5.6 End-of-Module Checklist
End-of-Module Checklist:
After completing this module, I can now…
1
Explain the core principles of trauma-informed sport practice, safety, trustworthiness, choice and control, collaboration, and empowerment, and how they shape emotionally safe session design.
2
Recognize common trauma responses (e.g., hypervigilance, dissociation, freezing, withdrawal) and understand why they may appear during physical activity, without assuming therapeutic roles.
3
Identify coaching strategies that support regulation and autonomy, such as predictable structure, calm communication, consent-based touch, and offering multiple participation options.
4
Understand how certain coaching behaviors, environments, or activities may unintentionally re-traumatize participants, and know how to adapt sessions to reduce triggers and increase emotional safety.
5
Acknowledge the importance of coordination with psychosocial professionals, and recognize when a participant’s reactions require consultation, referral, or additional support beyond the role of a coach.
6
Safety comes first, always: Create predictable routines, calm environments, and clear communication. Physical and psychological safety is the foundation, without it, healing cannot begin.
7
Choice restores control: Offer multiple participation options at every stage. Let survivors decide their intensity level, whether to partner up, and when to rest. Repeated opportunities to choose to rebuild the sense of bodily autonomy that trafficking destroys.
8
Trust is built through consistency, not perfection: Show up at the same time, follow through on what you say, end sessions predictably, and communicate changes in advance. Your reliability counteracts abandonment trauma.
9
Read withdrawal and hesitancy as signals, not failures: Freezing, silence, dissociation, or non-participation are trauma responses, not lack of commitment. Respond with compassion, lower intensity, and offer grounding support.
10
Consent applies to everything, even a high-five: Ask permission before any physical contact or proximity. Use consent language continuously to teach survivors that their boundaries matter and their body belong to them.
11
Cooperation heals; competition can harm: Design activities that build connection and belonging rather than ranking or winning. Avoid high-pressure environments that may trigger shame or hypervigilance in survivors.
12
Close every session with grounding and care: Never end abruptly. Use 5–10 minutes of breathing, stretching, or quiet reflection to help participants transition from arousal to calm, and remind them when you’ll meet again.