REIMAGINE WORK
Trauma-Informed
Leadership Training Program Series
A three-tier learning pathway for leaders and organizations ready to understand trauma, respond to it with skill, and build cultures where people are safe enough to do their best work. Each program stands on its own; together they form a progression from awareness to applied practice to comprehensive, organization-wide change.
Compare the Programs
Prices are per person. All programs are delivered live and can also be brought in-house for teams.
Foundations of
Trauma-Informed Leadership
3 hours · Introductory · Leaders and teams welcome
Most of us were never taught what trauma actually is, how common it is, or how it follows people into the workplace — yet it shapes how teams communicate, how conflict unfolds, and whether people feel safe enough to contribute fully. This foundational session gives leaders and their teams a shared language for understanding trauma and its everyday impact at work, along with a first set of principles for responding with awareness rather than reaction.
​
You’ll leave able to recognize how stress and trauma show up in behavior and performance — and clear that a trauma-informed approach is not about diagnosing or “fixing” people. It’s about creating the conditions of safety, trust, and dignity in which people can thrive.
Who it’s for:
Leaders, managers, HR professionals, and teams seeking a shared foundation. No prior background required — an ideal all-staff starting point.
​
Format:
Live, online
​
Price:
$149
What you’ll explore
-
What trauma is (and isn’t), and why it’s far more common than most workplaces assume
-
The shift from “what’s wrong with this person?” to “what happened, and what do they need?”
-
How trauma shows up in communication, conflict, and day-to-day performance
-
The recognized principles of trauma-informed care — grounded in SAMHSA’s framework and WPI’s dignity-centered approach: safety, trust, choice, and dignity
-
Why trauma-informed cultures outperform
fear-based ones
Trauma-Informed Leadership:
Core Practices
6 hours · Intermediate · Pairs well with Foundations
Awareness is the beginning; practice is where it lives. This full-day program moves from understanding trauma to leading in a way that accounts for it — building the practical skills leaders need to hold difficult conversations, respond to distress and disclosure, and create teams where people feel genuinely safe to contribute.
​
Central to the day is the leader’s own nervous system: you can’t create calm you don’t have. We’ll work with regulation as a leadership skill — how your own state shapes the room, and how to stay grounded and present under pressure — then turn to the interpersonal skills that make trauma-informed principles part of everyday leadership.
What you’ll explore
-
Regulation as a leadership competency — steadying yourself so you can steady others
-
How to respond when someone is dysregulated, distressed, or discloses something hard
-
Offering choice and setting boundaries without giving up accountability
-
Recognizing and interrupting the patterns that retraumatize people at work
-
Facilitating meetings and group conversations in ways that steady the room and keep people engaged
-
Moving a team from inclusion (being present) to belonging (being valued)
-
The line between a trauma-informed conversation and a clinical one — and how to stay on the right side of it
Who it’s for:
Leaders, managers, and HR professionals ready to put trauma-informed principles into practice. Foundations, or an equivalent understanding, is recommended.
​
Format:
Live, online
​
Price:
$295
Certificate in Trauma-Informed Leadership
40 hours · Comprehensive · Certificate of completion awarded
Our most in-depth program, the Certificate in Trauma-Informed Leadership is for those who want to do more than understand trauma-informed leadership — they want to lead it and embed it across an organization. Over 40 hours of facilitated learning, you’ll move from personal practice to systems change, developing the depth and fluency to make trauma-informed principles part of how an organization actually works.
​
The program integrates the full body of WPI’s approach: SAMHSA’s six principles of trauma-informed care, dignity scholarship, the Five Leadership Intelligences — including dignity intelligence and conflict intelligence — restorative and somatic literacy, and the organizational design choices that determine whether a culture heals or harms. You’ll examine your own leadership, build skill across genuinely difficult terrain, and complete an applied project that moves your organization toward a trauma-informed future.
What you’ll explore
-
The neuroscience and lived reality of trauma — including Polyvagal Theory — and the real cost of trauma-unaware systems
-
The Five Leadership Intelligences as a framework for human-centered leadership
-
Regulation, somatic awareness, and the leader’s role in collective safety
-
Building peer support and protecting against burnout and vicarious trauma
-
Navigating conflict, disclosure, and repair through a restorative, dignity-centered lens
-
Trauma-informed facilitation — leading meetings, trainings, and groups without re-traumatizing
-
Designing policies, practices, and cultures that build belonging — not just inclusion
-
Leading organizational change, from individual awareness to system-wide practice
-
An applied capstone — a trauma-informed initiative built for your own context — supported by practical assessment tools, templates, and action plans
Who it’s for:
Leaders, HR and people professionals, consultants, and culture-change champions ready to lead this work. Graduates earn the Workplace Peace Institute Certificate in Trauma-Informed Leadership.
​
Format:
Live, online
​
Price:
$1,295
How These Sessions Are Held
These trainings model the principles they teach. Our facilitators set a grounded, respectful tone from the first minute, so the room itself becomes a working example of a trauma-informed space.
Bring This Training to
Your Team
Every program can be delivered privately for your organization and tailored to your people, your sector, and the realities they navigate. Private cohorts can be held on-site or virtually, scheduled around your calendar, and built around your own culture and case examples.
​
Organizational engagements can also include optional post-training consulting and a facilitated community of practice — helping new practices take root and sustain the change long after the training ends.
Meet Your Facilitator
Dr. Robyn Short
Dr. Robyn Short is an organization systems design consultant, mediator, and peace-building trainer. She works with corporations, nonprofits, and their leaders to get to the root of conflict and create healthier, more productive paths forward — individually, as teams, and as whole organizations.
​
A certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner through the Somatic Experiencing Institute™, Dr. Short brings a deep, body-based understanding of how trauma lives in the nervous system and how regulation, safety, and repair actually work — the foundation of the trauma-informed approach she teaches. She has also completed Warriors for the Human Spirit, a 60-hour program led by Margaret Wheatley, and 70 hours of study with the Right Use of Power Institute.
​
As the founder of three organizations, she understands firsthand the challenges leaders face at the intersection of passion and purpose, and she is especially drawn to helping them build purpose-driven cultures that embed dignity throughout the business.
​
Dr. Short is the author of five books and has taught graduate-level conflict and leadership courses at Southern Methodist University, Bay Path University, and Texas A&M Commerce, and lectures regularly at Pepperdine’s Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution and Creighton University. She holds a Doctor of Liberal Studies in peace studies and systems design, a Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Auburn University.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to take the programs in order?
No. Each program stands on its own. That said, Foundations gives a shared language that makes Core Practices land more deeply, and the two together are excellent preparation for the Certificate — so many people choose to move through them as a pathway.
​
Are the sessions live?
Yes. Every session is live and interactive — designed for real practice, discussion, and questions, not passive viewing.
​
Do I need a clinical or therapy background?
Not at all. These are leadership programs, not clinical training. You’ll learn to lead in a trauma-informed way — not to diagnose or treat. We’re explicit about where that line sits and how to stay on the right side of it.
​
Can I bring my whole team?
Yes. Any program can be delivered privately and customized for your organization. See “Bring This Training to Your Team” above.
​
What does the certificate mean?
Graduates of the 40-hour program earn the Workplace Peace Institute Certificate in Trauma-Informed Leadership — a certificate of completion recognizing depth of study and applied practice. It is not a clinical license or professional certification.
Ready to begin?
Choose the program that fits where you and your organization are right now, and join an upcoming cohort above.
