ESTSS General Certificate in Psychotraumatology
The ESTSS Board approved the introduction of the ESTSS General Certificate in Psychotraumatology in December 2007.
1. Eligibility
All members of the ESTSS are eligible to register for the certificate programme.
2. Registration Process
Members can register for certification for a one-off fee (currently 50 Euros and 20 Euros for lower income countries) payable upon completion of their first qualifying workshop. This fee will cover the administration of the certification process and any costs incurred in assessing the suitability of workshops for approval for the certificate. If you plan to register for the certificate please complete the registration details form in the MembersOnly section of this website and you will be invoiced for the one-off fee when your attendance at your first workshop has been confirmed.
3. Criteria for Certification
In order to receive the ESTSS General Certificate in Psychotraumatology individuals will have to meet the following criteria:
- Attendance at a one day ESTSS approved introductory workshop to traumatic stress studies.
- Attendance for four full days at other ESTSS approved half-day workshops covering the topics listed at Annex A
- Satisfactory completion of an assessment for each workshop attended.
- Completion within three years of attendance at first qualifying workshop.
Convenors of the workshops will confirm attendance of individuals registered for certification. This will be required in order for an individual to be awarded the certificate.
4. Eligible Workshops
The initial topic list is at Annex A. Additional topics can be added to the list if approved by the certification subcommittee. Eligible workshops can be provided by any individual who has been approved as having the necessary qualifications to deliver training by the certification subcommittee. The content of proposed workshops must be approved in advance by the ESTSS certification subcommittee to be eligible. In order to be approved workshops must address the topic learning outcomes listed below and be consistent with the current evidence base and the aims of the ESTSS. If you have a workshop you would like to be considered for approval please e-mail Jonathan Bisson on bissonji@cardiff.ac.uk
5. Confirmed Workshops 
13 June 2008 - Early Intervention following Traumatic Events - London
15 June 2008 - Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - London
3 October 2008 - Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - Cumbria
11/12 December 2008 - Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - Cardiff
11/12 December 2008 - Disaster Management - Cardiff
11/12 December 2008 - Formulation and Treatment Planning for Psychologically Traumatised Individuals - Cardiff
23/24 March 2009 - An Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies- Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Using Exposure to treat PTSD: why, when and how? - Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Neurobiology & pharmacological treatment of PTSD - Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Early interventions following trauma- a Cognitive Behavioural Approach - Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Psychological treatment of PTSD - Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Treatment of Complex PTSD - Edinburgh
23/24 March 2009 - Treatment of PTSD in children & adolescents - Edinburgh
14 June 2009 An integrated evidence based approach to the treatment of PTSD, ESTSS workshop at the Oslo ECOTS
15 June 2009 New developments in research and application of EMDR, ESTSS workshop at the Oslo ECOTS
16 June 2009 Early Intervention following Traumatic Events, ESTSS workshop at the Oslo ECOTS
16 June 2009 Disaster Management ESTSS workshop at the Oslo ECOTS
17 June 2009 Human Rights Issues and Traumatic Stress, ESTSS workshop at the Oslo ECOTS
16 July 2009 - Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - Cumbria
18-19 September 2009 Introduction to traumatic stress studies European Workshops
on Traumatic Stress 2009
18-19 September 2009 Psychological Treatment of PTSD European Workshops
on Traumatic Stress - Warsaw 2009
18-19 September 2009 Treatment of complex PTSD European Workshops
on Traumatic Stress - Warsaw 2009
18-19 September 2009 Traumatic Stress Reactions and treatment in children and adolescents European Workshops on Traumatic Stress - Warsaw 2009
18-19 September 2009 Early intervention following trauma European Workshops
on Traumatic Stress - Warsaw 2009
18 November 2009 Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies United Kingdom Psychological Trauma Society
10 December 2009 Treatment of complex PTSD - Cardiff Conference
10 December 2009 Compassion-focused cognitive therapy for shame-based trauma memories in PTSD - Cardiff Conference
10 December 2009 Treatment of specific population (veterans) - Cardiff Conference
10 December 2009 Disaster Management - Cardiff Conference
11 December 2009 Psychological Treatment of PTSD - Cardiff Conference
11 December 2009 Evidence-based non trauma focused interventions for PTSD - Cardiff Conference
11 December 2009 Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - Cardiff Conference
15 April 2010 Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies The two sides of trauma - victim and offender experience
11 June 2010 Forensic Aspects of Trauma - Hamburg
11 June 2010 Treatment of PTSD in Children and Adolescents - Hamburg
11 June 2010 Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies - Hamburg
13 June 2010 Early Intervention following Traumatic Events - Hamburg
13 June 2010 First Psychological Aid and Rapid Stabilization Techniques - Hamburg
More information on these workshops in the listing on our Future Events page. »
Presentations of ESTSS Certificate workshops held in London in June 2008
Members can view these presentations in the Members Only section of this website. Enter your ESTSS username and password when prompted. »
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Annex A - Workshop topic list and learning outcomes
a. Introduction to Traumatic Stress Studies (One Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the range of normal reactions following traumatic events and their natural course.
- Describe problematic reactions following traumatic events including PTSD and other common disorders according to the DSMIV and ICD-10.
- Explain the principles of the theoretical basis of PTSD from neurobiological, psychological and social standpoints.
