Train the world. Change the world.
Who We Are
Trauma Free World is a non-profit training organization that teaches adults a trauma-informed approach to life and work. We believe that when people understand how to better care for themselves and others, we will build healthier, more resilient people, teams, communities, and families.
Our mission: trauma training for everyone, everywhere
Our goal is to make the latest research on trauma, recovery and wellness accessible to people around the world.
We’ve trained people from over 70 countries and 1000 organizations, and we’re just getting started.
Imagine a world where people know how to break the cycle of trauma, where we know how to avoid triggering each other and how to de-escalate aggression, avoid violence, and handle big emotions. That’s what we are working toward.
Meet the Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Todd Guckenberger, Co-Executive Director Back2Back Ministries — Chairperson
Will Housh, Founder & CEO of Contractor Commerce and Founder & CEO of Same Day Supply – Treasurer
Brian Furnish, Assistant Vice President and CAO at Miami University – Secretary
Julie Cooper PhD, President Trauma Free World
Rob Hall EdD, President Global Trauma Alliance
Affiliate Trainers Share Training Around the World
We have over one hundred affiliate trainers around the world. Affiliate trainers teach in their own language and help us translate and customize trainings so it is culturally relevant for a specific region. Becoming an affiliate trainer requires mastery over the materials as well as learning presentation skills.
If you are outside the US and are interested in becoming an affiliate trainer, please contact Ann Smith at annsmith@traumafreeworld.org.
History
Trauma Free World was founded by Back2Back Ministries, an international non-profit that has provided care to orphaned and vulnerable children around the world for over 25 years.
The Back2Back team realized that in order for children to truly heal, they needed more advanced trauma training.
Back2Back built a solid understanding of the academic research on trauma care by working with leaders in the field, like Jayne and Dr. David Schooler, experts in working with adoptive and foster families. The Schoolers, along with Ruby and Lynn Johnston from LAMb International and others, created training materials that were a perfect fit for Back2Back’s staff and partners.
TRANSLATING THE LATEST RESEARCH AND BEST PRACTICES INTO PRACTICAL TRAINING THAT IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND AND IMMEDIATELY APPLICABLE WAS CRITICAL TO ADOPTING THESE PRACTICES AROUND THE WORLD AND A CORE TENET OF OUR WORK TO THIS DAY.
It started with training for 300 people in 6 countries.
Back2Back conducted training with all 300+ of its staff members in Haiti, Mexico, India, Nigeria, the Dominican Republic and the United States. It had such a powerful impact on children’s lives that they began to offer the training to other orphan-care organizations.
Within 5 years, the Back2Back team had trained over 2500 people in nearly 70 countries, impacting over 250,000 children.
In order to focus on providing world-class trauma training, Back2Back created a separate organization with a team dedicated to helping people understand trauma-informed care around the world help each other
Trauma Free World was born.
If you have questions or ideas about training, please get in touch!