Diploma in Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy

A six-unit diploma exploring how trauma shapes the mind and body, and what genuinely helps people recover — taught by Dr. John Crimmins, Director of The Behaviour Institute

This course takes you through trauma-informed practice from the ground up — not as a single technique, but as a genuine shift in how care itself is approached. Across six units, you’ll move from the foundational principles of trauma-informed care, through the neurobiology of traumatic stress, the clinical realities of PTSD and complex trauma, and the major therapeutic approaches used to treat it, arriving at a genuinely practical understanding of how to apply this thinking in real settings.

This course is designed for anyone with a real interest in trauma and recovery — whether you’re a practising or training therapist, working in an adjacent field such as social work, addiction services, or education, or simply want to understand trauma’s effects more clearly, in your own life or in the lives of people around you. No prior clinical background is required.

Each unit combines short core reading, video material, and a real-world case study, giving you both the theory and a genuine sense of how it plays out in practice. The course is grounded throughout in direct clinical experience — not just textbook theory — drawing on 25 years of frontline work across addiction treatment, harm reduction, and psychological practice.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

Explain the core principles of trauma-informed care, and why it represents a genuine shift away from traditional clinical models
Describe how trauma affects the nervous system, and understand the biological basis of traumatic stress responses
Identify the clinical presentations of PTSD, Complex PTSD, and dissociative responses to trauma
Compare the major therapeutic approaches to trauma treatment, including their core principles and appropriate applications
Understand transference and countertransference as they show up specifically in trauma work, and the role of rupture and repair in the therapeutic relationship
Recognise the signs of vicarious trauma and burnout, and apply genuine, sustainable strategies for practitioner self-care
Produce a written assignment integrating theoretical understanding with personal reflection, demonstrating applied learning across the course

What’s Covered

Unit 1 — Foundations of Trauma-Informed Care
Unit 2 — Understanding Trauma and the Nervous System
Unit 3 — PTSD, Complex Trauma & Dissociation
Unit 4 — Therapeutic Approaches to Trauma
Unit 5 — The Therapeutic Relationship: Transference & Countertransference
Unit 6 — Vicarious Trauma & Practitioner Self-Care

Your Tutor

Dr. John Crimmins is Director of The Behaviour Institute, with 25 years of clinical experience spanning addiction treatment, harm reduction, and psychological practice across Ireland and the Gulf region. This course is built directly from that clinical background — not adapted from a generic textbook — and includes personal written feedback on your assignment from Dr. Crimmins himself.