Becoming 401 – From Nurse to Therapist
A free 3-week introductory course for Canadian nurses to explore trauma-informed care, scope of practice, and psychotherapeutic foundations.
Tuition: FREE until Nov. 7, 2025
Free Introductory Course for RNs, NPs, CNSs, PMHNP and PHNs
Explore Your Path to Trauma-Informed Nursing & RN, Psychotherapy Practice
Course Details
Trusted by 500+ Nurses | CRPO-Aligned | Certificate of Completion Included
What to Expect in This Free 3-Week Course
Over three weeks, you’ll build a holistic foundation in trauma recovery—exploring its physical, psychological, relational, and spiritual dimensions. You’ll be introduced to key modalities like Narrative Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and the Becoming Method®, while learning how to recognize trauma, apply core techniques, and envision your path as an RN–Psychotherapist.
Week 1: Understanding Trauma & Holistic Responses
- 🌳 Learn how trauma affects the brain, body, and nervous system—and why a holistic lens is essential for effective psychotherapeutic care.
- 🌳 Discover the hidden connections between early experiences and lifelong health and wellbeing.
- 🌳 Begin developing a holistic perspective that goes beyond symptoms to the full human story.
- 🌳 Lay the foundation for your journey as an RN–Psychotherapist.
Week 2: Safe & Effective Use of Self
- 🌳 Explore how your personal story influences your role as a RN-Psychotherapist.
- 🌳 Develop skills to stay grounded and present in challenging sessions.
- 🌳 Build confidence in using reflection and intuition as clinical tools.
- 🌳 Experience live demonstrations of the Becoming Method® to see theory come alive in practice.
Week 3: Professional Role Integration
- 🌳 Explore how nursing and psychotherapy overlap—and where they diverge.
- 🌳 Learn how to align your practice with CRPO and CNO guidelines.
- 🌳 Begin using intuition as an ethical tool in clinical decision-making.
- 🌳 Integrate your skills, values, and presence into a clear professional identity.
🌱 What Our Students Are Saying About Us
The Becoming Method™ and the trauma recovery training process is phenomenally comprehensive and makes clear the mind body connection.
I have experienced meaningful therapy sessions and a multitude of forgiveness processes during my life's journey, but as I moved through the first semester, I found identifying specific moments in time when I experienced traumatic events and releasing the energy associated with those moments beyond powerful! The healing has resulted in a heightened and consistent steadiness and peacefulness. I find myself catching and releasing current "upsets" faster and with greater ease. The healing includes moving slower and allowing life to surprise me rather than planning my own "surprise party."
Robert Pruitt II
Foundational Team | Level 1 Certification
What It Feels Like to Learn Here
We’ve designed this course to be flexible, intuitive, and deeply supportive—whether you’re exploring psychotherapy for the first time or returning to deepen your clinical presence.
🧭 Join Us Live
Learn from anywhere, grounded in real connection.
Live sessions are held on Fridays from 5:00–7:00 PM EST via Zoom, with 24/7 access to readings and materials through our online learning platform, Brightspace.
📘 Explore & Reflect
Each week blends presence with flexibility.
You’ll engage in a 2-hour live class, supported by selected readings and 1–2 hours of post-session integration through journaling, grounding exercises, or body-based practices.
🌱 Discover Your Path
This course was designed for nurses on a search for depth.
If you’re craving purpose, presence, or a return to meaning in your work, this course offers a path toward regulated psychotherapeutic practice rooted in who you are.
✨ Engage with Intention
You’ll learn by doing, feeling, and reflecting.
Through three reflective assignments, guided class discussions, and an optional self-hypnosis practice, you’ll develop the intuitive and therapeutic presence required of an RN–Psychotherapist.
“Before this program, I was on the verge of leaving nursing. I felt like I was constantly giving from an empty cup—exhausted, disconnected, and questioning whether I could keep going. The RN–Psychotherapist training gave me a new path forward. I found tools to heal myself while learning how to support others in a much deeper way. I finally feel aligned with why I became a nurse in the first place.”
– Sarah M., Public Health Nurse (Course Graduate, 2025)
Get started free—access the course on Brightspace 2 weeks before our launch.
Who This Course Is For?
“Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift. There is nothing small in it.
For the greatest things grow by God’s Law out of the smallest. But to live your life you must discipline it.
