Practical trauma-informed care: Applications to everyday occupational therapy practice

Online Workshop

November 12 and 13, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Presented by: Cassondra (Cassi) Starc, Reg. OT (BC)

Given the high prevalence of trauma and its well-documented impact on healthcare experiences, engagement, and outcomes across the lifespan (BC Provincial Mental Health & Substance Use Planning Council, 2012; Cénat et al., 2026; Klinic, 2013; Turpel-Lafond, 2020), provincial and national guidelines encourage clinicians to integrate trauma-informed principles, emphasizing that such approaches are “better for all” (Doctors of BC, 2020; Fillion et al., 2018). Trauma-informed care has become an essential skillset for Canadian occupational therapy professionals, and is explicitly included in new and updated occupational therapy practice models & approaches (Restall & Egan, 2022).
This workshop will provide you with practical knowledge and skills to recognize, apply, and integrate trauma-informed care principles into everyday clinical practice. You will learn how to identify trauma symptoms across diverse client presentations, select and interpret trauma-related assessments, and implement actionable trauma-informed strategies that improve therapy outcomes and therapeutic relationships. The workshop also equips you with frameworks for structuring interventions when trauma is a focus of therapy, as well as fostering sustainable self-care practices to support professional resilience when working with trauma.
Through case application and personalized feedback, you will enhance your confidence and competence in applying comprehensive trauma-informed care tools that are immediately relevant and effective across healthcare and rehabilitation settings. Many clinical resources will be provided, including scripts, client handouts, and audio-visual materials.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Provide and tailor comprehensive trauma education to individual client contexts.
• Identify practical actions to improve trauma-informed care in your practice and/or organization.
• Select and interpret trauma screens and assessments.
• Develop a therapy plan with graded interventions through a trauma lens.
• Analyze trauma exposure responses and how they arise in everyday life.
• Create a self-care plan to apply personally relevant self-care tools.

Registration fees

Registration deadline: November 12, 2026 at 11:59 a.m. (Eastern Time)
Please note that workshop registrations are for one individual person and may not be shared. CAOT does not offer group registration fees for workshops.

Target audience and language

Target audience
Occupational therapist clinicians, occupational therapist educators, occupational therapy assistants, occupational therapy leaders or manager, and students in occupational therapy programs who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in addressing trauma, even when trauma is not the focus of therapy.

Please note: The workshop is tailored to the occupational therapy community. Each participant is responsible to ensure they apply the information within the context of their licensure, provincial/territorial legislations, institution regulations, scope of practice, etc.

Areas of practice
Applicable to all areas of practice, Trauma

Client age groups
Adolescents (13-19 years old), Adults (20-64 years old), Older adults (65+ years old)

Level
Beginner (0-2 years of experience in this specific practice area)

Please note: Participants with more than this stated level of experience are welcome to attend the workshop. The workshop content will be geared towards those with limited knowledge and experience in this area of practice.

Language
English

Preliminary workshop agenda

November 12, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

November 13, 2026, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time)

Presenter(s)

Cassondra (Cassi) Starc, Reg. OT (BC)

Cassi Starc is an occupational therapist, a mindfulness facilitator, and owner of Flourish Healthcare Education & Mindfulness. Cassi has a passion for providing highly practical education and mentorship. She has mentored many occupational therapy students, new graduates, and experienced clinicians transitioning to new areas of practice such as mental health, brain injury, and chronic pain. You can expect to leave her workshops ready to implement changes in your practice the very next day. Cassi's workshops have a focus on real-world application and complex examples which more closely represents "real-life clients" who may have a variety of intersecting barriers & limitations impacting their occupational engagement and participation.

Workshops are recorded! Your registration includes:

• Individual participation in live workshop and opportunity to ask questionsHandout of PowerPoint presentation
• Opportunities to network with other occupational therapists with an interest in this topic
• Access to the workshop recording for 14 days following the live sessions
• Certificate of completion

Cancellation/refund policy

All cancellation/refund requests must be sent in writing to education@caot.ca. All cancellation requests received by October 28, 2026 will be given a full refund minus a $50.00 administrative fee. Substitutions and transfers requests received by October 28, 2026 are permitted and are subject to a $50.00 administrative fee.

If you are exceptionally unable to complete the workshop, please reach out to education@caot.ca by 25 days following the end of the workshop for extended access to the recording (up to one month after the end of the workshop) or a one-time transfer to another offering of the same workshop if currently open for registration. 

No refunds will be given after October 28, 2026.

CAOT reserves the right to modify the workshop title, description, registration dates and information on the workshop webpage. CAOT will notify participants on or before October 2, 2026 if there is insufficient registration by that date and reserves the right to cancel a workshop due to insufficient registration up until October 16, 2026. CAOT reserves the right to modify the offering, interrupt workshops, change the timing of a workshop, change the technology for the workshop, or postpone or cancel a workshop due to the presenter no longer being able to present the workshop, severe weather, power failure, building closures or other special circumstances that are beyond the control of CAOT by notifying participants as soon as possible. If the workshop is cancelled by CAOT, registrants will receive a full refund of the registration fee. CAOT will not be responsible for other costs or expenses incurred by registrants as a result of any such changes.

Accessibility

The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy (CAOT) is committed to accessibility as expressed in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). We provide an electronic copy of the handouts approximately one week ahead of time in multiple slide layouts, auto-generated closed captioning through Zoom (excluding breakout rooms), as well as access to the recording for two weeks following the workshop for all registrations (with possibility to extend to a maximum of one month). If you require additional special arrangements for accessibility, please contact education@caot.ca or 1-800-434-2268.

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