Trauma Counseling Certificate 

Welcome to the
Trauma Counseling Certificate!  

*We are currently working on the program transition from quarter to semester system. More details about next application will be announced here soon. Thank you so much for your patience. 

*This is the info for Antioch University current graduate students who are interested in applying the Trauma Counseling Certificate, if you are an external applicant (e.g., Antioch alumni, counseling graduate students from other institutes, clinicians...), please go to the Antioch University admission website for application.  

Hello Antioch University students, 

Welcome to the page of the online Trauma Counseling Certificate program! We are glad that you are here and are interested in learning more about this Trauma Counseling Certificate.

Most of us are dealing with individual trauma and collective trauma in the world. Experiences that can traumatize people include adverse childhood experiences, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, natural disasters, sexual assault, violence, wars, COVID-19 pandemic, police violence and brutality, marginalization, oppression, etc. In addition, we are also dealing with pain from historical trauma, such as genocide of Indigenous Peoples, slavery of Black people, and the ongoing systemic racism and racial injustice toward Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the United States.     

The prevalence of trauma indicates that as mental health counselors or other mental health professionals, we will work with trauma survivors. Therefore, mental health counselors need to become trauma-informed and have competency in working with trauma-related issues.

Trauma is a very complicated issue, and the purpose of this certificate is to give you a foundation about trauma counseling and recovery so that you can work with clients from a trauma-informed and polyvagal-informed lens, and will be able to build your specialty in trauma counseling as you move forward in your counseling profession.

Aligned with the emphasis of social justice at Antioch University Seattle, the faculty members in the Trauma Counseling Certificate are committed to the work of social justice, advocacy, anti-racism, dismantling the colonial ideology, and are committed to teaching the trauma courses from this lens. 

All certificate courses are taught online (synchronous through Zoom) and we welcome graduate students and clinicians in the counseling or related fields all over the world to join our Trauma Counseling Certificate. We believe in community building and together we can build a trauma-informed society for healing.

This degree is offered by AU Seattle.

Trauma Counseling Certificate
Program Overview 

The Trauma Counseling Certificate provides five courses that  provide a good foundation for mental health professionals to understand trauma and to work with clients from a trauma-informed lens. We believe healing requires  community, and learning about trauma requires community as well. Because of this,  the certificate program is structured as a cohort model, so that students are able to build connection, safety, care and support when learning trauma materials.

1. COUN 5600 Trauma, Disaster Response and Crisis Counseling course provides students the basic knowledge and understanding of trauma, trauma-informed care, the polyvagal theory, as well as crisis counseling. 

2. COUN 5662 Childhood Trauma course helps students understand the impacts of trauma and childhood adversities from a developmental perspective, and helps students learn how to work with children and adolescents with trauma histories. 

3. COUN 5660 Neurobiology of Trauma course helps students learn the impacts of trauma from the neurobiological perspectives and to learn interventions that address the body and the nervous system. 

4. COUN 5666 Advanced Trauma Counseling course prepares students to work with trauma survivors through deep understanding of the polyvagal theory, co-regulation, and principles of the three phases of the trauma recovery, as well as introducing different types of trauma treatment modalities such as Internal Family System (IFS) therapy, EMDR, Somatic Experiences, and other body-oriented approaches. 

5. COUN 5664 Trauma and Social Justice course explores collective trauma, historical trauma, racial trauma, and intergenerational trauma, and to help students work with trauma healing through dismantling the societal structure that maintains white supremacy, systemic racism, and racial injustice.

Faculty members in the Trauma Counseling Certificate are committed to teaching the classes through a student-centered, trauma-informed, polyvagal-informed, and social justice focused lens. Classes will be taught through experiential activities, reflections, discussion, and the emphasis on building the “Self” of the therapists.

As faculty members in Antioch University Seattle, we are the guests on the occupied, unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish people. A people that are still here, continuing to honor and bring to light their ancient heritage. We are here with gratitude to the land itself and the Duwamish Tribe, and we are committed to learning the work of decolonization, as well as learning to dismantle the colonial ideology rooted in white supremacy, patriarchy, and heterosexism in our trauma counseling certificate curriculum. 

