Selena Shelley is the Executive Director and Chief Training Officer of When Survivors Give Birth. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, she has a psychotherapy and consultation practice in the Seattle area, and specializes in working with pregnant and postpartum trauma survivors.

Selena was trained and mentored by Penny Simkin and Phyllis Klaus, authors of the groundbreaking book When Survivors Give Birth. She facilitates trainings for perinatal and health professionals - including nurses, psychotherapists, doulas, midwives, social workers, doctors, and sexual assault advocates.

Selena has been working with pregnant, birthing, and postpartum trauma survivors for over 25 years – first as a case manager with teen parents, then as a doula and childbirth educator, and for the past 15 years as a psychotherapist and trauma consultant. She taught a counseling course for the Department of Midwifery at Bastyr University, served on the Prevention and Treatment of Traumatic Childbirth (PATTCh) board, and helped develop and run the Birth Doula Services Program for Open Arms Perinatal Services in Seattle.

In her personal and professional life, Selena has learned how transformative the right kind of support during someone’s pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience can be. To that end, she believes training professionals how to work more easily and effectively with trauma survivors is some of the most important work in perinatal and public health, and is honored to be a When Survivors Give Birth trainer.

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Check back for Additional Certified Trainer profile.

Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to

• differentiate two (2) facets of each of the following: Childhood Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, and Other Forms of Sexual Trauma/Violence.

• summarize the components of effective trauma inquiry & disclosure.

• identify eight (8) impacts previous sexual trauma can have on the perinatal period.

• describe six (6) tools for working with trauma survivors during the perinatal period.

• list four (4) ways perinatal health professionals can help mitigate power dynamics.

• summarize how birth trauma can be influenced by a history of sexual trauma and how a traumatic birth can impact a family’s perinatal experience.

• explain how vicarious trauma and/or compassion fatigue may be impacting your work.

$275 to be paid at time of registration. Please do not register if you are not ready to submit payment at this time.

If your organization will be paying your fee and you need an invoice, please reach out before registering by clicking here.

We have a limited number of reduced price registrations available to scholarship awardees. Determinations will be made on a rolling basis. Applications will close when no scholarship funds remain or two weeks before the training begins. Apply here.

Registrants will receive preliminary coursework 2 weeks before the training. Please anticipate one to two hours for completion of this material.

6.5 CEs available per day through the American College of Nurse-Midwives.

6.5 CEs available per day through National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC).

Every professional is responsible for the CE requirements stipulated by their licensing board. Please contact your individual licensing board/regulatory agency to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal.

You must attend for the duration of the training to earn CE credits.

After the session, you will be asked to complete a training evaluation. Once you complete your evaluation, you are eligible to receive your certificate. More information will be provided at the conclusion of the training.

When Survivors Give Birth has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7967. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. When Survivors Give Birth is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

If you have any CE-related questions, please reach out to hello@whensurvivorsgivebirth.com.

Technology Information

Participants must have access to a computer (or device with a camera and microphone), and must be able to access Google Meet.

Recommended Text

When Survivors Give Birth: Understanding and Healing the Effects of Early Sexual Abuse on the Childbearing Woman by Penny Simkin, PT, CCE, CD(DONA), and Phyllis Klaus, PhD, MFT, LMSW