Suggestions for Disseminating Resource

[Lori Herod]

In a recent project, the guide "Complex Relational Trauma and Complex PTSD: Closing the Gap in Healthcare" was produced by a team of clinicians, researchers, & patient partners. Our team conducted a qualitative research study to investigate the lived experiences of trauma survivors within healthcare which confirmed what the literature suggested. That is, there is a gap in healthcare relating to the lack of curricula about complex trauma and complex PTSD in educational institutions and professional development. This means patients have limited access to treatment, services and support for a public health issue that has serious and lasting mental and physical health impacts for individuals.

Project details, the guide and a list of recipient organizations are available at https://www.outofthestorm.website/healthcare-project. Thus far, the guide has been sent to over 45 institutions and professional associations, but we are looking for suggestions for further dissemination of the guide. If you can help with this we would greatly appreciate it! Please post here or contact me via email.

L. Herod, EdD
Project Co-Lead
l.herod@yahoo.ca

[Joan Tu]

@Lori-Herod Hi Lori, you may be interested in this blog article I recently came across, "From Research to Reach: Why I Turned My Dissertation (autoethongraphy) Into Graphic Novels".
https://doctordyslexiadude.blogspot.com/2025/12/from-research-to-reach-why-i-turned-my.html

I am a patient with lived experience of leaving medical school, and also currently an EdD student. I am very certain that many healthcare students experience CT, CRT, or CPTSD as defined by your resource. However, the students also do not have access to appropriate resources. My own perspective is that I would not go to a healthcare professional for support related to trauma if they are part of sustaining the system through which I experienced so much trauma in health professions education, even if they have been trained in trauma-informed care. No one should have to seek or receive help from professionals who are reluctant to support meaningful change in health professions education.

[Jennifer DiRaimo - MacWhirter]

@Lori-Herod

Have you considered sharing with Canadian hospitals, offering to do presentations or webinars related to the findings? Such an important topic. Would also consider targeting primary doctors.

Jenn DiRaimo

[Chris Johnston]

@Lori-Herod

Hi Lori,

Similar to Jennifer's suggestion, I'd suggest approaching the medical and nursing schools. Most of them run CPD programs which are always looking for people to present for webinars and grand rounds - which I think would be an excellent way to raise awareness and share the guide.

For example, this is the page on UBC's CPD platform - and if you scroll down to the Opportunities for Subject Matter Experts, they're seeking people to share their expertise and are open to a variety of means of doing so:
https://ubccpd.ca/collaborate/share-your-expertise

I think it's worth contacting all of the CPD platforms, as well as healthcare professional organizations which also host CPD learning opportunities.

If you have time and capacty, it might also be worth starting an ECHO series to share across the country.

[Lori Herod]

@Joan-Tu

Thanks for this Joan. We did send the resource out to quite a few medical student associations in Canada and the US. Our reasons were twofold: first, to hopefully educate doctors-to-be; and second, because we know there are quite a few students who likely suffer from CRT and CPTSD based on some of literature we reviewed.

I do see what you're saying about students needing resources outside the systems they are learning in, especially if trauma informed care is lacking in their institution. My son went through medical school and based on his experiences I am not at all certain his school would have handled things well if he (or any student) spoke openly about any complex relational trauma they experienced. Changing the way medical schools think about what physicians need to be seems an uphill battle, but at least in the guide CRT and CPTSD are brought out into the light and there are outside resources identified for students and professionals. Hopefully the guide will plant a seed about those suffering from the effects of complex trauma, but we know there is still a ways to go sadly.

Lori

[Lori Herod]

@Chris-Johnston

Hi Chris - Thanks so much for your suggestions, I will take them to the team and see if there is any impetus to do more in terms of presentations and the like. We did send the guide out to all medical schools in Canada (too many in the US), and various related associations in both Canada and the US, but I do see a need to drill down and offer more if we are to get the word out.

Thanks again,

Lori

[Lori Herod]

@Jennifer-DiRaimo-MacWhirter

Hi Jennifer:

We haven't considered that but it does seem like a good next step. Thank you for the suggestion!

Lori

[Chris Johnston]

@Lori-Herod

Another option to consider Lori, is to take some of the excellent material already compiled in the interactive version of the guide and build it into a standalone elearning course that could be hosted on any of the CPD platforms.

Adding a recorded introduction and an end of course testing component to allow learners to achieve a grade to demonstrate their understanding of the material would help round out the existing content. The development of interactive case studies could help drive deeper learning and behaviour change.

Alternatively, or as a higher level of learning, you could develop a synchronous online course to run on a regular basis - perhaps once or twice a year - and market it through CPD platforms, medical schools, professional associations etc.

Both would require resourcing to different degrees but this would move beyond simply disseminating the guide, and would ultimately help in closing the gap that has been identified.

[Joan Tu]

@Lori-Herod Trauma prevention is severely lacking and also meets resistance in medical schools. I once mentioned that students could experience trauma in the course of training to a physician involved in my program. This physician rolled their eyes at me. I would not go to a physician for trauma-informed care, even if one was trained.

[Lori Herod]

@Joan-Tu

I'm very sorry to hear about what you experienced. Sadly, there is much in healthcare that causes or exacerbates complex trauma at the moment. If the literature is anything to go by, there is a ray of hope in that there is a lot of concern expressed about the lack of trauma education and training in both mental health and medical curricula, and the need for trauma informed care throughout healthcare.

I hope those of us who care about this inequity will prompt a sea change and that at some point all healthcare providers will understand this public health issue. It is my fondest wish that people like you and so many of us will feel safe, validated and respected by primary care providers (and others). We need and deserve more access to effective treatment, services and support.

Lori

[Lori Herod]

@Chris-Johnston

Thanks again Chris. As I am a retired professor/survivor/patient I don't have the resources to offer and maintain such a course. That said, I will mention this to the project Co-Lead who is affiliated with a university. I don't know if that's within their purview but it never hurts to ask.

One thing we did do was apply a generous Creative Commons license to the guide so that any institution who wanted to could create a course using the guide as a basis. It was our way of providing insight into the healthcare inequities this trauma population deals with, and hopefully prompting more indepth education/training about complex trauma and complex PTSD.

Lori

[Chris Johnston]

@Lori-Herod

Totally understand Lori - and it’s commendable that you’ve built in the CC license. Sadly, even with readymade content available, institutions will rarely invest their own resources unless driven by a regulatory requirement or, more often, as a knee-jerk response to the consequences of failure to avoid further penalties. However, with my optimist’s hat on, I sincerely hope that at some point trauma-informed care will become a regulatory requirement, at which point I’m sure they’ll be chomping at the bit to integrate the guide.

One final thought is to reach out to the likes of the EHR developers and vendors - some of whom sell extensive packages of online training to support EHR users. While the majority of it is related to EHR implementation and use, they tend to try to round it out with less obvious but desirable topics such as ethics, motivational interviewing, etc. They have the resources to build new modules, since expanding their library increases the marketability of their product

There’s no doubt that more training is very much needed. A recent experience of searching for trauma-informed trained dentists revealed that most dentistry practices in my area didn’t even recognize the term or what it referred to. Searching for medical professionals with the training is equally disappointing - particularly as some claim to be trained but then prove to be ignorant of the core skills.

[Joan Tu]

@Lori-Herod Agreed. Thank you.