Jax State Continuing Education Workshop Proposal
1st Presenter Name: Dr. Dominique Maywald
1st Presenter Email: dmaywald@jsu.edu
1st Presenter Phone Number: 256.782.5738
2nd Presenter Name: Francesca Guida-Hall
2nd Presenter Email: fguidahall@jsu.edu
Workshop Dates + Times: September 25th 9am-12:15am
Workshop Title (15 Word Maximum): Survival Is Not a Diagnosis: Trauma-Responsive Differential Diagnosis with Adolescents and Adults
Education Track
[ ] Ethics
[ ] Supervision
[X] Clinical
[X] DSM-Based
[ ] General
Workshop Abstract
Survival Is Not a Diagnosis challenges clinicians to look beyond the most visible symptom or familiar label. Trauma may shape attention, mood, relationships, substance use, emotional regulation, and engagement with care, but it does not explain every presentation or rule out another disorder. Through adolescent and adult case examples, participants will practice a structured approach to differential diagnosis that considers what is known, what may be assumed, what else could explain the presentation, and what information is still needed. The workshop promotes diagnostic decisions that are thoughtful, culturally responsive, evidence-informed, and appropriately grounded in clinical uncertainty.
Workshop Summary
A diagnosis can create access to care, guide treatment, and help clients make sense of their experiences. It can also follow a person for years. Clinicians therefore have a responsibility to look beyond the most visible behavior and ask what may be happening beneath it.
Trauma-related distress does not always announce itself clearly. It may appear as anger, withdrawal, inattention, emotional volatility, substance use, unstable relationships, physical complaints, or difficulty trusting and engaging with providers. These experiences may reflect trauma, another psychiatric condition, a co-occurring disorder, or a response to an unsafe and demanding environment. A trauma history alone does not establish PTSD, nor should trauma become a catch-all explanation that prevents clinicians from recognizing other legitimate concerns.
This workshop introduces the Context Before Conclusion framework, a practical process for approaching diagnostic uncertainty. Participants will learn to ask: What do we know? What are we assuming? What else could explain the presentation? What information is missing? What is the most responsible conclusion today?
Using adolescent and adult cases, participants will examine symptom development, changes in functioning, medical and substance-related factors, cultural meaning, environmental stress, and patterns across relationships and settings. They will practice separating clinical evidence from interpretation and determining when additional assessment, collateral information, consultation, medical evaluation, referral, or observation is needed.
The workshop also invites clinicians to consider how prior diagnoses, referral language, stigma, system involvement, cultural expectations, and their own emotional reactions may narrow clinical judgment. Participants will explore how anchoring and premature closure can occur even when clinicians are trying to help.
The purpose of this workshop is not to replace psychiatric diagnoses with trauma labels. It is to strengthen clinicians’ capacity to develop accurate, contextualized, and defensible diagnostic formulations while remaining honest about what is not yet known. Participants will leave with a repeatable framework for making diagnostic decisions with greater curiosity, humility, and care.
Workshop Objectives
By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Differentiate trauma-related responses from selected psychiatric presentations in adolescents and adults using symptom history, functioning, context, and available clinical evidence.
2. Apply the Context Before Conclusion framework to identify established facts, possible assumptions, competing explanations, and missing assessment information.
3. Examine how prior diagnoses, referral language, stigma, system involvement, cultural expectations, and clinician reactions may contribute to diagnostic bias or premature closure.
4. Determine when additional assessment, collateral information, medical evaluation, consultation, referral, or observation is necessary before confirming a diagnosis.
5. Develop a trauma-responsive diagnostic formulation that communicates supporting evidence, plausible alternatives, co-occurring concerns, and the appropriate level of diagnostic certainty.
Workshop Length: 3 hours
Workshop References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
American Psychiatric Association. (n.d.). DSM-5-TR online assessment measures and Cultural Formulation Interview. https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/dsm/educational-resources/assessment-measures
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. (2014). Trauma-informed care in behavioral health services (Treatment Improvement Protocol 57). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://library.samhsa.gov/product/tip-57-trauma-informed-care-behavioral-health-services/sma14-4816
Forkey, H., Szilagyi, M., Kelly, E. T., & Duffee, J. (2021). Trauma-informed care. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052580. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052580
National Center for PTSD. (2026). FAQs about PTSD assessment for professionals. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/assessment/overview/faqs_ptsd_professionals.asp
National Center for PTSD. (2025). Complex PTSD: Assessment and treatment. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/txessentials/complex_ptsd_assessment.asp
National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (2018). Assessment of complex trauma by mental health professionals. https://www.nctsn.org/resources/assessment-complex-trauma-mental-health-professionals
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015). Trauma-informed care in behavioral health services: Quick guide for clinicians (based on TIP 57). https://library.samhsa.gov/product/trauma-informed-care-behavioral-health-services-quick-guide-clinicians-based-tip-57/sma15
Marketing Assistance for FB
Not every difficult behavior is a disorder. Not every trauma response is PTSD. And not every diagnosis already in the chart is correct.
Survival Is Not a Diagnosis: Trauma-Responsive Differential Diagnosis with Adolescents and Adults is an advanced CE workshop for clinicians who want greater confidence when diagnosing complex presentations and who understand that the first explanation is not always the right one.
Using the Context Before Conclusion framework, participants will learn to separate evidence from assumption, consider competing explanations, identify what is still missing, and determine what the clinical picture can responsibly support.
This workshop is for social workers, counselors, substance-use professionals, clinical supervisors, and other behavioral health providers who assess, diagnose, develop treatment plans, or review cases.
Trauma matters. So do culture, development, substance use, medical factors, co-occurring conditions, and diagnostic uncertainty. Participants will leave with a practical framework for approaching difficult cases with more clarity, confidence, and clinical discipline.
Price:
$75.00