Promoting Meaningful Change and Safety for Survivors with Mental Health and Substance Use Challenges

Course overview

This interactive training will equip licensed service providers with practical, trauma-informed strategies to support survivors navigating the complex intersection of domestic violence, mental health, and substance use. Participants will explore how trauma impacts behavior, coping, and engagement; examine systemic and relational barriers to safety; and learn skills to promote meaningful, survivor-driven change. Emphasis is placed on harm reduction, safety planning, motivational interviewing approaches, and cross-system collaboration to enhance outcomes without increasing risk. The training centers on survivor autonomy, cultural humility, and real-world application. By the end of this training, attendees will be able to describe how trauma impacts thoughts, behaviors, and coping, explain the relationship between domestic violence and mental health, and identify common barriers survivors face to accessing support and treatment. Through real word examples and activities, participations will be able to apply information about safety planning and harm reduction strategies to supporting safety for survivors with substance use and mental health challenges, including using crisis intervention strategies, overdose prevention, and motivational interviewing strategies. The training relates to the licensed practice of counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy through applying a trauma-informed framework to working with survivors of domestic violence with substance use and mental health challenges. The training uses evidence based modalities like Motivational Interviewing the equip licensees with tools to navigate barriers to change and promote growth with clients. Attendees will learn information to help them appraise impacts of trauma and safety concerns due to domestic violence and substance abuse. This training will be facilitated by Cheryl Stahl, LPCC-S, and Kodie McCully, CDCA. These two facilitators have more than a combined 20 years of experience in the fields of domestic violence and addiction treatment.