We welcome you to join this journey and community with us! 

Please Contact Dr. Pei-Hsuan (Patty) Liu (pliu1@antioch.edu) if you have any questions about the certificate. 

Certificate Courses 

There are total 5 courses (15 quarter credits) in this certificate and the following is the course schedule. Certificate classes are held on Wednesdays 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (Pacific Time) except COUN5600 course (COUN 5600 is a core course for CMHC students, it's usually held on Wednesdays 12 -3 p.m. or 3:30-6:30 p.m. Pacific Time, or other time depending on the instructor's availability. COUN5600 might be offered as in-person or online class). 

Course Schedule

1st Quarter (Fall)

COUN 5600: Trauma, Disaster Response and Crisis Counseling
*This class is the prerequisite or corequisite for COUN5662. If you are AUS CMHC or CFT student, I'd encourage you to take COUN 5600 before you start the certificate program.
*COUN5600 is the core course for CMHC students. 
*COUN5600 meets the requirement for CFT General Elective

COUN 5662: Childhood Trauma
*COUN5662 meets the requirement for CFT Family Series 

2nd Quarter (Winter)

COUN 5660: Neurobiology of Trauma
*COUN5660 meets the requirement for CFT General Elective.

3rd Quarter (Spring)

COUN 5666: Advanced Trauma Counseling
*COUN5666  meets the CMHC Advanced Theory class requirement
*COUN5666  meets the CFT General Elective. 

4th Quarter (Summer)

COUN 5664: Trauma and Social Justice
*COUN5664 meets the CMHC Multicultural Series requirement
*COUN5664 meets the CFT Multicultural class

*All classes are only open to students who are admitted in the certificate. 

 How do I apply?

Before you start the application, please reach out to your advisor to talk about doing this certificate and to get your advisor's approval (it can be communicated through emails or advising meeting). For your learning and professional development, students need to complete at least 4 quarters in the their graduate program and complete foundational courses before they start the certificate program. If you are still early in your graduate program, we'd suggest you focus on your core courses and wait later for doing this certificate. 

Please fill out this application form for applying the Trauma Counseling Certificate (for AU current students): https://forms.gle/sE4CmhgEe6WRe6Dc7

*We are currently working on the transition from quarter to semester system. More details about next application will be announced here soon. Thank you for your patience. 

In the application, you will submit a 2-3 pages essay (double-spaced) that answers the following questions:

1. What brought you to apply to this trauma certificate program? How will this certificate help you with your professional development?

2. How do you understand your own trauma history and how do you think your own trauma history might impact your learning in these certificate courses? And how do you plan to support yourself and your certificate cohort in these classes? 

3. The Trauma Counseling Certificate emphasizes on the work of social justice, decolonization, and anti-racism. Please reflect on what you have learned about yourself in your journey of social justice and anti-racism work, your positionality and how you navigate working through differences, as well as your strengths and areas of growths in this journey.

*The application will be reviewed after the deadline. You will get admission notification during Week 1 of Summer Quarter. 

Thank you for your interests in the Trauma Counseling Certificate. We are looking forward to getting your application! 

Commonly Asked Questions

Here are some of the common questions I got from students. Since this is a relatively new certificate, we are still learning, evolving, and making changes based on the feedback we got. So here are our thoughts for now, and things might change in the future. :)

1. Can students start the certificate in other quarters?
   Right now the certificate program only starts in the Fall quarter. We want students to take the classes as a cohort so that they can build the learning and healing community together, and to move through these classes with a certain course order so that students can build knowledge and skills upon each course.

2. Can students who are not in the certificate take these classes as electives?
   Currently the certificate classes (COUN 5660, 5662, 5664, 5666) are only open to students who are admitted in the Trauma Counseling Certificate program. Students who are not in the program will not be able to take these classes as elective.