQs
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Yes—absolutely. One module of the program is devoted to working with couples. We expect that even if you don’t work with couples yourself, you will still get tremendous value out of the material in this section, because you work with individuals who are in intimate partnerships.
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This program is completely unique because it approaches trauma from a relational lens, rather than the traditional focus on reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress. We expect you will find this program to be an excellent complement to any other trauma modality you are already trained in.
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Requirements for CEs differ by state. We will provide a Continuing Education Certificate if you fulfill the requirements of our course and request a certificate. However, this does not mean that these hours will count with your particular licensing board. Angela is licensed in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Iowa, and Illinois. If you’re uncertain about whether this program qualifies for CEs with your licensing board, check with your regulatory agency to get clarity on this question.
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No, you don’t. While you may decide to pursue additional training in a modality like EMDR at another point, you do not need additional training to be able to apply what you learn in this program in your clinical practice. This is a comprehensive training program for helping your clients heal relational trauma.
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You can find the complete list of requirements for certification right HERE.
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Both Angela and Daniel are available by email and will respond to any questions within 24 business hours.
If you have deeper questions or would like more support, you also have the option of scheduling a clinical consultation session and/or a business coaching session with Angela at a reduced rate of $200/hour (a $50 discount on the regular rate).
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We offer a 45 day 100% money back guarantee. We want you to love the program. But if you don’t, we want you to feel good about your experience working with us. That means promptly issuing a refund if you decide the program isn’t right for you.
Do you have a question that’s not answered here? Contact us.
Wondering if this program is right for you?
Use the button below to reach out with your questions or set up a free consultation. We’ll chat about your work with clients, your professional goals and whether becoming Certified in Trauma Informed Relationships is a good fit for you. And you’ll have the chance to get answers to any questions you have about the program.
FROM THE EXPERTS on relationships and trauma FEATURED IN OPRAH, NBC NEWS, Today, newsweek, cosmopolitan & MANY MORE.
ANGELA AMIAS, LCSW & DR. DANIEL BOSCALJON
The impact of relational trauma from childhood on adult intimate relationships is often overlooked in the research that informs our training as therapists.
This is tragic because these small t traumas of childhood create unhealed relationship wounds that end up surfacing in adult relationships and create significant distress for individuals and couples, contributing not just to relationship problems but also depression, anxiety, and other mental health challenges.
Only a relatively small percentage of individuals with a history of trauma will go on to develop PTSD or C-PTSD. And yet, that’s the exclusive focus of most training on how to treat trauma.
Diagnoses like PTSD and C-PTSD represent only a fraction of all adults living with childhood trauma. A frequent outcome of childhood trauma—even in the absence of any diagnosis like PTSD or C-PTSD—is difficulty in intimate relationships. This includes challenges with attachment and intimacy, but also relates to communication, etc.
Featured in
Angela Amias, interviewed by journalist Nicole Karlis for Salon. In Heard–Depp defamation trial, the stigma of borderline personality disorder looms large
Therapists also say [borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder] are complex disorders that don't necessarily factor in a person's past traumas or environmental factors. Angela Amias, a couples therapist and co-founder of Alchemy of Love, told Salon both disorders are "typically rooted in trauma. So those are labels that are put on someone's behavior, but it's not actually speaking to the root of where that is coming from, in somebody's traumatic reactions to current situations that are based on their past experiences," Amias said. "I don't think they're helpful labels.”about us
We provide training, consulting, and certification in Trauma Informed Relationship Counseling. We’re the creators of the Five Relationship Archetypes and the founders of Alchemy of Love, which provides trauma informed relationship programs. We’re also the hosts of the Alchemy of Connection podcast. We developed the Relationship Yes! Test, a simple and elegant five question checklist for healthy relationships, designed for those with a past history of relational trauma, to help them know what’s working (and what might not be working) in their intimate relationships.
Angela Amias, LCSW
Clinical Director
Angela Amias, LCSW, is a relationship therapist and nationally recognized relationship expert. She’s also the co-founder of Alchemy of Love, which provides trauma informed relationship programs for individuals and couples. She founded the Institute for Trauma Informed Relationships to provide training and education to therapists who want to help their clients heal past wounds and create more fulfilling relationships.
Angela developed the Trauma Informed Relationship Counseling model of relationship therapy to bridge the gap between cutting edge research on relational trauma and traditional models for relationship counseling. It’s the first comprehensive relationship counseling model that integrates a trauma informed approach to help both individuals and couples overcome relationship struggles and create more satisfying connections.
Angela got her start as a therapist working at one of only a handful of clinics in the United States that specialized in treating profound attachment trauma in adopted children. As a trauma focused family therapist, Angela’s role was to help adoptive parents understand the inner world of their wounded child, while she also helped the children in her care learn how to trust again, so they could get close to their adoptive parents.
