Trauma-Informed Coaching
Courses and Certification

Trauma-informed coaching is coaching practice conducted with an awareness and understanding of trauma: how it affects the nervous system, how it presents in behaviour and emotional responses, and how certain coaching approaches can inadvertently activate or worsen trauma responses rather than support healing. A trauma-informed coach does not attempt to process trauma therapeutically, which is the domain of trained therapists. Instead they create genuinely safe conditions for coaching, recognise when a client may be in a trauma response and adapt accordingly, and know when and how to refer clients to appropriate therapeutic support.

No. This distinction is important. Trauma therapy is a clinical intervention delivered by qualified therapists and psychologists specifically for the purpose of processing and resolving trauma. Trauma-informed coaching is coaching practice conducted with awareness of trauma and its effects. A trauma-informed coach does not diagnose, treat or process trauma. They work within coaching boundaries while ensuring those boundaries do not inadvertently harm clients who carry trauma. Understanding the difference and operating within it is central to the training at Soul Awakening Academy.

Unless otherwise stated, our courses are delivered online via our learning portal and are self-study with no time limits.

Because trauma is more prevalent than most people assume, and its effects appear in coaching contexts even when trauma is not the presenting issue. A client who consistently resists change despite wanting it may be experiencing a trauma response to the vulnerability that change requires. A client who dissociates or shuts down under certain conditions is showing a nervous system pattern with roots in past experience. Without trauma awareness, a coach may push through these responses in ways that are unhelpful or harmful. With it, they can adapt their approach and create the safety that allows real movement.

Yes. The Trauma-Informed Skills Certification and the Introduction to Trauma-Informed Relationship Coaching Diploma in this category are accessible without a prior coaching qualification. The Trauma-Informed Spiritual Retreat Facilitator Certification is best suited to practitioners with an existing coaching or holistic practice. Details of any prerequisites are stated on each individual course page.

SAA founder Anne-Marie Mayers developed her coaching methodology specifically around the premise that unresolved early experiences are at the root of most of the blocks clients present with. The SAA approach, including the SMRT technique, is inherently trauma-informed, working with the nervous system and the somatic dimension of experience rather than purely with conscious thought. The trauma-informed coaching programmes in this category formalise that approach into structured, accredited qualifications that practitioners can hold and use professionally.