Trauma Training for Healing Professionals
Supporting someone through the aftermath of sexual trauma is some of the most tender work a practitioner can take on, and some of the least taught. A counselor, a yoga teacher, or a bodyworker is often trusted with a survivor's history long before any training has prepared them for it.
These professional workshops, led by Malachi Gillihan, are built to change that. The focus stays on the places the field teaches least: sexual trauma and trauma carried alongside addiction. They are open to therapists, counselors, social workers, and other mental health professionals, as well as yoga teachers and other wellness practitioners, including nutritionists, acupuncturists, massage therapists and body workers, coaches, and personal trainers.
Every workshop is taught in person. On-demand formats are in development and planned for spring 2027.
Still deciding which path suits you? Compare both training paths first, then come back when you know this is the one.
Skills You'll Build for Working With Sexual Trauma Survivors
Everything in these workshops points back to one purpose. Helping you meet the people in front of you with more skill and less guesswork. The training covers:
What sets sexual trauma apart, and the particular needs survivors bring to your care
Gender differences in trauma and recovery, including how to work with male survivors of sexual trauma, a group the field too often overlooks
How the nervous system holds trauma, and somatic approaches for working with it directly
Practical tools and practices you can pass on to clients for support between and beyond your sessions
The Yoga & The Sacred Wound workshop is one example of this work in practice, and workshops are offered in both in-person and on-demand formats.
You will be able to hold this work with confidence, rather than piecing it together in the moment with the people relying on you.
Current and Upcoming Workshops
Each workshop is built around a specific population and a specific gap in most practitioners' training.
Yoga & The Sacred Wound
The foundational workshop, applying yoga and somatic practice to the work of sexual trauma recovery. It covers what makes this work different from general trauma-informed practice and how to hold a room where survivors feel safe.
Yoga & The Sacred Wound, Level II
A twenty-hour deep dive into specific applications and approaches, organized around the integrative pillars of trauma theory. This is for practitioners who already have the foundation and want more range and precision in how they apply it.
Supporting Men Healing Trauma with Histories of Addiction
For practitioners supporting men whose trauma and addiction histories are tangled together, whether one-to-one or in a group setting. The workshop covers attachment and the neurobiology of compulsive behavior, the stress response cycle, gender socialization and trauma, somatic approaches to trauma recovery, and how to work with addictions and compulsive behaviors as they surface.
Who These Workshops Are Designed to Support
This training is for practitioners who want to do right by clients carrying histories most training doesn't prepare you for. Therapists, counselors, and social workers come to develop a part of their practice that a general background leaves thin. Yoga teachers and wellness practitioners come to hold space for survivors with real awareness of what they carry. Practitioners running men's groups come for the harder version of that work, where trauma and addiction show up together.
The common thread is the work itself. If these clients find their way to you, this training helps you be ready for them.
Continuing Education Credits
These workshops are not currently pre-approved by an accrediting body. Practitioners who want to count these hours toward licensure requirements typically submit them directly to their own board or governing body, which is a common path for training of this kind.
Bringing this to a team? Practices, clinics, and studios can arrange a workshop for their practitioners. Get in touch to talk through what that would look like.
Why Train With Malachi Gillihan
In this work, who teaches it matters. Malachi Gillihan is a survivor of sexual trauma as well as a researcher of it, and that combination shapes everything he teaches. His doctoral research centers on group-based interventions for male survivors of sexual trauma, a population the field has long underserved.
He holds a Master of Arts in East-West Psychology and a Spiritual Counselor certification from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he is now a PhD Candidate. He has studied under notable figures in interpersonal neurobiology and trauma, including Dr. Dan Siegel and Deb Dana.
He serves as Co-Chair of the Complex Trauma Special Interest Group within ISTSS, gave the closing keynote at the inaugural Conference on Violence Against Men and Boys in 2024, and is presenting his research at multiple forums in 2026, including the 8th International Complex Trauma Conference.
Endorsed by Fellow Professionals
"Impressive synthesis and integration of the science"
Workshop Attendee
"Malachi presented the complex information very clearly. His passion for the subject came through and I found it very motivating to learn more."
Workshop Attendee
"Absolutely blew my mind in the best way. I feel empowered, seen, and am excited to try out so many of these tools and strategies!!!!! Thank you Malachi"
Workshop Attendee
"Malachi was a skilled facilitator and the training was well-organized, well-paced, and engaging."
Workshop Attendee
"The class was excellent - I wouldn’t change a thing"
Workshop Attendee
"All the information given in the workshop was not only relevant, but well documented, which made the workshop very valuable."
Workshop Attendee
Looking for a Different Kind of Training?
If your work lives in a healthcare setting and you want to bring trauma-informed care into clinical practice, there is a separate path for that. The trauma-informed care certification, offered through the Harmony Network, is built for healthcare providers and teams, rather than focusing specifically on sexual trauma work.
How Enrollment Works
There is no online checkout for these workshops, and that is deliberate. Practitioners arrive with different training, different caseloads, and different reasons for being here, so enrollment starts with a conversation about which workshop actually fits.
Reach out and tell Malachi what your practice looks like and who you are trying to serve better. He will tell you which workshop is the right one, or tell you honestly if the timing isn't right yet.
Start Your Training Today
Most practitioners begin with Yoga & The Sacred Wound. It is the foundational workshop, and both Level II and the men's group training build on what it covers.
Wherever you are in your practice, one conversation is enough to tell you whether this is the right time to start.
Reach out and tell Malachi what your practice looks like, and he will take it from there.