While sleep problems are associated with a number of physical and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, hormonal changes, obesity and a range of medical conditions, clients who are traumatised tend to experience more severe sleep disturbances such as night-time flashbacks, trauma related nightmares, night terrors and night-time panic attacks.

Many traumatised clients are able to armour themselves during the day to keep distressing thoughts, feelings and memories at bay through distractions, only to find that when the armour is removed at night that what was kept at bay is unleashed, leading to a dread of going to sleep, insomnia, disrupted sleep, disturbing dreams and nightmares, and night time panic attacks. In addition, clients whose sleep is consistently compromised will suffer from sleep exhaustion, impaired cognitive and executive functioning, daytime dissociative states, in particular depersonalisation, as well as a compromised immune system and concomitant physical health problems all of which exacerbates trauma symptoms. 

This training will explore the relationship between traumatised clients and a range of sleep disturbances such as dread of going to sleep, insomnia, night-time flashback, trauma related nightmares, night terrors and night-time panic attacks, and fear of waking up and how prolonged sleep deprivation impacts on traumatised clients. It will identify a number of practical strategies and CBT-Insomnia (CBT-i) interventions that have proved effective in improving sleep.

Emphasis will be placed on introducing additional trauma informed strategies to aid sleep such as grounding and emotional regulation skills, the use of anchors, and other sensory cues designed to calm the sympathetic nervous system and make the sleeping space safe. It will also identify a number of methods to manage night-time flashbacks, trauma related nightmares, night terrors and night-time panic attacks and reduce their impact to reduce the terror of sleep and restore the quality of sleep. Consideration will also be given how clients already on sleep medications can benefit by combining these with trauma informed sleep interventions. Equipped with these additional interventions, practitioners will be able to help traumatised clients to feel safe to go to sleep, reduce sleep disturbances and restore healthy sleep patterns.

This training workshop will familiarise practitioners with a range of additional trauma informed strategies to aid sleep such as grounding and emotional regulation skills, to calm the sympathetic nervous system, the use of anchors, and other sensory cues designed to make the sleeping space safe. It will also introduce a range of practical CBT-i interventions to improve sleep including:

• Cognitive restructuring
• Stimulus control and regulated sleep restriction
• Autogenic techniques and progressive muscle relaxation

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