You must not fritter it away in ‘fair purpose, erring act, inconstant will’ but make your thoughts, your acts, all work to the same end
and that end, not self but God. That is what we call character.”
🌱 What This Course Offers
Transformation | Discipline | Purpose
A Holistic View of Truama
A trauma-informed lens rooted in neuroscience, nursing theory, and lived human experience.
The Becoming Method®
A working knowledge of The Becoming Method® and how it bridges narrative, somatic, and forgiveness-based approaches.
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🌱 About Your Instructor
Welcome, I’m Dr. Joan.
I’m naming a truth that’s lived in the margins of nursing for decades. We’ve been doing the work—with no name, no title, no roadmap. The quiet presence. The emotional holding. The healing conversations. That’s psychotherapy.
Over the past 8 years, I developed The Becoming Method® to help nurses step into what we’ve always done—bring healing where it’s needed most. Now more than ever, the world needs our presence, our wisdom, and our care.
More About MeWhy This Course Costs Nothing, —
and Means Everything
We created Becoming 401 because something bigger is unfolding in Canada.
It’s called The Becoming Project—a national initiative designed to build the capacity of equity-deserving communities to deliver high-quality trauma recovery care. We are preparing nurses to lead this work across Canada—supporting individuals, families, and entire communities to move through individual and collective healing journeys that address trauma at every level of the system.
Learn More About The Project
🌱 What Our Students Are Saying About Us
In 2022, I learned about the "Becoming" method and how to overcome trauma. Deep inside, I felt a calling; I declared it was something I wanted to pursue. I commenced my training in September, and since then, my life has undergone a profound transformation.
In the weeks following our retreat I discovered a new version of myself, underwent a significant shift in my identity, and found clarity in my life purpose. The techniques presented were powerful, well-articulated, and surprisingly simple, becoming easy to implement once understood. I uncovered boundless compassion, love, and understanding for all living creatures of God, realigning myself with the divine plan.
Carline Cineus
Foundational Team | Level 1 Certification
🌱 What Nurses Usually Ask Us
Find quick answers to common questions about registration, format, certification, and more.
No. While The Becoming Institute is based in Ontario, this course is open to nurses across Canada and internationally. If you feel called to deepen your healing practice—no matter where you live—you are welcome here. Our hybrid learning model makes it easy to join from wherever you are.
Live attendance is encouraged because it allows you to engage fully with the material, connect meaningfully with your peers, and receive in-the-moment guidance from instructors. However, we know that nurses carry heavy responsibilities—and that life doesn’t always go as planned. That’s why every core session is recorded and made available within 24 hours. You’ll have on-demand access to all content, exercises, and discussion threads, so you can stay on track even if you miss a session. Whether you’re showing up live or catching up later, your learning journey remains fully supported.
Yes—this course is the beginning of that journey. Becoming 401 introduces the foundational knowledge, skills, and principles that support nurses in exploring advanced roles in trauma recovery and psychotherapeutic care. While it does not lead to a formal credential on its own, it serves as a stepping stone into our full training pathway for nurses interested in becoming recognized for this emerging scope of practice. You’ll gain essential insights into trauma, healing modalities, and the unique contributions nurses bring to this work. From here, you may choose to continue into our advanced training programs, including the RN–Psychotherapist Training Pathway and the 12-Month Trauma Recovery Certificate.
Yes. All participants who complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion from The Becoming Institute. While this is not a formal credential, it can be included in your professional portfolio and may count toward your Continuing Education (CE) or professional development hours, depending on your regulatory college or employer guidelines. Certificates are issued digitally as a PDF within 7 days of course completion.
No. You do not need to be currently employed as a nurse to take this course. Whether you’re actively working, on leave, retired, or in transition, this course is open to all RNs, NPs, CNSs, and nursing professionals who feel called to deepen their capacity to support trauma recovery.
The College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) does not accredit or endorse specific educational programs. However, Registered Nurses are authorized to deliver psychotherapy within their scope of practice, provided they meet the required standard of care. The College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) does recognize psychotherapy education programs, and we are actively pursuing recognition of our full training pathway for January 2026. In the meantime, this course is designed in alignment with CRPO’s entry-to-practice competencies and may support your future registration process.
Yes. You will receive 36 CE hours upon completion, which can be used toward your annual professional development goals or licensure requirements. It’s also a powerful signal of your commitment to trauma-informed care and therapeutic growth.
