Transforming Trauma: Episode 151

Cultivating a culture of transparency is a challenge for any organization. Recording it for posterity on a podcast is a lesson in embodied connection. On this episode of Transforming Trauma, host Emily Ruth welcomes back Brad Kammer, Training Director and Senior Trainer at Complex Trauma Training Center (CTTC), and Stefanie Klein, CTTC’s Assistant Training Director and Trainer, for a heartfelt and candid year-end conversation. The trio celebrates all that CTTC has accomplished and discusses challenges associated with creating and maintaining innovative, supportive programming. 

“We’re excited about what we’ve accomplished. But, even more than that, it’s just this community we’re building,” says Brad, noting the hundreds of therapists trained by CTTC since it opened its doors in early 2024. CTTC was founded to provide a relational, diverse, inclusive, depth-oriented professional community for those seeking a supportive network of therapists working with complex trauma.

Providing a professional community for mental health professionals, CTTC offers various events and programs, including the NARM® Therapist and NARM® Master Trainings (the NeuroAffective Relational Model).  “I fell in love with [NARM] because it supported me to be more effective from a place of more ease inside of myself,” says Stefanie. “Being a therapist can be a very hard, lonely job,” she says. “I very much believe that the community that we’re creating and our approach to mentorship goes a long way in supporting a feeling that we’re all in this together.”

Ongoing development programs will also enjoy greater prominence in 2025. Brad shares about their new program, “SPACE, which stands for Supporting Presence, Awareness, Connection, and Embodiment, is…about this deepening into the inner development work of therapists..” SPACE will focus on supporting more self-awareness and intrapersonal insight. The three levels that SPACE explores are the persona, interpersonal and transpersonal.  Brad acknowledges that the transpersonal level is not openly articulated in most clinical orientations, “and yet almost every therapist is oriented to it, on some level.” SPACE aims to create room for reflection on all three levels, despite which clinical modality one uses.  The hope being that it creates more effectiveness and fulfillment for therapists in their work with clients.

CTTC’s commitment to community engagement and thoughtful program development will culminate at its inaugural retreat in September 2025, which invites anyone who has trained in NARM or through CTTC to attend.  Brad shares that they decided not to structure it as a conference, where it feels more academic, and instead “it’s really about having time as a community to nourish each other on all levels.” While there will be time for great theoretical and cognitive nourishment, there’s also going to be programming designed for support, community engagement, and meaningful connection. “The best part of it is being together and having all these different connections in an environment where we can just be ourselves and connect deeper with one another,” he says. 

And, of course, CTTC will continue to be the home of this podcast. “This continues to be such an amazing place to get to share and support each other and learn from each other,” Stefanie says of Transforming Trauma. We couldn’t agree more.

Transforming Trauma is grateful to Brad and Stefanie for their continued generosity of spirit. We are grateful to CTTC for providing therapists with the clinical training, mentorship, ongoing consultation, community engagement, and personal support to realize increased well-being and fulfillment.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma: Using the Neuroaffective Relational Model to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resolve Complex Trauma

RECOMMENDED EPISODES

Creating SPACE for Self-Discovery and Community Support for Therapists

Reflections for the New Year on Connection and Continued Growth for The NARM Training Institute with Faculty Members Brad Kammer, Stefanie Klein, and Marcia Black

GUEST BIOS

Brad Kammer is the Training Director and Senior Trainer at the Complex Trauma Training Center. He is a licensed marriage and family therapist, somatic experiencing practitioner, and NARM master therapist who has been in the trauma field for 25 years. He has co-authored The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma: Using the Neuroaffective Relational Model to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resolve Complex Trauma, which presents one of the first comprehensive therapeutic models for addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Stefanie Klein is the Assistant Training Director and Trainer in the Complex Trauma Training Center. She’s a licensed clinical social worker, NARM master therapist, consultant, and trainer. She has spent over 25 years in her Los Angeles private practice specializing in treating adults with trauma and anxiety disorders. Stephanie is excited to be part of the leadership of the Complex Trauma Training Center. She looks forward to continuing to support therapists who are looking to have more ease and efficacy in their practice.