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Post Traumatic Growth: From Survival to Meaning, Choice, and Expansion

CE Hours 3 3 Clinical

About this course

Post-traumatic growth (PTG) is often described as positive psychological change following adversity — yet in clinical practice, the concept can be misunderstood, rushed, or inadvertently used in ways that minimize suffering or impose meaning on trauma survivors. This introductory 3-hour training invites clinicians to approach post-traumatic growth through a liberatory, trauma-informed lens, emphasizing agency, context, and choice rather than forced positivity or outcome-driven narratives. Participants will explore the theoretical foundations of post-traumatic growth, examine how growth differs from resilience and recovery, and identify common ethical pitfalls when PTG is framed as an expectation rather than a possibility. The training centers the understanding that trauma occurs within both individual nervous systems and broader social, cultural, and systemic contexts — and that growth, when it emerges, must be defined by the survivor. Through didactic teaching, case studies, reflective exercises, and practical clinical tools, participants will learn how to support clients in meaning-making and identity shifts without minimizing pain, grief, or ongoing symptoms. Clinicians will leave with concrete strategies to ethically hold both suffering and potential expansion, while maintaining a stance rooted in dignity, safety, and liberation.

Slide deck and training handouts included. 

Please note: participants will be watching a recorded video.

Learning Objectives

  • Differentiate the core domains of post-traumatic growth from resilience and recovery.
  • Identify clinical risks associated with toxic positivity and imposed growth narratives.
  • Analyze trauma recovery through a liberatory framework that considers power, identity, and systemic context.
  • Apply at least three trauma-informed interventions that support meaning-making and agency without imposing growth.

Learning Levels

  • Beginner, all levels are welcome

Target Audience

All mental health professionals welcome.

Course Instructor(s)

  • Erena DiGonis, LCSW-R

    Erena DiGonis, LCSW-R, is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Health Coach, and Certified Clinical Anxiety and Trauma Treatment Professional. She is also a Certified Brainspotting Therapist and has advanced training in EMDR and Pain Reprocessing Therapy. Erena has more than twenty-three years of clinical and professional experience as a therapist, educator, supervisor, and consultant. Throughout her career, she has worked in community mental health, psychiatric, residential, in-home, and private practice settings, providing care for hundreds of individuals with complex mental health needs.

    Erena is the Founder and Continuing Education Director of EngagedMinds, a national continuing education organization providing evidence-informed training for social workers, counselors, therapists, and psychologists. She is a sought-after writer, speaker, and consultant whose work has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Psychology Today, Reader's Digest, Women's Health, and MEL Magazine. She has served as a reviewer for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Press and is an Advisory Board Member for the CPTSD Foundation.

Disclosure

EngagedMinds Continuing Education, Erena DiGonis, and planners have no financial disclosures or commercial bias or promote commercial interests during CE activities.

References

  • Caragol, J. A., Johnson, A. R., & Kwan, B. M. (2022). A gratitude intervention to improve clinician stress and professional satisfaction: A pilot and feasibility trial. International journal of psychiatry in medicine, 57(2), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091217420982112
  • Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2006). Handbook of posttraumatic growth: Research and practice. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Dalky, H. F., Shatnawi, B. A., Dalky, A. F., & Alkhawaldeh, A. (2025). The Relationship Between Self-Compassion, Burnout, and Job Satisfaction among Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study. SAGE open nursing, 11, 23779608251400639. https://doi.org/10.1177/23779608251400639
  • Damiani, T., Sharkey, J., Morgan, M., & Mullin, A. (2025). Posttraumatic growth, purpose, and trauma in university survivors of sexual assault. Journal of American College Health, 73(1), 152–160.
  • Durpoix, A., Blay, M., Moog, C., Rolling, J., Weiner, L., Lalanne, L., & Weibel, S. (2026). Clarifying conceptualization of emotional dysregulation: Differences with emotional lability during 4-month DBT skills training - A naturalistic study. Journal of affective disorders, 392, 120199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.120199
  • Gu, X., Luo, W., Zhao, X., Chen, Y., Zheng, Y., Zhou, J., Zeng, X., Yan, L., Chen, Y., Zhang, X., Lv, J., Lang, Y., Wang, Z., Gao, C., Jiang, Y., & Li, R. (2022). The effects of loving-kindness and compassion meditation on life satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Applied psychology. Health and well-being, 14(3), 1081–1101.
  • Joseph, S. (2023, May 9). What can Carl Rogers teach therapists about trauma? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-doesnt-kill-us/202305/what-can-carl-rogers-teach-therapists-about-trauma
  • Montanari, A., Wang, L., Birenboim, A., & Chaix, B. (2024). Urban environment influences on stress, autonomic reactivity and circadian rhythm: protocol for an ambulatory study of mental health and sleep. Frontiers in public health, 12, 1175109. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1175109
  • Nation, T., Franklin, R., Cox, C., & Maurer, E. (2025). An ecology of resilience: A nature-informed pilot curriculum for improving stress management in college students. Journal of American College Health, 73(8), 3282–3289.
  • Nixon, M. (2024). Exploring women’s experiences of healing from sexual trauma through engagement in mind–body practices: A systematic review. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 24, 884–896.
  • Soliman, O. M., Messer, M., Skvarc, D., Moffitt, R. L., & Linardon, J. (2025). Exploring the role of mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance during delivery of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy app for recurrent binge eating. Eating disorders, 1–23. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266.2025.2602455
  • Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9(3), 455–471.
  • Watts, J., Lazzareschi, N., Warwick, L., & Gaa, M. (2024). Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in postsecondary students exposed to childhood psychological abuse: Exploring the role of negative meta-emotions. Journal of Counseling & Development, 103, 3–14.

CE Process Info

Content

  • Materials
    7 parts
    • Slide Deck
    • Post Traumatic Growth Inventory
    • Clinician Countertransference & Growth Pressure
    • Resilience and Trauma Timeline
    • Dual Process Model of Grief Image
    • Values Cards
    • Liberation Health Triangle
  • Recordings
    3 parts
    • Video
    • Bonus Video: Dr. Skultip (Jill) Sirikantraporn | TEDxBachDang (2021)
    • Audio Only
  • New York State Education Department's State Board for SW (NYSED SW)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0676.

  • Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education, #1858, formerly Erena DiGonis, LCSW, PLLC, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 8/25/2024-8/25/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 3 continuing education credits.

  • National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7455. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. EngagedMinds Continuing Education is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for LMHC (NYSED LMHC)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0284.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners (NYSED LMFT)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0117.

  • New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology (NYSED PSY)

    Erena DiGonis, LCSW, PLLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0270.

  • California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)

    EngagedMinds Continuing Education is hereby recognized as a CAMFT-approved Continuing Education Provider. Provider number: 1032895

Post Traumatic Growth: From Survival to Meaning, Choice, and Expansion
You Have Completed This course
$55
You are enrolled
  • CE Hours
    3
  • Type
    Self-Paced
  • Publication Date
    Oct 28th, 2026

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