VSU Offers One-Day Trauma Workshop

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University will host Clinical Competency in Trauma from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18, in the University Center Cypress Room. The workshop is presented by the university’s Counseling Center and Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy.

Clinical Competency in Trauma participants will learn the basics of trauma, how psychological first aid can be used in a crisis, how to identify appropriate assessment tools for trauma, how trauma affects the body, and ways to clinically use the body to help regulate emotions from trauma.

The one-day workshop is open to all counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and law enforcement officers, as well as college or university students pursuing a degree in these field. However, anyone interested in trauma or working with individuals who have been traumatized is welcome to attend.

Registration is $90 and includes all conference materials, lunch, snacks, and the opportunity to earn continuing education credits. College and university students with a valid university ID can register at a reduced rate of $40.

Rebecca Smith and Dr. Jennifer Branscome will lead the workshop.

Smith, the assistant director at the VSU Counseling Center, is a licensed professional counselor and a certified professional counselor supervisor in the state of Georgia with 18 years of clinical experience. She holds a certificate in traumatic stress studies from the Justice Resource Institute’s Trauma Center.

Branscome, an associate professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy at VSU, is a licensed psychologist in the state of Georgia with 15 years of experience in school psychology. Her clinical training includes a background in trauma as well as stressor-related disorders. She also has training in psychological first aid and trauma assessment.

Contact Rebecca Smith at rebecsmith@valdosta.edu or (229) 333-5940 for more information.