Trauma Informed Pet Professionals

Welcome to Trauma Informed Pet Professionals. This course consists of eight lectures with Daniel Shaw, exploring the complex issue of trauma in the domestic dog. This course is designed to put you at the forefront of your industry when working with traumatised individuals, both developing your understanding of the development and neurobiological basis of trauma, and providing you with a practical skillset for working with traumatised dogs.

This is a self-paced course, open to all pet professionals, including but not limited to behaviourists, trainers, veterinarians, groomers, and vet nurses.

This course contains 8 modules with video lectures, a number of recorded Q&A sessions expanding on the module topics, and a final asssessment after which you will be awarded a Trauma Informed Pet Professionals assessed practitioner certificate. Once you sign up to the course, you will have LIFETIME access.

The eight modules in this course include:

Module 1 – What is Trauma

• What is meant by the term “trauma”
• Types of trauma a dog may experience
• How does trauma affect dog behaviour
• Risk factors for traumatisation
• Genetics and trauma
• Development and trauma
• The canine ethogram
• How trauma is researched

Module 2 – Learning and Memory

• Types of memory
• Episodic memory
• Encoding specificity principle
• Associative and non-associative learning
• Safety behaviours
• Social learning and socially acquired trauma
• The neurobiology of learning

Module 3 – The Neurobiology of Trauma

• Fear processing in the brain
• The impact of trauma on survival circuitry (SAM and HPA axis)
• The impact of trauma on different brain regions and systems
• Sleep and healing from trauma
• Trauma and pain processing
• The gut microbiome and trauma
• Trauma and immunity

Module 4 – Emotion and Cognition

• Understanding emotions
• The fear response in depth
• Trauma and emotional processing
• The benefits of play
• Attachment theory
• The impact of trauma on memory

Module 5 – Practitioner Skills

• Case formulation
• CBT and systemic models for understanding trauma
• Person centred approaches for working with caregivers
• Transactional analysis
• Social judgement theory
• Identifying biases effecting judgement and decision making in trauma cases

Module 6 – Working with Traumatised Individuals

• Taking a trauma history
• Creating a trauma informed environment
• Assessing for signs of stress
• The sensory world of dogs
• Preparing for a traumatised brain
• Developing healthy coping skills

Module 7 – Psychopharmacological Interventions in Trauma Cases

• Pharmacokinetics
• The blood-brain barrier
• How drugs effect the brain
• Principles of synaptic communication
• Exploring neurochemical systems
• Understanding drugs veterinarians may prescribe for dogs that have experienced trauma

Module 8 – Reappraising Trauma

• When is reappraisal appropriate?
• Approaches to changing behaviour
• What is a trigger?
• Developing a reappraisal map
• Developing a context for reappraisal
• Using sleep to enhance reappraisal
• Working with trauma related triggers
• Reappraising direct triggers
• Case studies

If you have any questions about this course before signing up, please email [email protected]

Continuing Education Units

Our course is approved for CEUs with:

CCPDT - 3 CEUs for trainers, 13 CEUs for behaviour consultants

IAABC - 16 CEUs

KPA - 16 CEUs

PPAB - 16 CEUs