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Instructor: Adam McCormick
Live Event - 6/12/27 - 10am-1pm EST - Before They Had Words: How Early Adversity Organizes the Developing Nervous System of Children and Youth
Course Description
Early adversity does not simply become something a child remembers; it can become organized into the developing nervous system, shaping how children experience safety, relationships, emotion, and the world around them. This training introduces participants to developmental trauma and examines how chronic stress, disrupted attachment, neglect, violence, instability, and other early experiences can influence brain development, nervous system regulation, behavior, and relational functioning.
Participants will learn to look beneath challenging behavior and recognize how fight, flight, freeze, shutdown, and other survival adaptations may reflect a nervous system organized around threat. The session will translate developmental trauma theory into practical strategies for helping children experience greater safety, regulation, connection, and relational repair across clinical, school, foster care, and child welfare settings.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how chronic early adversity can shape the developing nervous system, stress-response systems, attachment, emotional regulation, and relational functioning.
- Recognize how developmental trauma and survival adaptations may appear through children’s behavior, emotional responses, relationships, and patterns of regulation and dysregulation.
- Apply developmentally informed, trauma-responsive strategies that promote regulation, felt safety, connection, and relational repair for children impacted by early adversity.
Learning Method: Synchronous distance (interactive)
Amount of CE Credit Offered: 3 Live Clinical CE Credit. ASWB ACE and NBCC.
Fees: This course can be purchased individually for $79.00 or as part of an annual unlimited continuing education subscription available for $99/year.
Posttest: No posttest is required as this is a live CE event.
Certificate of Completion: A certificate will be issued at the end of the live event to all attendees who attended at least 80% of the live event.
Content Level:
Both beginning and intermediate-level content are included in this course.
Instructor Bio(s):
Adam McCormick
ONE YEAR OF UNLIMITED CE FOR $99
Requesting Accessibility Accommodations:
Please email [email protected] to request accessibility accommodations.
System Requirements:
- The most recent version of Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge browser
- Javascript enabled
- PDF plugin
- Graphic and audio output capability
- Broadband internet connection with a minimum speed of 5Mbps (recommended)
- TLS 1.2 supported by your web browser
Refund Policy: In general, refunds will not be provided. However, if you do have any concerns or grievances, please contact us at the email address below. Registrants who do not complete their course(s) will not receive a refund. The Agents of Change Grievance Policy can be viewed here.
Cancellation Policy: If an Agents of Change Continuing Education course is canceled, a full refund will be provided to all participants.
Please email [email protected] with any questions about the course.
Agents of Change is Approved by ACE
Agents of Change, #1919, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 7/26/2023 – 7/26/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 3 Live Clinical CE Credit.
Agents of Change is Approved by NBCC
Agents of Change has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7620. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Agents of Change is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Adam McCormick
Adam McCormick, MSW, PhD is Professor of Social Work at St. Edward’s University in Austin and teaches courses on topics related to social work with families and childhood trauma. He has a number of research interests and speaks frequently on a number of topics including LGBTQI+ youth in the child welfare system, the trauma of family separation in child welfare, the weaponization of poverty in child welfare, the relationship rights of siblings in foster care, the intersections of child welfare and immigration, social work and moral injury, and masculinity and mental health. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The unfinished business of our childhood: Healing the child trauma wounds of helping professionals. Dr. McCormick is also the author of the book LGBTQ youth in the foster care system: Empowering approaches to an inclusive system of care.
+ LIVE EVENTS
- Live CE Webinars: 25+ Per Year ($2,000+ Value)
- 200+ CE Courses and Unlimited CE Credits
- ASWB ACE and NBCC Approved