I offer a range of training and consultancy sessions on the impacts of gender-based and ways that professionals, services, and organisations can make a meaningful difference to the experiences of survivors.
Recent sessions include:
- CBT with Survivors of Coercive Control (BABCP).
- Victim Blame and Trauma-Informed CBT (BABCP).
- Victim blame: Not about victims, not about blame (Scottish Women’s Aid).
- Victim Blame in Counselling and Wellbeing Support (Edinburgh Napier University counselling service).
- Insidious and unintentional: Victim blame in counselling services (British Psychological Society annual conference)
- Responding to survivors of sexual abuse (Hertfordshire University Students Union).
Are your services trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive?
Many services work to a ‘trauma-informed’ model to better meet the needs of their clients who have experienced sexual violence or domestic abuse. This requires increased knowledge around the impacts of gender-based violence and the importance of respectful treatment which ensures that survivors do not feel judged or blamed for what they have been through and are not further traumatised by their engagement with professionals.
However, being trauma-informed may not be enough. We also need to be ‘trauma-sensitive’: willing to actively reflect on our individual attiudes and behaviour, the systems within which we work, as well as the specific spaces and processes which we expect clients and survivors to navigate in order to access support.
Being trauma-sensitive means recognising that respect and dignity are not automatically communicated in the work that we do. Blame, judgement, and disrespect can be communicated to survivors in many unintentional and insidious ways, preventing professionals from meeting their needs. To challenge this, we must commit to clear, concrete changes – at local and policy levels – to ensure that services and spaces do not cause further harm to those already harmed by violence.
For a conversation about creating trauma-sensitive spaces for survivors, please contact me. I have a helpful briefing outlining some of these concepts which is freely available.
If you are interested in a training session or consultancy work around your work with survivors of gender-based violence or want to provide trauma-informed, trauma-sensitive and trauma-responsive services, tailored specifically for your team or organisation, please get in touch.
Therapeutic Training Sessions
I also offer therapeutic and psychoeducational training sessions on the following topics:
- Introduction to CBT skills (half day, one day or two day courses)
- Horror Films as Therapy
- Videogames as Therapy
- Superhero Therapy
- Working with: imposter syndrome, procrastination, perfectionism, motivation
- Self-care and self-compassion
All of the above sessions can be adapted for staff working with clients or as sessions for clients directly.
Testimonies for Amy’s training
“Amy’s presentation style, her humility and dignity… All in all one of the best webinars I have attended”. March, 2025.
“I feel more empowered to continue to provide a service that negates victim blaming”. November, 2023.
“Excellently delivered, compassionate and well contained; which is not easy due to the sensivity of the subject”. April, 2022.
“It was a really excellent session – clear, interesting, useful”. September, 2021.
Dr Amy Beddows 