12-Month
Curriculum

This course serves as the program's entry point, delivered across three modules: Childhood Adverse Events, Memory, and Traumatic Automatism; RN–Psychotherapy Practice: Comparing Trauma-Informed Modalities; and Guiding Practice: Ethics, Regulation, and Professional Identity.

It introduces nurses to psychotherapy as a regulated, relationally complex, and ethically demanding field, helping students assess their own readiness before committing to the full program pathway.

BEC103A is a mandatory 3-day in-person intensive retreat that introduces the Becoming Method®, centering compassionate empathy, connection, and the pursuit of balance in therapeutic practice. It lays the foundation for both personal formation and professional development as a trauma recovery practitioner.

BEC103B extends this work across 16 weeks of applied coursework, deepening students' capacity for safe and effective use of self — the therapist's own presence, nervous system regulation, and relational awareness — as a clinical instrument in trauma-informed psychotherapeutic work.

This course grounds students in Ubuntu — the African philosophy that asserts "I am because we are" — as a lens for understanding identity, community, and interdependence in psychotherapeutic practice. Students engage with African and Indigenous ways of knowing across three phases of learning.

The course examines how culture, race, and colonization have shaped mental health systems, and equips students to bring decolonizing, culturally rooted awareness into trauma-informed care.

This course strengthens students' communication skills by fostering authenticity and intuition within a therapeutic approach. Through case studies and interactive practice — both individually and in groups — students refine techniques that build trust and support positive therapeutic outcomes.

The course covers advanced communication strategies including active listening, nonverbal cues, and verbal fluency, enabling students to connect with clients on a deeper emotional and psychological level.

This course reimagines therapeutic assessment through a holistic, culturally responsive framework rooted in Ubuntu. Students learn to assess psychological safety, autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation, and cognitive distortions as essential first steps in trauma-informed care.

The course also introduces body-memory and applied-kinesiology informed approaches, alongside practical tools such as heart rate variability, to help students build assessments and treatment plans that honor a client's full experience and identity.

This course examines the Psychotherapeutic Standards of Practice established by regulatory authorities, with emphasis on CRPO standards. Students explore ethical considerations, professional boundaries, confidentiality, informed consent, cultural competence, and legal responsibilities.

The course also critically examines the decolonization and depoliticization of therapy, analyzing how certain practice standards may cause harm to Indigenous and Afro-descendant populations, and how practitioners can respond with cultural accountability.

BEC304A is a didactic seminar and skills lab that consolidates all prior learning into advanced clinical competence, applied ethical discernment, and readiness for sustained, supervised psychotherapeutic work with real clients.

BEC304B is the 1,000-hour supervised psychotherapeutic practicum, offering students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in a real-world therapeutic environment — working closely with 15 clients through the entire therapeutic process, from intake and standardized assessments through the Becoming Method® and therapeutic coaching, under close supervision.

The practicum culminates in a Final Practice Exam, in which students guide clients through the therapeutic process and receive a pass/fail grade demonstrating core competencies. Successful completion earns certification as a Trauma Recovery Specialist from the Becoming Institute.