Trauma Informed
Weight Lifting
Expanding trauma-care into the spaces where strength, resistance, and embodiment meet.
TIWL is an embodied approach to strength training that integrates principles of trauma-care into the weight room — supporting participants in developing agency, awareness, and relationship with their body through movement.
#WeLift
TIWL is not about performance.
It is not about pushing limits, achieving goals, or transforming the body.
It is about how you relate to your body while you move.
Participants engage in strength-based movement using weights, guided by principles that prioritize:
- choice
- autonomy
- pacing
- internal awareness
Facilitators offer invitations rather than directives, allowing individuals to explore movement in ways that feel accessible and responsive to their experience.
Learn More On the TIWL Website
Healing doesn't only happen in quiet, controlled environments.
For many people, strength-based movement — lifting, resisting, exerting — can be a powerful entry point into the body.
But traditional fitness spaces often replicate the very dynamics that make healing difficult:
- pressure
- comparison
- control
- disconnection from internal experience
TIWL was developed to offer something different.
A space where strength is not about dominance over the body, but relationship with it.
Where effort is not imposed, but explored.
Where participants can experience power without losing agency.
Trainings for Professionals
Introduction to TIWL
75 Minutes | 100% Online | Self-Paced
This low-cost and accessible introductory program is designed for anyone interested in learning more about the who we are, what we do, the impact of trauma, and benefits of Trauma Informed Weight Lifting. This program is appropriate for all professions.
Foundations in TIWL
15 Hours | 1.5 NASM CEU's
100% Online | Self-Paced
This fully asynchronous program brings you the same core teachings from our live Foundations Training — without the time commitment of weekly sessions.
Valid for 1.5 CECs with NASM
Certificate Program
10 Weeks | 100% Online
The gold standard in trauma-informed
strength and movement education. TIWL’s 10-week Certificate Program blends shared and specialized learning: Weeks 3–6 are split into two dedicated tracks—one for mental health professionals and one for movement & strength practitioners— to deepen relevance while still fostering interdisciplinary insight.
Valid for 1.9 CECs with NASM and 6 CEU's with ACE
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