In Ontario, the College of Nurses (CNO) authorizes RNs and NPs to deliver psychotherapy—if they have acquired the additional knowledge, skill, and judgment to do so safely and ethically.
Psychotherapy is considered an expanded scope activity, meaning it’s not taught at the entry-to-practice level but can be included in your nursing practice with the right preparation. The CNO encourages nurses to assess their readiness using three key criteria:
CNO Readiness Criteria:
- Knowledge – Do you have formal training in psychotherapeutic modalities and trauma-informed care?
- Skill – Have you practiced these approaches in a structured, supervised, or clinically supported setting?
- Judgment – Can you determine when psychotherapy is appropriate and when referral or collaboration is needed?
If you’re unsure, we recommend reviewing the CNO’s Practice Decision-Making Tool and connecting with your employer or clinical supervisor.
Reflexive Practice
Examine how trauma alters biological, psychological, and relational systems using tools like the ACE Study and Polyvagal Theory.
Safe and Effective Use of Self
Learn to support clients through trauma without retraumatization—using body-based intuition, story witnessing, and meaning-making.
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Intuitive Listener
A clinician who sees the whole person—body, story, and spirit—and responds from an integrated lens.
A Budding RN-Psychotherapist
A safe and transformative presence, able to accompany others on the path from pain to integration.
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Your Roadmap to RN–Psychotherapy Practice
Becoming 102: 3-Day Intensive Trauma Recovery Training
Becoming 103: 6-week Self-Healing Journey for RN-Psychotherapist
A hybrid program combining a live immersive 3-day intensive training experience with a 6-week self-healing journey. Students learn the Becoming Method® and gain foundational trauma-recovery skills for diverse clinical and independent practice settings.
Tuition: $2,498
Becoming 301–304
4 Core Courses for Independent Practice
A 4-month pathway with four courses: Authentic & Intuitive Communication, Holistic Therapeutic Assessments, Psychotherapeutic Standards of Practice, and a 1,000-Hour Practicum. You'll gain the theoretical knowledge and the practical skills to support independent practice while aligning with CNO/CRPO standards.
Tuition: $4,996
Optional Work Placement
Choose your path: complete coursework in ~6 months and begin practicing as an RN–Psychotherapist, or add a supervised placement to deepen experience and open the door to opportunities in public health, community, and hospitals across Ontario.
Tuition: $1,249 (Optional)
🎓 Graduate – September 11, 2026
Finish training in as little as 6 months, then celebrate with peers at our shared graduation on September 11, 2026.
Gown Rental: ~$50
Canada's Nurses Are Ready
Our early outreach to 3500 nurses, nurse practitioners, clinical nurses specialists, and psychiatric mental health nurses confirms a measurable, cross-disciplinary appetite for the RN–Psychotherapist Credentialing Program—proving nurses are ready, willing, and waiting to lead trauma recovery in communities across Ontario.
84%
Open rate on “An Open Invitation for Ontario Nurses to Become RN–Psychotherapists”
75%
Open rate on “A New Clinical Specialty for Ontario Nurses”
400+
Nurses targeted for credentialing and deployment over the 3 years
“This is the kind of program I’ve been waiting for—something that lets me do deeper work with my clients and still stay within my scope as an RN.”
— Cathy S, RN, Brampton, ON
— Cathy S, RN, Brampton, ON
🌱 What Our Students Are Saying About Us
My first semester exposed me to healing magic of the Becoming Method™ firsthand in an organic manner that was incredibly cleansing. The integration of change occurred at a profound level, surpassing my experiences with other practices. This is where the Becoming Method™ sets itself apart. The unique layering of various techniques, coupled with muscle testing, allows the body to extract an exact response more accurately than relying solely on self-talk and programmed language.
Velcia Scott
Foundational Team | Level 1 Certification
📘 Ready to Begin?
Whether you’re still exploring or ready to enroll, take your next step toward becoming an RN–Psychotherapist. We’re here to support you.
Becoming 401
From Nurse to Therapist: Foundations of Advanced Nursing Practice in Psychotherapy
You’ll Leave With:
- 🎓 A solid grasp of holistic trauma-informed care
- 🎓 Insight into the RN–Psychotherapist role and scope
- 🎓 Clarity about your next steps in becoming an RN–Psychotherapist
Register now and receive early to access Brightspace. Preview the full course, meet your instructors, download Week 1 materials, and complete an optional welcome activity—all before we begin live sessions on Nov. 7, 2025.
