Frequently Asked Questions
Who can take the ATC 101?
Anyone can take this course. The ATC 101 is the prerequisite to all other ITR courses. The skills learned will equip a person to be trauma-effective and supportive in any social or workplace environment. This is essential for caregivers, chaplains, peer support staff, coaches, educators, and all mental health practitioners.
How do the Consultation Calls work?
HOW GROUP CALLS WORK:
A participant has 10 group calls for their 2 presentations and then the exit call for another private presentation with an instructor. They have 6 months to do the ten group calls.
These calls are set up to give a person the opportunity to practice their ITR skills and learn from others as they present various parts of ITR. Besides this, the instructors can answer questions about a specific case to assist the facilitators in administering ITR. Private consultations are also available.
What do I need to be ITR Certified®?
A person can study with ITR Training Institute for personal knowledge, but to practice ITR a person needs to complete the ATC 101, 102, 103, and complete the Consultation Calls. See more under Get ITR Certified. A person can attempt to certify with out the Consultation Calls but if they do not pass the exit call they must purchase another exit call(s) until they pass.
How do I keep ITR Certified®
Certifications are good for 2 years. A person needs a Reboot Call to show proficiency and fidelity to the method. There is a special Re-Certification deal for re-certification. This includes the ATC 102/103 Self-Paced Videos and the Reboot Call.There are no valid ITR CTT certifications anymore. See the Get ITR Certified page on the website for details.
How do I get the CEs for the courses?
We have CEs available for NBCC and WCSWB. A certificate will be generated after you finish the Self-paced courses. You will be emailed a certificate at the end of the live courses after we receive your evaluation.
What is "Do Your Own Work" about?
The founders of ITR believe in accessibility to mental health and knowledge about trauma. ITR is not hard to learn if a person is motivated and disciplined to do their own work. We recognize the number of mental health practitioners skilled and available to do trauma work is short.
We hope a trauma survivor can take the ITR knowledge and work through their own timeline and possibly have a mental health practitioner or another trusted person to share it with as a compassionate witness.
Can I practice before I am ITR-Certified®?
Always be sure to practice within your scope and the laws of the state. The goal is to start using the new skills you learned and get more comfortable with them. Present your work to the consultation calls to get feedback.
Have you ever seen ITR not work?
ITR is an empowerment model. It works best when the person is internally motivated to actively engage in all components of therapy.
We decide if ITR “works” by looking at the pre-treatment and post-treatment scores on our assessments and by observations of behavior. In a research study we did on the first people to go through our intensive program we found these results:
“This was a naturalistic study with pre- and post-test data on the first 72 patients who completed the program.
Forty-five percent of the participants met the criteria for recovery, 44% were improved, 8% were unchanged, and 3% were worse after treatment. The improvement in scores on the post-treatment measures was robust and statistically significant for all groups of patients.” (Abstract, Gantt & Tinnin, 2007, Intensive trauma therapy of PTSD and dissociation: An outcome study. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 34 (1): 69-80).”
ITR will not work if the person is not on board and doesn’t want it to work. An example would be someone who has secondary gain from remaining in a patient role in order to receive disability payments. There have been some people who have been brought in by family members who are hoping the program will benefit their loved one but the loved one fights the process by foot-dragging. Occasionally, clients may experience external pressures to engage in the process and this can negatively impact outcomes. There have been others who are skeptical at first but they agree to try the process and are successful.
When trauma symptoms are too overwhelming, clients may be regressed and not ready to work through trauma re-processing. When this occurs, the individual needs to stabilize for a period of time before starting the method. Stability and readiness for treatment are crucial to ensure the successful resolution of traumatic stress symptoms.
If someone has mental disabilities or cognitive delays or deficits we work with the hometown team to find ways to modify doing the Graphic Narrative (GN). We want to make certain the GN is as effective as it can be with any medical conditions or learning disorders. We work to adapt our approach to an individual’s learning and expressive styles.
I know someone who says they can teach me ITR. Can I just learn it from them?
All of our instructors are approved and work through the ITR Training Institute only.
We do not recommend taking any training outside of the ITR Training Institute. We do not know what other people are teaching and have no control over what they say and do. Anyone training ITR outside of ITR Training is subject to a lawsuit. ITR Certified® is the official credential you will receive from the ITR Training Institute, LLC.
What is different about ITR?
~Treatment time to success– hours vs years: Unlike many other psychodynamic approaches, processing a single traumatic event can happen quickly, even in as little as one session.
~Integrates seamlessly with other therapeutic models: Regardless of your psychodynamic or psychoanalytic approach, ITR adapts to become part of your process.
~Can be used with both children and adults: This method can be applied to clients as young as 3 – or 93.
