In this episode, I speak with Julian Ford, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. who discusses his work with PTSD, Complex PTSD, Developmental Trauma Disorder and the T.A.R.G.E.T. Model for treatment. Julian shared that he had started out working as a line staff in a state psychiatric facility, then went on to working with the Veteran’s Administration. He discussed working with Veterans with trauma and seeing that they struggled with much more than just the symptoms of PTSD. He explained that he worked with the National Center for PTSD, which is part of the VA system, then got connected to a Child Psychiatry working group through Darmouth. He shared that they had found that clients diagnosed with ADHD and many with ODD, also had trauma, that was undiagnosed. We discussed what CPTSD is and how the nervous system reactivity is central to the diagnosis. Julian discussed how their model starts with psychoeducation, and explaining to the client they have an “alarm” in their brain, which is what leads to this reactivity. Understanding that can help access the frontal lobe to be able to understand and decrease the reaction to the reactivity. He explained that he works with clients and their nervous systems in various ways, depending on what the client’s entree is, whether it be emotional, cognitive, somatic or other. He shared that the model he uses also helps the person connect to their values, and seeing the values in their stories about past and present events. In reflecting these values to the clients, it helps them to see their self and symptoms having protected them during these times of survival, and they can still live guided by those values, although without the context of threat. He shared that he helps clients to connect with that sense of self that is values driven, which helps to alleviate the trauma narrative that the client is broken, defective, unlovable or other forms of shame. We discussed the difficulties related to sense of self that is part of the CPTSD diagnosis. We also discuss the work from 2000 in identifying trauma in cases of ADHD and ODD, and how the diagnosis of trauma maybe missed sometimes. He shared that it is “both and”, where the child may also have those diagnoses and trauma, although identifying the trauma allows the therapist to bring in trauma informed or trauma focused therapy. Julian D. Ford, PhD, ABPP, a clinical psychologist, is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, where he is Director of the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice (emeritus) and the Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders. He has served as President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and is Editor of the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation and Associate Editor of the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Julian has published more than 350 articles and book chapters. He is author of Crises in the Psychotherapy Session: Transforming Critical Moments Into Turning Points, coeditor of Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Adults, Second Edition, and Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents, and coauthor of Treatment of Complex Trauma: A Sequenced, Relationship-Based Approach. His research focuses on developmental trauma disorder and the Trauma Affect Regulation: Guide for Education and Therapy (TARGET) therapeutic intervention.