- Describe the basic epidemiology of traumatic stress disorders
- Explain the principles of an evidence based approach to the prevention and treatment of post traumatic disorders
- Describe an accurate overview of the current evidence base for the prevention and treatment of PTSD.
b. Psychological Treatment of PTSD (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the theoretical basis underlying the commonly used trauma focused psychological treatments including exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing and brief eclectic psychotherapy.
- Describe non trauma focused approaches including stress inoculation training, anxiety management, psychodynamic therapy and hypnotherapy.
- Discuss the current evidence base for the effectiveness of psychological treatment approaches for PTSD.
c. Neurobiology and Pharmacological Treatment of PTSD (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the neurobiological theories of PTSD
- Describe the theoretical basis underlying the commonly used pharmacological treatments including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, other antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines.
- Discuss the current evidence base for the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments for PTSD.
d. Early Intervention following Traumatic Events (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the commonly used approaches to early intervention following traumatic events and the rationale behind them including blanket intervention, targeted interventions and the timing of them.
- Describe specific interventions including critical incident stress debriefing, psychological debriefing, psychological first aid, critical incident stress management, trauma risk management, supportive counselling and trauma focused cognitive behavioural therapy.
- Discuss the current evidence base for the effectiveness of early interventions following traumatic events.
e. Traumatic Stress Reactions in Children and Adolescents (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the normal and pathological reactions that children may experience following traumatic events and their age and developmental specific mechanisms.
- Describe the basic epidemiology of traumatic stress disorders in children and adolescents.
- Discuss the current evidence base for the prevention and treatment of PTSD in children.
f. Treatment of PTSD of PTSD in children and adolescents (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the commonly used psychological and pharmacological treatments with children and adolescents including age-appropriate applications of cognitive behavioural therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, play therapy, family therapy and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
- Describe the theoretical basis and healing elements of treatments for PTSD in children and adolescents.
- Describe the current evidence base for the effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of the treatment approaches for PTSD in children and adolescents.
g. Treatment of complex PTSD (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the common presentations of complex PTSD sufferers.
- Discuss the theoretical basis as to why alternative management approaches may be beneficial for complex PTSD compared to simple PTSD.
- Describe the current evidence base for the effectiveness of treatments for complex PTSD.
h. Disaster Management (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the principles of developing a multiagency psychosocial care plan to be delivered following a disaster.
- Describe the specific roles of multiple agencies in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, the short, medium and longer terms.
- Describe the current evidence base for the effectiveness of approaches to disaster management.
i. Traumatic Stress and Specific Populations (e.g. refugees and asylum seekers, abuse survivors, military veterans, older people etc) (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe presentations following traumatic events in specific populations and differences between them and the general population.
- Describe specific approaches to the management of traumatic stress in specific populations, including phased management and testimony.
- Describe the current evidence base for the effectiveness of management approaches in specific populations.
j. Human Rights Issues and Traumatic Stress (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe human rights in the context of traumatic events.
- Describe approaches to ensure the human rights of traumatised individuals are met.
- Describe legislation that protects traumatised individuals' human rights.
k. Community Interventions for Traumatised Populations (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the theoretical basis behind providing community interventions for traumatised populations.
- Describe alternative approaches to providing community interventions for traumatised populations.
- Describe a worked example of a community intervention for a traumatised population.
l. Psychological Treatment of PTSD (specific techniques) (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe in detail the theoretical basis underlying a specific evidence based psychological treatment for PTSD (e.g. prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, cognitive processing therapy, eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing and brief eclectic psychotherapy).
- Describe in detail the session by session components and delivery of a specific evidence based psychological treatment for PTSD.
- Discuss in detail the current evidence base for the effectiveness of a specific evidence based psychological treatment for PTSD.
m. Formulation and Treatment Planning for Psychologically Traumatised Individuals (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the essential components of a full assessment of a psychologically traumatised individual.
- Describe the principles of formulation and treatment planning.
- Discuss the importance of understanding an individual's presentation before commencing treatment.
n. Treating complex PTSD as a result of gender and domestic violence: a group psychotherapy programme for women (Half day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Recognize and describe the different psycho traumatic effects of gender violence in its different forms (physical, psychological, sexual, economic etc.).
- Know and describe the different commonly used trauma focused psychological group treatments including psychoeducation in PTSD, anxiety management through relaxation techniques, exposure therapy, and cognitive therapy.
- Discuss and learn how to apply transgenerational analysis, a form of knowing typical ways of pathological behavioral transmission, in the families with gender violence.
- Apply techniques such as art therapy and audiovisual means for the elaboration of traumatic experiences in gender violence
- Learn how to handle typical problematic issues that arise in these groups like the management of medication, love / hate reactions between groups members, forensic issues etc.
- Compare and contrast this approach and the evidence for it with other approaches.
o. Trauma focused CBT - Treating the Emotional Response (Half day)
On successful completion of the workshop, students will be able to:
- Describe the three predominant emotions which can be evident after trauma.
- Describe how emotions can influence the treatment of trauma.
- Describe the relationship between cognition and emotional trauma.
p. Forensic aspects of Trauma (Half Day)
On successful completion of the workshop, attendees will be able to:
- Evaluate the impact of childhood violent trauma (sexual, physical and psychological) on victims and offenders.
- Understand standardised assessment of trauma and post-traumatic reactions (PTSD, complex PTSD, and dissociation) and their implications for practitioners in criminal justice and social care.
- Assess and treat PTSD in offender populations.
- Understand PTSD malingering in court and implications for criminal responsibility.