About the Presenter
Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, RSW, is a social worker, psychotherapist, author, consultant, and international trainer who has been supporting individuals with severe and complex mental health problems since 2000. She currently maintains a private practice while offering consultation and training to clinicians worldwide., drawing on more than two decades of clinical experience in both hospital and community settings.
Sheri is widely recognized for her expertise in trauma-informed care and evidence-based modalities such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), and the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP). She has been providing DBT-informed therapy since 2004, became a certified EMDR therapist in 2018, and serves as an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant. Sheri was awarded the R.O. Jones award for her research on using DBT with bipolar disorder, presented at the Canadian Psychiatric Association Conference.
An accomplished author, Sheri has written several widely used books that translate DBT skills into accessible tools for managing emotional dysregulation, trauma, and mood disorders, including The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for C-PTSD, The DBT Workbook for Emotional Relief, and the best-selling Don’t Let Your Emotions Run Your Life for Teens.
For more information about Sheri Van Dijk and her work, visit https://www.sherivandijk.com/.
Can’t attend live? Register anyway to get 60-day access to the workshop recordings and materials after the course.
Treating Complex Trauma: An Integrated Approach
with Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, RSW
ONLINE LIVE STREAM EVENT
March 26, 2026, 12:00 pm - 4:15pm ET*
*Convert to your Time Zone
Workshop Description
Complex trauma develops when threat, neglect, or abuse is chronic, relational, or begins early in life. Its impacts are far-reaching; shaping identity, emotional regulation, relationships, and a client’s felt sense of safety. While single-incident trauma can lead to dissociation, shame, PTSD and other difficulties, in complex trauma these experiences tend to be more chronic, pervasive, and intertwined with identity and relational patterns. Without a clear, integrated framework, it can be difficult to know how to pace treatment or support stabilization effectively.
As trauma research grows, so does our capacity to treat these long-term effects with clarity and compassion. In this workshop, Sheri Van Dijk introduces an evidence-informed, integrated approach to understanding and treating Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), and dissociative disorders. Participants will learn foundational principles, practical grounding and emotion-regulation skills, and ways to assess and structure treatment to support safety and therapeutic progress.
You will learn:
- How to differentiate PTSD from C-PTSD and why it matters for treatment
- The triphasic approach to treating C-PTSD
- Core theories (Polyvagal, IFS, Theory of Structural Dissociation of the Personality) that inform work with developmental and chronic trauma
- Strategies to help clients manage dissociation and increase present-moment stability
- Grounding and emotion-regulation skills for early-stage stabilization
- How to pace trauma therapy to avoid overwhelm or re-traumatization
Who Should Attend?
Any helping professional who provides some form of counselling including (but not limited to) therapists, social workers, psychologists, and other mental health and/or health-care professionals.
You will receive:
- Login details and instructions emailed in advance of the workshop
- Downloadable handouts
- Certificate of attendance upon successful completion of a brief online quiz (if desired)
- Access to a recording of the workshop for a limited period of time after the workshop - so if you can’t join live, or need to miss part of the live workshop and want to view it afterwards, we’ve got you covered!
Certificates of Attendance / CEU's / CE Information
For those requiring a Certificate of Attendance, certificates will be issued upon either:
1. Verification of 100% attendance during the live broadcast OR
2. Successful completion of a post-training quiz with a minimum score of 75% (multiple attempts allowed)*
*This option is for those who do not attend the full workshop “live”.
Certificates will indicate the number of direct education hours (4), not including breaks. Certificates may be used to qualify for eligibility for Continuing Education Credits from licensing boards and professional colleges; it is the participant’s responsibility to contact their college or association to confirm its requirements and the workshop's eligibility for CEU's / CE’s.
Cancellation Policy
An administrative fee of $50 will be charged for all cancellations. Cancellation 14 or more days prior to the workshop date – receive a refund, less $50 administration fee. Cancellation less than 14 days prior to the workshop date – receive a credit, less $50 administration fee, to be applied to a future workshop. No credit or refund will be issued if you do not notify us in advance of the workshop date. You may transfer your registration to another individual at no extra cost. In this case, please notify Mission: Empowerment of the name of the alternate person. The organizers reserve the right to cancel the event due to instructor illness, extreme weather, under-enrollment or other unforeseen circumstances. If a workshop is cancelled, any registration payment will be returned in full. Liability is limited to a refund of workshop/live-stream fees only.
Refunds will not be issued in cases where a registrant did not receive the workshop login instruction email due to email issues. It is the registrant’s responsibility to contact us if they don’t receive the required login information at least 24 hours prior to the start time of the workshop.
Instructor: Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, RSW
Location: Online Live Stream Event
Early Bird Cost: $145 CAD + GST/HST (if applicable) by Feb. 25, 2026
Regular Cost: $169 CAD + GST/HST (if applicable) after Feb. 25, 2026
**All prices are in CAD$. American Patrons - your dollar goes further! $1 CAD = $0.72 USD (as of Dec. 3, 2026 - check online for current exchange rate)
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: March 24, 2026 at 12pm ET
* For information about Group Rates and Discounts click here.
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