Advanced practice
Advanced-level practice in trauma, at a depth beyond the structured processing permitted by the field alone.
What a graduate can demonstrate
Advanced practice records demonstrated competence, not attendance. On completion, a graduate can demonstrate each of the following, assessed against the HICS Advanced Practice Outcomes Standard. Depth does not widen scope: the ten absolute limitations bind a member holding advanced practice exactly as they bind every member.
01
Plan and conduct a phased course of trauma work: stabilisation and resourcing before processing, processing at the client’s pace, then integration. A graduate can justify the phase decisions made in a real case.
02
Recognise dissociation and hyper- or hypo-arousal in the room, apply somatic and resiliency-based regulation approaches, and stop safely and re-stabilise when processing exceeds the client’s window of tolerance.
03
Work with adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, including shame, boundary injury and re-enactment dynamics, and distinguish single-incident from complex and developmental trauma, adapting the work accordingly.
04
Recognise and work with traumatic bereavement as distinct from ordinary grief.
05
Apply the reporting duties, manage disclosures that may enter legal processes without compromising them, and keep records that survive scrutiny, while never producing forensic or court reports.
06
Identify when a presentation needs psychological or psychiatric treatment beyond counselling scope, such as suicidality, severe dissociation, psychosis or substance dependence, and make the referral without abandoning the client.
07
Monitor and manage vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue in themselves, as a deliberate and documented practice.