From Safety to Connection: Clinical Approaches to Understanding & Responding to Complex Trauma
This training goes beyond the basics to unpack the core features of Complex PTSD including disturbances in self-organization and the developmental, attachment, and racial dimensions that shape how trauma lives in the body and mind. You’ll gain clear, evidence-based strategies to create safety, build authentic connection, and support nervous system regulation.
Learning Objectives
Participants will identify and analyze three disturbances in self-organization (DSO) that define Complex Post Traumatic Disorder.
Participants will define and apply three key elements of complex trauma, including its developmental, attachment, and racial dimensions, and describe their prevalence and etiology.
Participants will identify three evidence-based interventions to treat C-PTSD.
Participants will develop three therapeutic actions that support clients with complex trauma, focusing on safety, connection, and regulation, and apply these strategies to promote resilience and post-traumatic growth.
3 hours, Virtual
Hosted by Plaquemines Community C.A.R.E. Center, Registration Coming in September 2025
Presenter: Dr. Cat Poehling, LCSW-BACS, LCSW-S, SEP
Dr. Cat Poehling is a joyful and justice-driven trauma therapist, reproductive justice scholar, and educator. She has over 20 years of experience working alongside diverse communities in healing and transformation. With advanced Social Work and Disaster Resilience & Leadership degrees from Tulane University, she brings an expert clinical lens. She is certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), Level 2 trained Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist, and Level 1 trained Dynamic Attachment Repatterning Experience (DARe) practitioner. Dr. Poehling’s work is rooted in compassion and curiosity, specializing in trauma psychotherapy for women and LGBTQ+ folks. She’s also a sought-after clinical supervisor, program evaluator, and researcher exploring how Somatic Experiencing can support lasting change. Whether in the therapy room, classroom, or community, Dr. Poehling brings heart, rigor, and a sense of adventure to everything she does.