Workshop descriptions

  • Workshop I: Community Collapse

    This class is focused on understanding why C-PTSD exists. We'll talk about causes of C-PTSD (both childhood and adult onset), why it's different from PTSD, and why C-PTSD is a natural result of our cultural norms around community. I'll also teach about neuroception, mirror neurons, and "contagious" stress responses. Students will learn to see C-PTSD as a response to systemic unsafety and will understand how western community norms are changing to generate even more complex trauma than before.

  • Workshop II: Community Cure

    This class is focused on the process of healing C-PTSD. We’ll talk about safe enough connection, co-regulation, the ways community can protect against trauma, and how systems of whiteness separate us from that protective community architecture. I'll teach about attunement, neuroplasticity, and avoiding re-traumatization in the healing process. I'll also recommend books by disability justice advocates who are actively dreaming and building the kinds of communities that promote growth instead of dysfunction.

Who is this for?

This set of two workshops is open to anyone who is interesting in learning about the C-PTSD neurotype from a disability studies & neurodiversity paradigm lens. 

Most past students fall into one or both of these categories. 

- People who are neurodivergent (or exploring the possibility of being neurodivergent) who want to better understand their own life experience and the experiences of their neurodivergent friends and family members. 

- Professionals who help neurodivergent clients. This includes therapists, coaches, teachers, counselors, social workers, somatic practitioners, massage therapists, and other types of helping professionals like teachers and community organizers. 

The information in this set of workshops is useful for nervous system beginners as well as for people who have a lot of nervous system education already and are looking to expand and/or contextualize that information. 

This work is rooted in the Neurodiversity Paradigm and blends the lived experience of the neurodivergent community with many references to the currently existing research. A short optional reading list is included for further study. 

The Lived Experience of C-PTSD

I started teaching about the neuroscience of community and C-PTSD in 2018 after an informal diagnosis of C-PTSD in 2016. 

When I went to the mental health system asking for help with trauma, professionals gave me tools for PTSD, but not C-PTSD. In some instances, this lack of understanding and lack of attunement to the scope of my trauma made my C-PTSD worse. 

C-PTSD is not an entry in the DSM and is still not recognized in many countries. If we did recognize it officially, we would see C-PTSD in a majority of individuals in the western world. That number has grown exponentially in the last 6 years.  

This is because our culture generates complex trauma through the flawed architecture of community that is passed from generation to generation. Healing C-PTSD is largely about learning a new community architecture to replace the one we inherited. 

I've been actively healing complex trauma in my own life for 8 years now. I share information about C-PTSD, not as an authoritative expert, but as a person who has first-hand experience and quite a lot of direct observation of C-PTSD in other neurodivergent folks. 

This presentation will be an updated revision of the presentation that I shared in 2018 - The Neuroscience of Community - which launched the Trauma Geek public education project. 

This mini workshop series is designed to facilitate greater understanding of these appeasement responses and to inspire peer support and exchange of ideas around this common neurodivergent experience. 

Although this is an educational class, and not a trauma processing space, many students have reported transformational experiences from previous classes. 

This series is specifically focused on viewing the body as an ally. Our bodies don't hate us. They're on our side even when expressing complex & layered trauma responses. 

On Being "Canaries in the Coal Mine

This will be the 6th set of workshops I've shared in 2026. All of them fit the theme of diving into what it means to be metaphorically the "canaries in the coal mine." This concept was originally used in the 1990s to describe Autistic people, but it also fits the experience of many sensitive neurotypes. 

March - Systemic Trauma & the Stress Cycle
June - Sensory Trauma
August - Freeze, Fawn, Masking
Sept - The PDA Neurotype
Oct - The Neuroscience of Community & C-PTSD

Recordings of previous workshops are sold separately for $35-$50. 

A special version of The Nervous System Study Group will be opening for enrollment next month. This will be a multi-month container that begins in November and ends in March. 

Pricing options

The cost for 3-4 hours of workshop time is $140. If that amount is financially dificult, you can choose the sliding scale rate, no questions asked. If the reduced cost is inaccessible, please scroll down to the end of the page to find the scholarship application. Each paid spot in the course makes one free scholarship spot available for someone else.

FAQ

  • How long do we have access to the videos?

    Recordings are lifetime access. If we ever move away from Thinkific (this course platform), we'll upload the videos to YouTube and send you a private link to access them. You can also download recordings to keep permanently.

  • Is there a way to ask Janae questions about this series?

    Yes! Each of the two sessions will have at least 30 minutes of Q & A time after the presentation of information.

  • Would this course work for a high school student?

    Yes, but it's especially important for teens and young adults to have someone they trust to talk with about this info beyond the class setting.

  • Are there CEUs?

    Check with your supervisor! My in-person groups count for CEUs but online groups have varying requirements. If you need documentation, you can create a certificate for Janae to sign off on.

  • Can I buy the course as a gift for someone else?

    Yes! Gifting educational opportunities is a great way to support someone in your life. When you go to the checkout page, you can click the box next to "This is a Gift" and then add the recipients email address.

Facilitator / Teacher

Janae Elisabeth

Trauma Geek

Janae (they/she/he) is an information synthesizer who has been studying polyvagal theory and related nervous system models for 9 years. Their specialty is tying together threads of information from many different fields to create a holistic understanding of the nervous system and neurodivergence. Janae has deeply studied these topics in an effort to understand herself better as an AuDHD PDAer with complex trauma. Since 2018, they have been teaching about trauma, the nervous system, and neurodiversity through local peer support circles and through the advocacy and education project, Trauma Geek. Past students in Janae's courses have reported transformational experiences including more self-love, more gentleness with themselves, more understanding of their own bodies, more acceptance of themselves, and more connection to community. For legal reasons, please note, Janae is not a counselor or therapist.