With over 40 years of clinical experience helping individuals dealing with trauma and other mental health challenges, psychiatrist Dr. Lou Tinnin and art therapist Dr. Linda Gantt developed and tested the approach in their practices. Dr. Linda Gantt now focuses on training the next generation of therapists to help their clients resolve trauma and improve their lives. Study to become a trainer with ITR.
What are the clinical benefits of ITR?
ITR Clinical Benefits
- Gets to the root of the problem rather than focusing on coping skills
- Uses standardized procedures
- Minimizes disabling responses to future traumas
- Instructs how to anticipate and ward off the instinctual responses in tough situations- managing triggers and fixed states
- Makes it possible to give words to traumatic events and bring closure to them without reliving them
- Integrates the whole self into present-day awareness
- Expands consciousness, giving greater access to normal emotion
- Reduces or eliminates troubling symptoms caused by traumatic events
- Achieves results in a relatively brief period
- Provides effective ways to greatly reduce stress and deal with negative beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors
- Empowers a person with new life skills to use on their own in the present and in the future.
- Does not require developing a relationship with the facilitator (ITR can be used with a team approach)
- Does not need time between sessions to digest the material
- Can be used with all ages from 3 to 99 years old
- Is adaptable to individual or group therapy as well as to conventional weekly sessions.
Who can take the ATC 102/103?
Anyone who wants to learn to use the ITR protocol. You must be able to regulate and ground yourself. You will be doing your own work.
After The Cohort Questions
- In the certification process, an applicant is required to present 2 case studies. I understood these to be done on the Wednesday group calls over the 10 weeks. YES
Then I remember hearing that we are encouraged to do our own graphic narratives and externalized dialogues and present those on Wednesday. We don’t want people to wait for clients since the hourly work is so unpredictable. Do your own or with a fellow student or with a volunteer unless you have an intensive client. You are encouraged to do your own work to clear your traumas with a thera[pist but can do your own stories for there consultation calls if you can handle it without turning the consult calls into your own therapy. Does that make sense?
What is included in a case study? Are these presented at the exit call? or are these to be presented on Wednesday consultation calls? Or are the Wednesday calls for general questions? Is our own graphic narrative work appropriate for Wednesday calls? 2 during the calls and one for the exit call. Best to do the whole checklist to get good at it. It is required for the exit call for sure. If you get feedback that you need to update something you may or may not have the chance to bring it back to the calls. People have 2 slots to present. If there is time they can present an update
This in minimum needed:
Within your 10 calls use 2 of them to present 2 full case studies that include what is on the checklist.
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If you have not signed this live/virtual training consent, please do so before you join the calls. This is only needed once. https://itrtraining.eversign.com/embedded/efa43ca845f14a9ba2dedcbe2a8ad356 |
- There is a pdf with the process for ITR Clean presentation and exit call checklist. Is this a map for how to conduct a session with a client? or is this what we need to have to pass certification? If this is solely for certification, then are we presenting the 2 case studies then on the exit call? Yes the checklist included is the process in much detail for use as a reminder to the facilitator. It helps with works for clients too.
- I am looking to map a process for working with clients long distance on zoom. I am a registered nurse, not a therapist. I effectively work with coaching clients on zoom usually weekly over 12 to 24 weeks. It is the same in office or zoom. Just may take longer virtually. Using the app is helpful. I can not legally counsel you on what you can and can not do as a coach. States are different in their restrictions. Good to have a consent contract regardless.
Look fun the front of the workbook page 7:
ITR TASKS:
- Finish the story
- Repair traumatic dissociation
- Resolve Victim Mythology
TREATMENT PLAN:
Phase One:
- Prescreen/Intake: assessments, symptoms, concerns, goals and ITR overview
- ITR Psychoeducation
- Grounding/Safe Place
Phase Two:
- True Self/Parts work
- Create Timeline
- Graphic Narrative® Finish the story. Draw, re-present and re-watch the story, add narration notes.
- Externalized Dialogue® Communicate with Parts, relieve, restore, and resolve Victim Mythology.
Phase Three:
- Resolution/check-in/follow-up assessments
I desire to be safe and follow ITR standards for evidence based practice. How might I most effectively accomplish the assessment forms? Mail hard copies ahead? Do orally over a call? Send PDF forms and have them returned before the first working session?
How much can I safely have them do independently vs on the zoom call? Use clinical judgement. Many people can fill in their own assessments. Some facilitators use a session like Danni talks about in the course. This helps build rapport. You can send fillable pdfs or use google forms or use services like https://www.blueprint-health.com/ It is important to keep a file of course to have pre-,during-, and post-assessments. You can also do a PPAT assessment (See FEATS course)