Trauma-Informed Telehealth with Adolescents

Description

This course does not offer CE Credits. The same course is available for purchase and offers 3 CE hours for behavioral health clinicians.  See "related products" below.

Adolescents navigating trauma often carry invisible burdens that manifest in unique ways—through irritability, withdrawal, chronic somatic complaints, or a defiant silence that masks fear and pain. In virtual sessions, these signals are even easier to miss, complicated by blank screens, poor engagement, or flat affect that clinicians may misinterpret as resistance. Without a trauma-informed lens tailored to telehealth, critical opportunities for safety, trust, and transformation may go unrealized.

This course invites you to reimagine trauma work with adolescents through a culturally responsive and clinically grounded lens—equipping you with evidence-based tools for telehealth that honor the complexity of your clients' lives.

Dr. Ritchie Rubio, Ph.D., is a seasoned clinical psychologist and telehealth expert whose career spans continents, cultures, and care systems. With decades of experience supporting immigrant and multicultural youth and families, Dr. Rubio brings a nuanced understanding of trauma, identity, and systemic inequity into clinical practice. His teaching integrates research, direct service, and expressive modalities with cultural humility.

Dr. Rubio's instructional style is collaborative, strengths-based, and deeply rooted in real-world application. He combines storytelling, case illustrations, and practical frameworks to ensure learners walk away with usable strategies and renewed confidence in their clinical role.

You’ll explore topics such as adolescent trauma presentations, trauma-informed assessment and treatment via telehealth, vicarious and racial trauma, cultural adaptations of evidence-based interventions (like TF-CBT and sandtray therapy), and how to build rapport using expressive arts, mindfulness, and pop culture. The course also addresses inequities in digital access and provides tools for making telehealth services more inclusive and effective for BIPOC youth.

Key Takeaways:

• Telehealth trauma-care strategies: Learn how to identify and respond to trauma symptoms in adolescents during virtual sessions.

• Culturally adapted interventions: Understand how to integrate cultural wisdom and systemic awareness into trauma-focused telehealth treatment.

• Real-world application: Gain practical techniques for enhancing engagement and therapeutic outcomes with adolescents in diverse communities.

Why this course?

• Clinician-centered solutions: Designed specifically to address the everyday challenges behavioral health professionals face in virtual adolescent care.

• Expert-led insights: Learn from a global trauma expert who blends rigorous academic training with decades of direct clinical experience.

• Mission-driven quality: Offered by Telehealth Certification Institute, an organization committed to excellence, equity, and empowering clinicians with practical tools that make a difference.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify and describe at least two clinical considerations when using telehealth for working with adolescent clients exposed to trauma and/or experiencing ongoing trauma.

• Appraise the applicability of at least two core elements of trauma-focused interventions in engaging adolescent clients in telehealth.

• Illustrate at least two ways of addressing telehealth inequities and culturally-adapting trauma-focused interventions when working with BIPOC adolescent clients.

This course is more than a CE opportunity—it’s a resource for building trust, resilience, and healing with the adolescents you serve. Join us in making telehealth trauma-informed, culturally attuned, and developmentally appropriate.

Add this course to your cart to develop your skills, boost your confidence, and enhance your impact as a behavioral health professional.

Format and Access

This is a non-interactive, self-study course that consists of over 3 hours of video instruction and an evaluation.

Course Details

Availability: 

From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: 

This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: 

This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend: 

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructor

About Ritchie Rubio, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Rubio has worked as a clinical child psychologist, play and expressive arts therapist, researcher-storyteller, program evaluator, statistical consultant, data analyst, telehealth trainer/consultant, and associate professor/lecturer in a variety of clinical and academic settings including public health systems, universities, pediatric hospitals, community mental health settings, schools, and research institutes in three countries: the Philippines, U.S.A., and New Zealand. He immigrated to the US from the Philippines at the age of 25, and completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a Child and Family emphasis from the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) through a Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program (IFP) grant. He is currently the Director of Practice Improvement and Analytics of the Children, Youth, and Families System of Care at the San Francisco Department of Public Health in California, USA. In that role, he plans and coordinates a clinical practice improvement and evaluation program focused on identifying best trauma-informed and diversity-responsive practices; and utilizing implementation science to design and strengthen clinical assessment and interventions. His clinical work was/is primarily with immigrant and multicultural children/youth and their families. He mostly integrates psychodynamic, attachment, family systems, multicultural, expressive arts, play therapy, and CBT orientations. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Counseling Psychology programs of the University of San Francisco, Pepperdine University, and the Wright Institute. He teaches courses such as Research and Statistics; Crisis and Trauma Counseling; Neuroscience; Child and Adolescent Counseling; Family Violence and Protection; Individual, and Family Development; and Clinical Assessment and Measures.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

This course does not offer CE credits, just great content.

The same course is available for purchase and offers 3 CE hours for behavioral health clinicians. See "related products" below.

This course is a non-interactive, online self-study.

Participants may request a printed version of their certificate of completion to be delivered by mail. A shipping/handling fee of $6.95 will be charged per request. Shipping internationally may require an additional charge.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement