We Lift
The Weight

WE LIFT THE WEIGHT

Weight lifting programs and education to heal trauma

Trauma is the harm we hold in our bodies. We help transform trauma through education and fitness programs for trainers, promoting an inclusive, safe, and nontoxic culture.

FOUNDATIONS

This 15-hour program is best suited for individuals beginning to explore the relationship between trauma and weight lifting and who are curious about how to incorporate its principles into their practice.

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CERTIFICATION

In this 8-week program, participants gain the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate TIWL sessions as an adjunctive treatment for complex trauma and PTSD in their communities. NASM approved!

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Our Programs Are For

Fitness
Professionals

Mental Health Professionals

Physical / Occupational Therapists

Weight Lifting Coaches

Movement Practitioners

Gym
Owners

Health
Practitioners

"Strength training brings parts of my body into focus that sometimes seem completely detached or without unity to the rest of my body. You have to focus your mind and a unified way with your muscles when you are lifting heavy things, you literally cant drop out of focus and its the best way I have found to get my mind and body together."

"Joining the TIWL training has given me a clearer understanding of how this presents and manifests in a space where you are asking them to become uncomfortable by changing their physical state. You need to be patient, kind and empathic - something that is often missing from fitness spaces. This training helps you step back and take in the whole person, and step by step, week on week you can build trust and communication in order to really help clients manage their health and wellbeing in a sustainable and meaningful way."

"TIWL will change the way you see the populations you serve, it will give you a more expansive view of what exercise can do for people, it will challenge your ideologies around fitness and the exercise industry, It is educational and helps with understanding the complexities that clients may be dealing with. It is eye opening, and I think fosters more empathy and connection in the coach/client relationship."

HEAL TRAUMA AND BUILD RESILIENCE

70% of trauma survivors report feeling more comfortable and motivated in fitness environments where trainers demonstrate trauma-informed practices, such as sensitivity to personal space and the use of invitational language. (Justice, 2018)

Through our programs, trainers and mental health professionals learn to:

• Embody practice and intervention techniques
• Incorporate the latest neuroscience, physiology, and trauma research into their practices
• Approach weight lifting as a way to facilitate healing for trauma-impacted individuals – and communities

Once you complete our programs, your clients will be transformed by:

• Experiencing their own strength, instead of feeling powerless
• Affirmation on a human level within their bodies and goals
• Building resilience through a practice of strength – and community
• Renewed mind-body connection

Why Trauma Care?

Approximately 70% of the world’s population have been exposed to a traumatic life event. The resulting mental health problems represent a major challenge to public mental health services, globally.

Experiences of trauma profoundly change our relationship to our body. Yet few treatments exist for complex trauma survivors, making healing exponentially more difficult for them.

Meet Our Founders

Why Weight Lifting?

Weight lifting, when approached in a trauma-informed manner, can foster resilience, increase a felt sense of agency and empowerment, cultivate healthy nervous system functioning, and facilitate a positive relationship with self and others.

Trauma-Informed Weight Lifting combats the isolating and dividing nature of trauma. How?