The TIWL Cert program is designed for personal trainers, weight lifting and fitness coaches, physical and health educators, occupational therapists, physical therapists and people actively working with individuals and communities that have experienced trauma, including mental health and other healthcare providers. We like to think this program is for everyone interested in taking a trauma-informed approach to weight lifting. 

Program At A Glance

Join Co-Directors Mariah Rooney, MSW, LICSW & Candace Liger, NASM - SPS, CE and a host of guest faculty presenters for an 8-week, 60hr Certificate Program.

Program Overview:

The 8-week Trauma Informed Certificate Program explores evidence-based, trauma-informed methodology to support personal trainers, weight lifting and fitness coaches, physical and health educators, athletic trainers, mental health providers, occupational therapists, physical therapists and people actively working with individuals and communities that have experienced trauma.

Participants will gain a strong foundational understanding of trauma and its manifestations along with methods for offering a more inclusive and responsive practice in order to reduce the risk of harm and retraumatization. Participants will also increase their self-awareness as coaches/trainers/providers and develop skills to both promote and facilitate healing for trauma-impacted individuals and groups.

TIWL is a body-first methodology for individuals and groups who have experienced trauma and adversity and does not involve a standard prescriptive sequence, weightlifting movements or one-size-fits-all programming. We believe that such an approach is antithetical to our understanding of complex trauma and the need to be attuned and responsive to the needs of those we work with. Our training programs offer a transformative trauma-informed approach that offers knowledge, strategies and skills to support embodiment, inclusivity, responsivity, autonomy, and collaboration to provide safer and more therapeutic experiences for clients and athletes.

Trauma Informed Weight Lifting is committed to principles of practice that incorporate anti-oppressive and anti-racist frameworks (Do Less Harm) and values as well as trauma-informed and healing justice frameworks and values (Then Do Good).

Participants will:

• Learn the neurophysiological, psychological and emotional impacts of traumatic experiences and how they may manifest in weight lifting and fitness
• Learn about the theory and research behind weight lifting as an adjunctive treatment for trauma survivors
• Increase self-awareness as coaches/trainers/providers and develop skills to facilitate collaborative healing
• Develop an understanding of specific trauma-informed considerations for building and maintaining safety in fitness/gym spaces
• Learn how personal biases, fitness culture norms, and learned perspectives may support or hinder a client’s progress
• Review current business practices, marketing, language, and process from a trauma-informed lens
• Examine the influences of systemic trauma, intersectionality, and mainstream fitness culture on the weight lifting community
• Develop harm reduction and accountability strategies to support trauma-informed weight lifting
• Developing trauma-informed strategies, programming considerations, communication, cueing, and processes to support clients/athletes
• Learn how to center consent within interactions while reinforcing and respecting boundaries.

The program is completely online; no in-person attendance is required. It is comprised of live sessions along with self-study over the course of 8 weeks. This is not a self-paced course. 

CANDIDATE ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the certification program, applicants must be either:

A certified trainer (ACE, NASM, NSCA, ISSA, Crossfit, etc) 

Best suited candidates who are fitness professionals will have a vibrant intellectual curiosity regarding trauma theory and a solid level of experience engaging in and coaching weight lifting/strength/resistance training. This will provide critical subjective and intuitive insight into the place of weight lifting in a healing milieu. These candidates will learn to bring TIWL into their weight lifting scope of practice.

A licensed mental health care provider (e.g. in the United States, LMHC, RN, MSW, OT, PhD, LMFT, MD. etcetera)

Best suited candidates who are mental health care professionals will be grounded in trauma theory and have experience in their setting working with trauma-impacted clients. These clinicians will have the opportunity to make TIWL an active part of their clinical or direct care practice while honoring their clinical scope of practice.

Have an advanced degree in a clinical field or a Care-giver, healer, or practitioners working to address the presence of trauma with individuals and within communities.

Best suited candidates who are engaged with individuals or communities who have experienced trauma will bring their skills and understanding, a desire to expand their knowledge about trauma theory, and a current application for TIWL in their community. These professionals will develop ways to include TIWL in their work and environments.

At the discretion of the Certification Coordinator, consideration will be given to candidates with an advanced degree in a clinical field or to care-givers currently working to address the presence of trauma with individuals and within communities, e.g. elders and traditional healers in Indigenous communities. International standards vary and we will accept any mental health care provider working within a scope of practice in a given country.

No prior TIWL training is required, but recommended. 

Applicants who have completed prior training with Trauma Informed Weight Lifting foundational course will receive a partial credit towards the certification cost. 

Applications may be submitted prior to completion of the noted training however applications will be held for review until prior training is complete.

We have created this program to be 100% web-based to increase accessibility to participants in any geographical location. 

In the event your application is approved, we will email details to access the course prior to the first live session. 

We offer a limited number of full and partial scholarships as a part of our diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. The purpose of this scholarship is to expand the reach of the TIWL program and to address health disparities by engaging professionals who will commit to providing TIWL services to a range of historically marginalized communities and those contemporarily impacted by oppression-related traumatic stress. As a program, we respect the data that shows individuals seeking care tend to be best served by providers who come from the same or similar community or cultural milieu, especially when considering marginalization, or peoples who have experienced systemic discrimination. We will take this into consideration in our decision-making process. You can review dates in the Important Dates section. 

Sustaining Access 

One time = $2000

2 Payments  = $1000 for 2 months

Early Registration Access

*Must register for info session to receive coupon code

One time = $1750

2 Payments = $875 for 2 months

GrandParented Access

*Must have attended & completed a previous TIWL Foundation training

One time = $1500

2 Payments = $750 for 2 months

Discounts are available for individuals who have completed 

Both partial and full sponsorship opportunities are available. 

• The TIWL Certificate Program takes place over an 8-week period. Participants will be required to participate in all synchronous sessions. Here is an overview of the schedule, which is subject to some minor changes based on the time zones of the participants in the cohort: 

•  Live 2.5 hr sessions take place every week. Refer to the Important Dates section to see when times are available in your area. 

• 1 hr requirement for peer and faculty consultations
• 1 hr live peer group sessions during the last 4 weeks. These sessions will take place during our 2.5hr scheduled weekly sessions.
• Here is an approximate breakdown of our 60+ hour program:
• Self-paced study: 35 hours (this may flex up or down depending on your learning style and needs)
• 2.5 hour weekly live sessions (weeks 1-6): 15 hours
• Peer group consultations: 5 hours
• Leadership consultations: 4 hours
• Final project completion: varying hours

• Nope! You will only need to complete the scholarship application. 

• Absolutely! Our next certificate training will take place January 2024.

Applications are now open. We have a limited number of spots available as this is a cohort-based training, which means we want to ensure folks are able to connect with one another and build community throughout our time together. Once you have completed either the regular or scholarship application, hit submit and you will be taken to a confirmation page. 

We will review standard applications on a weekly basis.

If you are accepted, you will be emailed instructions for completing your payment and finalizing your registration.

If you are not accepted, you will be emailed. But don't be discouraged! There are many more opportunities to engage. 

We will review scholarship applications throughout the month but won't make final selections until 30 days before training starts. 

• It is incredibly important that you are able to attend all synchronous sessions in order to complete the certificate. We know, of course, that emergencies happen. If something comes up and you are unable to attend a session, you can just let us know and we can work out a plan if necessary. 
• We do record all live sessions in the event you want to revisit the material.