Trauma informed and treating trauma are two different things. Being trauma informed is having an approach that is going to make everyone feel safe and comfortable in your therapy office, and I think we should all be doing that, but actually being able to treat trauma means that we are changing how trauma is stored in the brain and how it’s impacting that person in that.

Very different skillset than just being trauma informed. 

Welcome to The Group Practice Exchange Podcast, where we talk about all things related to group practice ownership.

I’m your host, Maureen Werrbach Hermann.

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Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Group Practice Exchange Podcast. Today we’re gonna talk about how to leverage trauma-informed training to grow your group practice. And I have Rachel Harrison on. She is from the Trauma Specialist of Maryland. I. And I’m really excited to have her on.

So, hi, how are you? Hey, Maureen. Good to be here. Okay. So for listeners who might not know who you are, can you share a little bit about why this topic is one that you’ve come onto the podcast to talk about? Oh yeah. Let me see. So I am a group practice owner. We actually have offices in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

Also have a trauma training institute. So about 2006 it was, I started recognizing I had been a therapist for about eight years at that point, and realized that I kept bumping up into so many of these things. Depression, anxiety was all sort of rooted in trauma. So I started learning what I could. Went to a training with Bessel VanDerKolk, and he presented this research that basically showed that at the time EMDR was far more effective than other treatments in treating trauma.

1. And so that sent me on a journey to learn EMDR. Once I learned it, it completely changed the way that I worked with clients, and then that sort of defined creating trauma specialists and wanting to have a practice that could focus on treating trauma, not just doing a lot of the things we do to stabilize and support people, which is important too.

Yeah. So when you created your group practice, I’m assuming it was through the lens of trauma informed practice, right? Yeah. And so I wanna say two in my brain, trauma informed and treating trauma are two different things. Okay. Share that. Why being trauma informed is having an approach a. Style that is going to make everyone feel safe and comfortable in your therapy office.

And I think we should all be doing that. And my institute does provide training in that as well. It’s very important, but actually being able to treat trauma means that we are changing how trauma is stored in the brain and how it’s impacting that person. And that’s very different skillset than just being trauma informed.

Okay, so when you talk about. From the group practice ownership lens and hiring and growing your practice, tell me maybe a couple of the ways that you see engaging in leveraging trauma-informed practice as a way to help. Kind of grow that your practice. So I think for me, being trauma informed I think is also being open to all sorts of people as well.

That anyone can feel safe and comfortable, and there’s a lot of work to do on that level. It’s also how we engage with people and the style that we bring in the room. So while that is all important, when I started my group practice, I was like. I wanna actually treat trauma, so I am gonna create a practice where all the clinicians are trained in EMDR, and that is kind of the thing we specialize in.

Along the way though, like when we hire and bring people in, we actually had to create an internal training program in how to be trauma informed and how to do some of those things so that clinicians could get to that place with us. What does that internal training look like? It’s a year long program. We are currently beefing it up, if you will, so it’s a year long and clinicians, it started, clinicians learn from other people mostly in our practice, and they learn something one week and then they go and they practice it and then they come and they discuss what they’ve learned the next week.

So. I really am a pretty firm believer that people can’t really take in new information in huge chunks. Yeah. So we have to sort of learn and do, and learn and do, but we’ve actually had a pretty high interest in that program. And so the first module of that, we have now launched our first group that any practice can take part in the training that we’ve done for years internally.

So it’s, we call it foundations of trauma treatment, and it’s an hour and a half every two weeks. Where people get to experience the same thing. Learn practice, learn, practice. Have you noticed in your own group practice having a training model and like a process, you said yours is a year long, right? Have you noticed that that has helped in recruiting and retaining clinicians in your practice?

I think so. I certainly see that we get a lot of people that come to us because they’re like, I just wanna learn. And that is so much of what we wanna do. I think that’s also though the right fit clinician, because not all clinicians find that having a training every week is something that they want to do.

So yeah, kind of might go both ways, but I think it attracts that constant learner to our practice, which is what we really want to do. And yeah, I think it’s, it’s grown a learning community here. Yeah, I find that obviously in working with other practice owners, group practice owners specifically around, you know, throughout the years, there’s different common issues that show up for practice owners in any given season.

And for the past year or so, one of those has been around recruiting and getting new clinicians in their, in the practice. And one of the things that I see when I look at. Kind of the benefits and stuff that practice owners are offering in their group practices. A lot of it tends to be around offering CEEs or providing a stipend or doing it in-house, and I am a big proponent of having trainings in-house that help clinicians get from point A to whatever point Z is.

I think. Similar to you. You know, most practice owners are looking for clinicians who are lifelong learners because the moment someone is like stagnant and like I’ve, I’ve got it all figured out. That’s probably showing up in other areas clinically as well. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. So with your program, you said it’s a year long, an hour and a half every couple of weeks and they’re taking a piece of information, which I love is not trying to throw a bunch of stuff.

Against the wall and hope that they remember all of it. Oh, right. They’re learning specific things. One piece of information, practicing it throughout the week, coming back and probably processing it and then learning something new. Mm-hmm. What are some of the things that you are noticing that maybe younger or newer clinicians that are coming into.

