Professional Certificate in Assessing Childhood Trauma

Snapshot

The Professional Certificate in Assessing Childhood Trauma is designed to support practitioners in community settings to develop their capacity (i.e. knowledge, skills, application of knowledge and skills) to provide trauma-specific therapeutic interventions to, and enhance outcomes for, children who have experienced child abuse and neglect, with a focus on child sexual abuse.

Specifically, this course is designed to enable professionals working with children and young people who have experienced abuse and potential trauma to undertake trauma-informed assessment and to build knowledge and skills in case conceptualisation, risk assessment and safety management.

You will build on your understanding of childhood abuse and the impacts of trauma on children’s development and functioning and develop practical skills in trauma-informed assessment.

Build on the knowledge and skills gained in this course and continue your studies with the Graduate Certificate in Childhood Trauma, an advanced qualification developed in partnership with the Australian Centre for Child Protection. You may also be eligible to apply the credit gained from this course to fast-track your studies.  

Course Objectives:  

1. Demonstrate objective analysis when reviewing case study information to assemble the components of a child-focused and trauma-informed assessment.
2. Utilise assessment information to construct a concise, trauma-informed case conceptualisation.
3. Develop specialised knowledge of how childhood trauma impacts upon risk factors related to self and others.
4. Critically reflect on biases that may present within assessment of childhood trauma.

You will be encouraged to extend your understanding of and respect for, the diverse cultural contexts in which trauma impacts occur and build your awareness of how the impacts of trauma are contextually nuanced, understood and discussed. You will also be exposed to information regarding different forms of risk for children and young people who have experienced trauma from abuse, and gain knowledge and skills to assess and mitigate some of these risks to the child and to others. Through a community of practice, you will be supported to explore these concepts in depth with relevant case examples, connect your learning directly to your practice, and implement reflective practice skills within a peer supervision model.

Assessment

There are three formal assessments for this course and students must demonstrate competence in all assessment pieces to successfully complete the course. All assessments are graded pass / fail and successful completion of all assignments is required in order to complete the course.

Assignment 1: Written Clinical Assessment

For this assignment you will be provided with a case-study and will need to identify and, where possible demonstrate the key components of a thorough assessment. A community of practice session will focus on discussing the assessment information you have collected from the case study to assist in completing this assignment.

Assignment 2: Case Formulation

This assignment requires you to apply your understanding of formulation to synthesise the information gathered in Assessment 1 and concisely summarise the client's presenting issues, through a trauma-informed lens.

Assignment 3: Risk Assessment

For this assignment you will be provided with a case-study and will need to utilise the information contained in the case study to complete a trauma-informed risk assessment template for the case.

Additional Information

Entry Requirements

Applicants are required to meet the following criteria. You will:

• be an Australian resident
• be over 18 years of age, and have access to a computer, internet and appropriate video conferencing software. Community of Practice seminars will operate via Zoom
• have a current Working With Children Check, or National Police Clearance (valid within 12 months) or equivalent (e.g Police ID);
• currently work (or have recent prior experience) in a role with clients who have experienced child abuse or neglect and potential trauma;
• have graduated from the Professional Certificate of Understanding Childhood Trauma.

In addition, you must have one of the following:

• an undergraduate or postgraduate qualification in education, youth work, welfare, social work, psychology, social science or equivalent; or
• an Advanced Diploma or Diploma qualification in community services, youth work, nursing or welfare; or
• recent experience (a minimum of 2 years full time or equivalent) working in a community sector organisation or relevant equivalent, in a role involving self-directed application of knowledge, exercise of judgement and decision-making responsibilities, working with children, young people and/or families.