Trauma Can Be Healed
ITR® EMPOWERS people to fully recover with self-help tools for life.
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“Resolve the trauma first and see what’s left.”
Instinctual Trauma Response® is a simple, non-invasive, fast, and effective trauma recovery approach.
Instinctual Trauma Response® (ITR):
- Structured trauma recovery approach for the whole brain
- Informed by art therapy, parts therapy, & brain science
- “Finishes” trauma stories that are fragmented memories & without words
- Does not require reliving experiences
- Resolves any type of trauma, even preverbal
- Can be used alone (self-help) or with a facilitator
- Can be used for individual or group work
- Effective with children (3+ & up), adolescents, and adults
- Greatly reduces or completely eliminates trauma symptoms
Grounding a Person
“Resolve the trauma first and see what's left.”
People suffer in silence, believing that they are “crazy” since nothing they have tried worked for them. But the truth is, you are not crazy! The troubling consequences of life’s traumas are real and can look like anxiety, hyperactivity, fears, self-mutilation, obesity, nightmares, flashbacks, and depression.
The effects of trauma are often misunderstood in the mental health field. ITR sees the possible consequences of trauma as being “stuck” in an ITR component such as startle, fight/flight, freeze, altered state of consciousness, automatic obedience, or self-repair. Living with this toxic stress can be devastating. Many people feel hopeless and broken beyond repair. Options for help can be confusing, slow, re-traumatizing, and yield little to no results.
Instinctual Trauma Response® (ITR) focuses on the roots of problems rather than symptoms. ITR is a gentle and non-invasive approach to trauma. ITR guides a person people through simple and effective tasks to get “unstuck” quickly, reconsolidate the trauma memory, put an end to traumatic experiences without reliving them, and calm the internal chaos.
If you are frustrated by years of work that didn’t help or coping techniques that don’t last, ITR can educate and empower you to break the chains of the past, live in the present, and thrive in the future.
We offer more than hope. We offer healing.
Find a Specialist

Instinctual Trauma Response® Training
Be more than trauma-informed, be trauma-effective and parts-informed.
ITR Certifications and CEs for mental health providers.
ITR Training is available to anyone wanting to learn and help.


Who We Are
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Help For Trauma and the ITR Training Institute are proud to be a part of the Mental Health Freedom Movement. We believe in accessibility to effective mental health for all. “Trauma is not a life sentence.” It can be resolved in a time-limited fashion.
About UsTestimonials

“The therapeutic implications of this concept are profound, and are addressed in detail, providing theory and application of techniques that embrace both cognitive and non-verbal somatic/behavioral elements.”
- Robert Scaer, MD
Author of The Body Bears the Burden, The Trauma Spectrum, and Eight Keys to Body-Brain Balance

“Whether acute or sustained, the effects of trauma on the brain can lead not only to anguish for the client, but also to frustration for the clinician. These painful conditions, so often resistant to even the most sophisticated therapies, are now, thanks to the dedication of Drs. Tinnin and Gantt, able to be approached with a new and remarkably successful methodology. This is a model for responsible and effective care.”
- Judith A. Rubin, Ph.D., ATR-BC
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh

"I studied under Dr. Louis Tinnin, a towering figure in the field of trauma research and treatment who has been described (by Bessel Van der Kolk) as "the greatest trauma mind of the 20th Century."
- J. Eric Gentry Ph.D., "Forward Facing Trauma Therapy"

Starter Courses

Parents of Foster or Adopted Children
Learn how trauma affects children and their behaviors. Understand how to work with them and how to help reduce stress in the family. This course is very helpful for ANY caregiver dealing with a trauma survivor.
Only $49 USD FREE
Watch the Training
Trauma-Effective Educators
This course was designed for all kinds of educators to learn how to identify trauma in children, create safe spaces, and ideas to help ground a child and keep the other children safe.
Only $49 USD FREE
Watch the Training
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