When she left this role to become a therapist at a holistic healing center, working with women and men with depression, anxiety, and run-of-the-mill relationship issues, she imagined that her specialized skill set for treating attachment trauma would no longer be needed.
What she actually discovered was the exact opposite.
To her surprise, the struggles her adult clients described in their romantic relationships were remarkably similar to what she’d witnessed at the trauma clinic. Nearly all her adult clients seemed to be carrying some of the same core wounds from childhood that she’d first seen in severely traumatized children.
This was true despite the fact that many of her clients reported having unremarkable childhoods, with seemingly adequate parenting when they were young. And yet, they’d still grown up internalizing messages that created problems in their adult relationships.
This convinced Angela that people don’t have to experience severe Capital T Trauma to be wounded by painful childhood experiences. Things like frequent criticism, parental unpredictability, a lack of positive attention, or a sense that our authentic selves aren’t lovable all affect us deeply … in ways that we carry with us into our adult relationships.
This realization—that nearly all of us have core wounds from childhood that interfere with our ability to create healthy, intimate relationships—changed the course of Angela’s career.
The truth is: in Angela’s work with hundreds of individuals and couples, she has yet to encounter anyone whose relationship problems in adulthood don’t have roots in childhood experiences.
This insight led Angela to pioneer the development of Trauma Informed Relationship Counseling for Individuals and Couples, which helps clients understand the connection between their childhood experiences, what they learned about relationships as a result of those experiences, and the issues they’re currently experiencing in their relationships.
It was her work with hundreds of individuals and couples that informed the creation of the Five Relationship Archetypes. This model reflects the five key ways that childhood relational trauma impacts adult intimate relationships, based on the messages we internalize as children about ourselves and how we need to behave in relationships with others. With Daniel Boscaljon, Angela also developed the Relationship Yes! Test as a simple, five question assessment to help people measure the health of their intimate relationship.
In an effort to understand intimate relationships from all angles, Angela has trained and practiced as a discernment counselor, helping couples on the brink of divorce to decide whether to separate or try to heal their relationship. She’s also a certified divorce mediator.
Angela holds additional training in therapeutic writing and journaling as tools for trauma recovery, emotional healing, and personal growth. She uses these tools to help transform past pain into the seeds for future possibilities … possibilities that include the kind of loving, intimate relationship with self and others that each person deserves to have. Her approach to healing relational trauma seamlessly blends creativity and healing, reflecting her profound faith in the power of honoring our true stories.
She received her Master’s of Social Work at the University of Iowa in 2009 and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, also from the University of Iowa.
As a relationship expert, Angela has been featured in numerous publications, including Today, Oprah, Cosmopolitan, The Independent, Well + Good, Salon, Forbes, MSN, Women’s Health and the Toronto Sun. On the topic of relationships, she’s been a contributing writer for Inc. and Fatherly. On the subject of trauma, she’s a contributing author of the Clinical EFT Handbook, published in 2013.
In her spare time, Angela is a mixed media artist. Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the United States and published in several journals and magazines. She’s also the co-creator of the Faces of the Divine Feminine Oracle, published in 2017.
Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Angela now makes her happy home in Cheyenne, Wyoming. On sunny days, you can find her cozied up with a book or hiking in the mountains with Daniel.
You can find her art at angelaamias.gallery.
Daniel Boscaljon, PHD
Director of Research & Program Development
Dr. Daniel Boscaljon is an internationally respected author, scholar, and teacher. In addition to his role as the Director of Research and Program Development at the Institute for Trauma Informed Relationships, he’s also the co-founder of Alchemy of Love, which provides trauma-informed relationship programs for individuals and couples. As an award-winning educator and coach, Daniel helps people rediscover their innate value, individual gifts, and inner resources.
Daniel’s interest in trauma-informed relationships emerges from his struggle to move past the ways his childhood trauma negatively impacted his life and relationships. As is true of many survivors, as he healed past wounds, he discovered a desire to use his skills and experiences to help others recover. This led him to focus his career on how to help others create lives that no longer are controlled by the past, so they can find personal meaning and fulfillment in the future.
Daniel has two PhDs from the University of Iowa. His graduate education allowed him to deeply engage with sources of traditional wisdom as well as psychoanalysis and narrative. After a brief academic career, he shifted to working with adults by providing educational training and development for groups and working one-on-one as an executive coach, integrating his education with the ability to make a bigger impact in the world. In his role at the Institute of Trauma Informed Relationships, he helps design programs that support therapists, counselors, and coaches in their healing work with clients.
As an expert on relationships, trauma, and human flourishing, Daniel has been featured in many publications, including NBC News, Newsweek, Harper’s Bazaar, MindBodyGreen, Forbes, Lifehacker, Salon, and many others.
Born in California and raised in Iowa, Daniel now happily makes his home in the wilds of Wyoming. You can learn more about him at danielboscaljon.com.