Short Interview Series - Episode 3 featuring Lauren Mansell

Holly Tanner Short Interview Series - Episode 3 featuring Lauren Mansell

Lauren Mansell shares, "We're never ready to do this work. We're never ready to be perfect." Her course, Trauma Awareness for the Pelvic Therapist, is for all practitioners, not just physical therapists. Anyone licensed who works with patients can benefit from this topic. However, it can be offputting to put ourselves into a vulnerable position by registering for a course on this topic. Lauren understands this and comes prepared to teach other practitioners about trauma-informed care in the gentlest way possible.

Lauren Mansell, DPT, CLT, PRPC, CYT curated and instructs this course. Lauren worked in counseling and advocacy for sexual assault survivors before becoming a physical therapist. She also brings her experience as a 2017 Fellow of the Chicago Trauma Collective to teach trauma-informed care to medical providers. Trauma-informed care is especially important as the field of pelvic rehabilitation becomes more inclusive.

Pelvic rehabilitation and pelvic therapists really do treat the whole patient. Patients can present with pain, long-term issues, and undisclosed trauma that can be compounded when it includes sex, bladder, or bowel issues. Trauma Awareness for the Pelvic Therapist addresses several topics under this umbrella and spends time on each of the following:

• Explaining and describing compassion fatigue, trauma-informed care as well as anatomy, neurobiology, physiology of trauma, and the polyvagal autonomic nervous system
• Identifying risk factors and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• Formulating techniques for reducing compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and retraumatization

To learn more about trauma-informed care join H&W this weekend at Trauma Awareness for the Pelvic Therapist this September 25-26, 2021. The course will be offered again in 2022 if you are not available this weekend!