Private practice are needing support with when it comes to trauma-informed care. ’cause obviously what we learn in grad schools versus how we actually engage in therapy is are two different things. I love this question because you are absolutely right. I sometimes feel like I have to explain to new clinicians that.

Now the learning begins like that was important. Everything you learned was important and now we learn how to do the thing. And I would say one of the biggest things that I see is what to do in the first session. Okay, so everybody knows how to follow and like read an intake write or a history assessment of someone.

That’s great. When we are doing trauma informed care, though, we need to really pace that. And we also need to make sure that we are not asking someone to open up their whole life history and all the worst things that have ever happened to them the first time they’re meeting us. Yeah, that’s kind of maladaptive if somebody was to open up like that the first time.

So that’s an example of one of the things that we focus on. In that training and, and teaching clinicians how to pace that intake session so that they’re not overwhelming their clients. Uh, it’s funny, it is been so long since I’ve been a therapist, and so remembering how I was way back when is, is so hard to do now, you know, having done this 20 or so years.

But I remember my first job out of grad school was working the overnight shift in the er. Doing assessments, mental health assessments, and it’s not, you know, looking back how interesting, it’s, I wonder how different it is. I haven’t worked in a hospital setting in, like I said, 20 or so years, but that was exactly how we did our assessments.

You had an hour. To get every single bit of their whole life in that one hour session to make a, a recommendation for a level of care. I wonder how different that looks now, because I don’t think trauma-informed care was not, you know, it wasn’t at the front and center of people’s minds 20 years ago. Not at all.

In fact, when I started my practice, I wanted to call it trauma specialist, but I was so scared to do it because there was nothing else like that. Everybody was, you know, so and such therapy group or whatever, so yeah. Yeah, it’s changed a lot. Yeah. So I guess I wanna ask one, maybe last question. We’ll see.

What are some ways how group practice owners could incorporate trauma informed training into their existing practices without overwhelming their team? Because that’s the other piece that I see too, is that group practice owners are trying to find ways to retain clinicians. Like what is the culture of working in outpatient settings now?

What are clinicians wanting that will. You know, keep them content, right, and not continuing to look elsewhere consistently. And so when thinking about trauma informed. Training and support. What are ways that practice owners can start thinking about incorporating it without overwhelming their clinicians?

Depending on the practice owner and what they wanna do, there’s possible ways they could do some internal support around that, right? Or have a lunch and learn or start small with something like that. That is why we’ve actually created this externally now, so our foundations of trauma therapy. We have a whole group with a lot of group practices in it right now going through it.

So we have offered that for people that are like, Hey, I, you’ve already put this together. I don’t wanna do it myself. So that’s an option. But I do think there are ways to sort of DIY it too. And you know, when I started it. It was just putting together what we could. At the time, it was like, Hey, I literally created like the curriculum and sent it out to all my staff at the time and said, who would wanna teach these to our incoming?

And that’s kind of how we started. Yeah. And it’s just grown and evolved from there. And that’s also a great tool for retaining clinicians too, because one of the things I think is really important is that we provide growth opportunities to our clinicians. And so by putting that out there to your staff at the time and saying like, who would wanna train on this?

It’s allowing them to work, uh, different muscle in their brain outside of providing one-on-one therapy. To training. And so I think that’s also, not only is it providing this growth track or learning opportunities for new clinicians coming into the practice, but it’s also providing those that are more established and maybe have that expertise to be able to flex that muscle and and give those trainings.

And take some weight off of your own shoulders. They have to do it. Exactly. That’s kind of how my two companies work together. You just said it beautifully. Okay, so we talked a little bit about how we can bring that into our own practices on our own as maybe not only a benefit. Of employment and to ensure that we’re helping the next generation of clinicians become better clinicians.

But you also mentioned that this is something that you can do for group practices as well. So if you can talk a little bit about that and, and then let people know where they can find that information or learn a little bit more. Sure. So we basically offer this twice a year, like in January and September, and we have cohorts that go through together so it, however many clinicians can sign up for it.

And you could have all of your clinicians or just a couple at the practice sign up for it. And it’s. I believe an eight week pro, well, it will take about 16 weeks ’cause it’s eight weeks of learning. So it’s every other week. Mm-hmm. On a Tuesday for an hour and a half. So your clinician will come to the group, there will be learning, there will be discussion, and then they will have time to practice it and then come back for the next one.

And we call it Foundations of Trauma Therapy. And you can find that on our [email protected]. And that’ll be in the show notes, I’m sure. Awesome. I appreciate you coming on and, and sharing a little bit about integrating that into your practice and also the ways that you can support people and practice owners in that as well.

And then, can people find you on social anywhere or is the website the best place? Yeah, website’s probably the best place. I’m also on LinkedIn if you wanna look me up on there, that’s probably the best place to find me. Okay. Under your name or your. Yes. Rachel Harrison. Okay. Under my name. Perfect. Mm-hmm.

Awesome. Well, I appreciate you coming on, Maureen. Thank you. It’s been lovely. Thanks for listening. Give us five stars on whatever podcast streaming service you use, and I’ll see you next week.